Ziua Sfîntului Andrei (St. Andrew’s Day)

Happy St. Andrew’s day! I am sure you are all celebrating this joyous day right now. Wait, that’s right, no one celebrates or probably even knows about St. Andrew’s day in America. Well as part of your Moldovan Cultural lesson for the week, I will inform you about St. Andrew’s day.

First, let me confess that St. Andrew’s day actually really isn’t “celebrated” at least not to my experience as of yet. However, the noteworthy part of this day are the superstitions that go along with it.

On the eve of st. Andrew’s, Guys go around stealing the gates of all the single girl’s in village. Whoever steals your gate is who you will end up marrying. Also, a girl is supposed to sleep with her hair brush under her pillow and she will have dreams of the man she will marry.

the gates around here are no joke. They are big cast iron monstrosities that would take more than a single guy to carry off on his own. Plus, nights in December here get a little chilly. The supersition may not be true, but a guy will end up showing a lot of ingenuity and effort if he ends up successfully hoisting the gate. Hopefully the girl will take notice.

As of yet, I have not seen a missing gate.