Comments on: Ion Ghica, Letters to Vasile Alecsandri: From the time of Caragea [iii] http://thetarpit.org/2022/ion-ghica-letters-to-vasile-alecsandri-from-the-time-of-caragea-iii "Now I feel like I know less about what that blog is about than I did before." Sat, 25 Apr 2026 19:15:00 +0000 http://thetarpit.org hourly 1 By: Ion Ghica, Letters to Vasile Alecsandri: From the time of Caragea [v] « The Tar Pit http://thetarpit.org/2022/ion-ghica-letters-to-vasile-alecsandri-from-the-time-of-caragea-iii#comment-3256 Ion Ghica, Letters to Vasile Alecsandri: From the time of Caragea [v] « The Tar Pit Sat, 15 Oct 2022 11:08:27 +0000 http://thetarpit.org/?p=447#comment-3256 [...] see the discussion regarding Romanian Orthodox Christian mores pertaining to the institution of marriage in nineteenth [...] [...] see the discussion regarding Romanian Orthodox Christian mores pertaining to the institution of marriage in nineteenth [...]

]]> By: What is a social network? « The Tar Pit http://thetarpit.org/2022/ion-ghica-letters-to-vasile-alecsandri-from-the-time-of-caragea-iii#comment-3098 What is a social network? « The Tar Pit Tue, 27 Sep 2022 19:39:15 +0000 http://thetarpit.org/?p=447#comment-3098 [...] which leaves us under the imperative of tracing back the original sense... well, from its origins, by taking it apart piece by piece and then reconstructing [...] [...] which leaves us under the imperative of tracing back the original sense... well, from its origins, by taking it apart piece by piece and then reconstructing [...]

]]> By: Ion Ghica, Letters to Vasile Alecsandri: From the time of Caragea [iv] « The Tar Pit http://thetarpit.org/2022/ion-ghica-letters-to-vasile-alecsandri-from-the-time-of-caragea-iii#comment-2941 Ion Ghica, Letters to Vasile Alecsandri: From the time of Caragea [iv] « The Tar Pit Sun, 11 Sep 2022 11:36:42 +0000 http://thetarpit.org/?p=447#comment-2941 [...] This life was good for Caragea, as people from common folk to boyars, all plunged neck-deep in parties, were thusly kept unaware of the princely robberies1; moreover, the caftans2 sought by the newlyweds helped him quite a bit to enlarge his bag. The hustle for ranks was so big that the princely pitac3 register was full, and they say that in the day of Caragea's escape, the postelnic could barely read all the names of the high boyars and a few of the lesser ones4. Asked by vodă to leave, he slammed the pitac to the ground, yeling: "... and the rest of you all, pitars and serdars5!". [...] [...] This life was good for Caragea, as people from common folk to boyars, all plunged neck-deep in parties, were thusly kept unaware of the princely robberies1; moreover, the caftans2 sought by the newlyweds helped him quite a bit to enlarge his bag. The hustle for ranks was so big that the princely pitac3 register was full, and they say that in the day of Caragea's escape, the postelnic could barely read all the names of the high boyars and a few of the lesser ones4. Asked by vodă to leave, he slammed the pitac to the ground, yeling: "... and the rest of you all, pitars and serdars5!". [...]

]]> By: Brașov, yet again « The Tar Pit http://thetarpit.org/2022/ion-ghica-letters-to-vasile-alecsandri-from-the-time-of-caragea-iii#comment-2791 Brașov, yet again « The Tar Pit Tue, 16 Aug 2022 14:03:48 +0000 http://thetarpit.org/?p=447#comment-2791 [...] yet another quick detour through Romanian morphology: the "-eni" suffix isn't so different from "-ești", only I suspect it's more common in Transylvania than in the other historical regions. [...] [...] yet another quick detour through Romanian morphology: the "-eni" suffix isn't so different from "-ești", only I suspect it's more common in Transylvania than in the other historical regions. [...]

