Private tours in Transylvania, Romania. Experienced tour guide. Family company.
    E-MAIL us: gelutrandafir [at] yahoo.com, CALL us +40-723.303.310
    Private tours in Transylvania, Romania. Experienced tour guide. Family company.
      E-MAIL us: gelutrandafir [at] yahoo.com, CALL us +40-723.303.310
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      Celebrate the hardest-working farmer – ”Udatoriul” from Surdesti (Maramures)

      gelu trandafir surdesti maramures transylvania tour guide romania

      A small family business, we offer the best experiences of Transylvania, this Romanian and European region so rich in history and cultural heritage, with an exceptional, unspoiled natural environment.

      ▶ Gelu Trandafir

      In spring, the village of Surdesti in Maramures celebrates its most hard-working man with a ceremony called "Udatoriul".

      It is an ancient, unique, agrarian ritual that honours the first family man who went out plowing in the spring. He is carefully chosen by the elders of the village two weeks before Easter. Called Udatoriu (meaning the man who gets watered), the chosen farmer must be married with children so that the year may be fruitful.

      At the end of the second day of Easter holly mass at the famous wooden church in Surdesti (UNESCO World Heritage site), Udatoriul is blessed by the priest.

      Praised and sung by all the people of the village, the farmer is then carried home on a procession. Here, the village lads have to find a penny that had previously been hidden in a log by the hard-working farmer. Once the penny is retrieved, the farmer is lifted into a small two-wheeled cart and taken to the river where he is watered. The farmer in turn sprinkles water on the village lads.

      They all go home where the most hard-working farmer of the village has to offer food and drink to everyone.

      Surdesti wooden church: 300 years of carpentry craftsmanship

      Easter Sunday in Maramures

      Breb village. Magical place to stay in Maramures

      Ieud – the Wooden Cathedral of Maramures

      Visiting Maramures is like travelling in time...

      Rural Maramures & the Saxon heartland of Transylvania - 7-day tour

      MARAMURES: The wooden churches of Romanian peasants' faith

       

      In spring, the village of Surdesti in Maramures celebrates its most hard-working man with a ceremony called "Udatoriul".

      It is an ancient, unique, agrarian ritual that honours the first family man who went out plowing in the spring. He is carefully chosen by the elders of the village two weeks before Easter. Called Udatoriu (meaning the man who gets watered), the chosen farmer must be married with children so that the year may be fruitful.

      At the end of the second day of Easter holly mass at the famous wooden church in Surdesti (UNESCO World Heritage site), Udatoriul is blessed by the priest.

      Praised and sung by all the people of the village, the farmer is then carried home on a procession. Here, the village lads have to find a penny that had previously been hidden in a log by the hard-working farmer. Once the penny is retrieved, the farmer is lifted into a small two-wheeled cart and taken to the river where he is watered. The farmer in turn sprinkles water on the village lads.

      They all go home where the most hard-working farmer of the village has to offer food and drink to everyone.

      Surdesti wooden church: 300 years of carpentry craftsmanship

      Easter Sunday in Maramures

      Breb village. Magical place to stay in Maramures

      Ieud – the Wooden Cathedral of Maramures

      Visiting Maramures is like travelling in time...

      Rural Maramures & the Saxon heartland of Transylvania - 7-day tour

      MARAMURES: The wooden churches of Romanian peasants' faith

      gelu trandafir

      A small family business, we offer the best experiences of Transylvania, this Romanian and European region so rich in history and cultural heritage, with an exceptional, unspoiled natural environment.

      ▶ Gelu Trandafir