La Multi Ani- New Years in the village

The New Year has come. I enjoy the beginning anew that happens on the first of January. It’s as if we are all given a refresh button. Everyone, myself included, comes up with resolutions for a better self. And, like most, mine is thrown to the side that Monday. But, in the spirit of starting anew we all celebrate those few hours before the start of a new beginning, and I am all for a good party.

This year was no different. On Saturday, I journeyed to the village of Sadova where I had plans to spend New Years with a few other volunteers and a welcoming host family. The evening, like most when visiting a new host family, started with a generous pitcher of house wine accompanied with some light conversation. The following few hours were spent relaxing before the big masa (meal) that would be eaten at the sound of midnight.

Curious of what festivities the village had to offer we set out in search of the band we had been told would be playing at the local cultural center. The walk through the village was short, but along the way we saw a few fireworks being set off around town. When we reached the center we could tell, from about 300 yards away, that this wasn’t the sort of band we had been expecting. We were greeted by the loud thumping of techno music and decided that we had better return home if we wanted to dance the Hora (a traditional Moldovan circle dance).

A bit more waiting back at the house before it was finally time to sit down to the meal. All six of us crowded in to the largest room in the family’s home, the master bedroom. A table had been set with a large spread of traditional Moldovan foods, and three bottles of sparkling white wine were waiting to be popped and toasted to the New Year.

We watched on the television as the festivities unfolded in Chisinau. It was reminiscent to the ‘Dick Clarks New Years Eve special’ my family watches of the festivities in Time Square. Just before the New Year we heard an address by the interim president Marian Lupu, and with that, it was down to the countdown. We all sat around the table, with our glasses raised, counting down in Romanian to a new year in Moldova.

The weekend was lazy and delightful. Sleeping in on Sunday morning and waking up in a brand-new year. The village didn’t look any different, and we were all no worse for the wear (well except for the headaches), and another New Years had come and past, and Monday life was back to normal.