]]> By: The sweeping, unstoppable wave « The Tar Pit http://thetarpit.org/2022/ion-ghica-letters-to-vasile-alecsandri-from-the-time-of-caragea-iii#comment-2599 The sweeping, unstoppable wave « The Tar Pit Wed, 20 Jul 2022 19:15:03 +0000 http://thetarpit.org/?p=447#comment-2599 [...] Let's take a trip down memory lane (for some at least), tracking back in the 1990s, or even late 1980s, when some Romanian singers took whatever instruments they had on hand and started translating Romanian and Gypsy folklore into what we first called "muzică țigănească" and then we started calling "manele". First we heard Azur and Generic2, then Minune, Guță et alia started gaining traction and then... a whole fucking wave of singers, led by the Salam doing mostly the Bulgarian Tallava, simply hit the speakers of each and every bairam3 in the hood. [...] [...] Let's take a trip down memory lane (for some at least), tracking back in the 1990s, or even late 1980s, when some Romanian singers took whatever instruments they had on hand and started translating Romanian and Gypsy folklore into what we first called "muzică țigănească" and then we started calling "manele". First we heard Azur and Generic2, then Minune, Guță et alia started gaining traction and then... a whole fucking wave of singers, led by the Salam doing mostly the Bulgarian Tallava, simply hit the speakers of each and every bairam3 in the hood. [...]

]]> By: spyked http://thetarpit.org/2022/ion-ghica-letters-to-vasile-alecsandri-from-the-time-of-caragea-iii#comment-2112 spyked Fri, 13 May 2022 15:46:54 +0000 http://thetarpit.org/?p=447#comment-2112 I'm no ethnologist myself, but I dare say that the horă and the maypole dance have about the same relationship that lies between the doină and blues music -- the former has some characteristic that is universal and that is shared with the latter (Bobby McFerrin went to great lengths to illustrate this), but otherwise the resemblance is only in form. For one, the horă lacks the phallic symbolism present in the maypole dance, but I'll admit that I'm insufficiently acquainted with the latter to comment more on this. I will also add here that the horă is actually part of a larger family of dances from the Balkan/Slavic tradition, maybe that's rather where I'd look if I were to place it in a larger context. > you may actually use that name Nah, let the Westerners dive into the nitty-gritty of Romanian, why take that from them? I'm no ethnologist myself, but I dare say that the horă and the maypole dance have about the same relationship that lies between the doină and blues music -- the former has some characteristic that is universal and that is shared with the latter (Bobby McFerrin went to great lengths to illustrate this), but otherwise the resemblance is only in form. For one, the horă lacks the phallic symbolism present in the maypole dance, but I'll admit that I'm insufficiently acquainted with the latter to comment more on this.

I will also add here that the horă is actually part of a larger family of dances from the Balkan/Slavic tradition, maybe that's rather where I'd look if I were to place it in a larger context.

> you may actually use that name

Nah, let the Westerners dive into the nitty-gritty of Romanian, why take that from them?

]]> By: Alex http://thetarpit.org/2022/ion-ghica-letters-to-vasile-alecsandri-from-the-time-of-caragea-iii#comment-2111 Alex Fri, 13 May 2022 13:28:16 +0000 http://thetarpit.org/?p=447#comment-2111 Your use of horă, untranslated, made me wonder -- surely this isn't just a local tradition. And then through foggy memory came the movie Midsommar, at the end of which the ladies do a similar kind of dance. One Google later, it seems this is a called a 'maypole dance' in various parts of Yurop. I am sufficiently acquainted with the similarities/differences as to suggest you may actually use that name. Just thought I'd share. Your use of horă, untranslated, made me wonder -- surely this isn't just a local tradition. And then through foggy memory came the movie Midsommar, at the end of which the ladies do a similar kind of dance. One Google later, it seems this is a called a 'maypole dance' in various parts of Yurop.

I am sufficiently acquainted with the similarities/differences as to suggest you may actually use that name. Just thought I'd share.

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