Christmas bells entered the Romanian cultural space through a long process in which archaic traditions blended with Christian belief and European influences. Long before the holiday of Christmas developed as we know it, metallic sounds played an important ritual role in old communities: they were used to drive away evil spirits, to purify spaces, and to protect people during transitional moments at the turn of the year. These beliefs have been preserved in winter customs such as caroling, the Plugușor, and masked dances, where bells and jingles were indispensable. With the spread of Christianity, the sound of the bell also acquired a profound religious meaning, becoming an announcer of major feasts and a symbol of the Nativity. Small bells, however, were not originally used as decorations but primarily as functional or ritual objects. The first decorated Christmas tree in the Romanian lands was the one at the palace of Prince Carol I of Hohenzollern, following his arrival in the Romanian Principalities in 1866. From that moment the tradition took root, and on Christmas Eve princes and princesses invited to the palace would take part in decorating the tree. Among the ornaments used were small metal bells, symbolizing joy, the good news, and divine protection for the home. In the twentieth century, Christmas bells spread across all Romanian provinces and became a visual emblem of the holiday, appearing in both decorations and carols. Even during periods when religious expression was curtailed, bells remained in people's homes as signs of joy and the continuity of tradition. Today they retain this dual meaning: the echo of ancient beliefs and, at the same time, the announcement of the Birth of Christ - a symbol of hope, light, and the link between past and present. These tinkling pieces are part of a generous heritage collection at the National Museum of History of Moldova (NMHM), which includes more than 200 cultural items. A substantial contribution to the museum's collection of decorative bells was made by Dorina Raischi, a teacher at School No. 94 in Chișinău, who donated 174 bells, of which around 30 are winter-themed. Made of ceramic, porcelain, glass, and metal, they were brought from different parts of the world and together offer a succinct picture of the global culture of bells. They add a festive note to the home and even to a gift, and it is hard to imagine Christmas without their cheerful tinkling.
The early medieval spirituality in the Prut-Nistru space
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. II [XVII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
In the early medieval period in the Prut- Nistru space existed a multicolored spirituality based on Christian and Pagan values. These phenomena are attested in this region at all the development stages of the early medieval period, beginning with the 5th-7th centuries until the 12th-13th centuries.
The Christian values were characteristic first of all to the sedentary people of Romanic origin which practiced this cult starting from the late antiquity. At certain stages of the early medieval period, especially after the years 865 and 988 when the Christian religion become official in the Slavic world, these Christian values were embraced by Slavs groups established in this space as well. Therefore after the 10th century the sedentary people from the Prut-Nistru region can be characterized as exclusively Christian. The Christian religion in the 10th-13th centuries was practiced probably by a part of the nomads turned sedentary in the autochthons settlements.
From canonical standpoint, the Christians from the Prut-Nistru space in the early medieval period were subordinated to the Constantinople Patriarchy. Still the Christianity from this region and other North-Pontic regions is remarked as a popular one, situation caused by the by the isolation of this territory from the Byzantine world and its inclusion within a political space dominated by different pagan migratory peoples. A living expression of the popular Christianity from this space for the period of the 5th-9th centuries can be considered the funerary rite of the sedentary people who during a relatively long period preserved along the practice of inhumation the cult of incineration of the dead. In the 10th-11th centuries the Christian cult in the Prut-Nistru space crystallizes in forms close to the contemporary one.
The pagan values as religious systems in the early medieval period were characteristic for the migratory peoples. The bearers of pagan beliefs in the Prut-Nistru were the old Slavs, the Alans, the Bulgarians, the Hungarians, the Pechinegs, the Oguzs, the Cumans and the Mongols. Some pagan rituals were practiced as remains within the Christian religious system by the sedentary people.
Regarded from the standpoint of the spirituality the early medieval civilization of the Prut-Nistru space was made of two distinct worlds: Christian – represented by the sedentary local people and the pagan – represented by the migratory tribes of the steppe nomads, while at certain stages by groups of sedentary.
Gheorghe Postică
Dr. Mugur Andronic at 70 years
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XIX [XXXIV], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică, Chişinău, 2025
Gheorghe Postică
Elena Ploșnița, Concepte muzeografice cu profil de istorie: retrospectivă și perspectivă. Biblioteca "Tyragetia", Chișinău, 2008, 248p.
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Christmas bells entered the Romanian cultural space through a long process in which archaic traditions blended with Christian belief and European influences. Long before the holiday of Christmas developed as we know it, metallic sounds played an important ritual role in old communities: they were used to drive away evil spirits, to purify spaces, and to protect people during transitional moments at the turn of the year...
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
