Romania, first impressions from Wales
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- čas přidán 13. 06. 2024
- Wales and Romania are very different nations, and countries with varying landscapes and histories which both are made of former principalities. Having researched Romania for 6 videos (so far) in this channel's history, I thought it would be good to take a look at what my general impression is of Romania for those who are curious about the country and those who come from Romanian alike. It is a fascinating journey, and reveals some interesting facts about Wales as well as Romania. Enjoy!
00:00 Beginning
02:09 Collective Psyche
04:04 Mountains and Princes
06:03 Revolution
10:30 Judaism
12:47 Worlds
15:03 Food
16:31 Humble, Honest & Crazy
18:44 The Regions
20:50 Questions
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Music. uppbeat.io
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CC CZcams video
Map Wallachia 1320s By NeimWiki - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Revolution 1989 De la FOTO:FORTEPAN / Urbán Tamás, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
A street during the Revolution - De la Răzvan Rotta - Răzvan Rotta, CC BY 2.5, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Revolution in Timisoara De la FOTO:FORTEPAN / Urbán Tamás, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
De la Neoclassicism Enthusiast - Operă proprie, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
I'm Polish and have recently visited Romania.I liked it some much.Food, people, architecture. Our two countries were close for centuries. Sadly, since the two no longer share a border, they've grown more distance. I hope with better roads, new rail links amore travel opportunities this changes over time.
Sounds like a good business opportunity for you.
We are friendly people, romanians😊
Dziekuje
So, I had a Rumanian work mate and her name made her sound like a member of a royal Welsh family!
Their humour fitted in well with us in north Wales/north west england. Also she married a British lad, their double barrelled name made them sound an even more Welsh!!!
My hope is to visit Romania and experience this fascinating country.
Excellent. The Roman Empire influenced Wales in a way it has not England's culture, and so our Welsh names can at times be very familiar to Romanians.
I assume her family name was Tudor. Quite a common name here in Romania.
My family name is Tudor and from when I was a kid my mom always joked that I was related with the royalty of England 😂😂😂
i am not sure that Romanians were part of Italy or Rome... somewhere in history wrote that Romans are coming from Dacia/Tracia... that is why a lot of countries speak little bit "romanian". Some villages from Istria/Croatia are speaking romanian. even in macedonia(Aromani) etc....@@BenLlywelyn
I red that emperor Trajan said about Dacia "well, roman people, let's go conquer home now!"
The Romanian people have good things and bad things like any other people on this planet ! Nobody is perfect ! God bless Romania !!!
Da.
Sanatate
@@Bia2chan Multumesc asemenea !
@BenLlywelyn God bless you with great health and happiness.
@@julianmarco4185 Thanks, same to you !
Thank you for another video about Romanians or Romania. It's so nice when a westerner, especially a British one (particularly Welsh) is so interested by a country in Eastern Europe and its people that had suffered greatly in the past centuries, but still exist as a folk/nation despite all the difficulties. We have a diverse origin and heritage, many foreigners invaded here and left or settled being assimilated to the Vlach (Romanian) culture, we also have a diverse ethnic heritage (left from the past empires that dominated the area) in the present, living here alongside Gypsies (Rroma), Hungarians, German medieval settlers, Armenians, Bulgarians, Ruthenians/Ukrainians, Lipovan Russians, Turks, Tatars, Greeks, Czechs, Slovaks, Croatians, Catholic Bulgarians, Albanians, even Aromanians (Vlachs from the Balkan Peninsula that came in the 18-20th centuries, forced by the ethnic cleansings from Albanians and Greeks). We are the only country in this region where its own people denigrate their country, mainly because of the Communist period and because of some ethnics that made us the black sheep of Europe. But Romania is rising, we have very modern cities, big prices on everything, we dream for luxury, some of us achieve it. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!
A thick layered cake, Romania seems so. Merry Christmas to you too.
Greetings from Chisinau, Rep. of Moldova, you should visit all places youve described. Keep it up with the channel. Waching you for some months or more. Impressed about debates here on our common history. Romanian language is so butiful, alongside with the other ralated one. Multumesc pentru munca depusa!
Multumesc pentru aceste luni.
Hello my brother!😎, greetings from Ardeal 🙋♂️
All the best bro thanks!@@biyoubiyou1446
Greetings! Love Chișinău Moldova ❤
My maternal grandmother, who died in the 1960s when I was a boy , was a native of. the Ukrainian town of Chernivtsi in the region of Bukovina close to the Romanian border spoke Romanian as well as Ukrainian , Yiddish and. Standard German , and. there were many ethnic Romanians there too . She also learned. English when she settled in New York in the early 1900s . I wish she had lived longer so I could have learned more about the old country and the languages she spoke . I'd also like to visit Romania very much .
Chernivtsi ( Cernauti) is a Romanian city in ukraine /
there were many ethnic Romanians there too? I guess so, since they were a majority there..
Sounds like she had a wonderful flourishing of the Old Europe's mixing of languages.
Care oraș ucrainean? Cernăuți a fost parte a Molfovei până la odiosul rapt din 1774 cănd l-au luat austriecii. Apoi la 1818 la Cernăuți s-a decis unirea cu Ro.
The real problem of the Cernăuți area were the welcoming romanians people. The Russian speaker which was helped, as today the today Ukrainians refugees, become significant and about 200 years ago, the Russian speakers jews understood that the area will become more stable and came in huge numbers. This is why today the villages in the area are still romanians but the cities are more Russians/Ukrainians. No-one speak today about the huge numbers of people killed by the Russian jews (communists commissars) before ww2 when they raped the north of Romania and the east. Most of the people/Romanians even don't know about this. So in Romania antisemitism was never an issue but opposite the Jews controlling the linguistic and historical area are trying to buries the romanian history in a bunch of stupid lies, and the romanians frustrations, due to all of this, are called "Dacopats".
Thank you for another excellent video, your views on romanian culture are quite accurate. Keep up the good work, Ben!
Looking forward for your impressions after visiting the country (worth doing it in the summer/spring time).
Definitely would like to sometime.
Keep them coming Ben another great video 🇹🇩❤️🏴
mulțumesc foarte mult
This is how you will learn more about Romania, will visit us few time, and will end up living in here 😀
Good luck my friend ! Enjoy Romanian coulture and kind people (not in traffic)
I love how you aproach and how you see things, very similar to myself.Concerning the romanian people, you will find that our most important and defining trait is making fun of everything,including ourselves, even when it's something really bad.In romanian it is called "a face haz de necaz", which would translate to"making fun of trouble".
Sometimes the only way through difficult times is to make fun of it.
The Romanians are present on your channel Ben because they are always very interested on how they and their country are perceived by others.
I’ll tell you why because I’m old enough to know these things and when I say I’m old enough, it means that I lived in Communist Romania as well - so I’m talking from personal life experience firsthand about my country, not from what my parents or my grandparents told me as a kid in a more or less objective way.
A relative who secretly was an informant of the Securitate ( they were 5 millions!) or an apparatchik in their village will give their grandchildren a different account of Romanian life during communism and even a different approach to history than I would as a descendant of a family without communist party membership - the difference being enough to almost convince you that we are describing 2 different countries.
I’ve been living in Australia for a long time and I’ve been on the Internet since 1997.
Then, there were no Romanians on the Internet whatsoever; I was looking for friends, I was looking for publications or dedicated sites, I was looking for all sorts of things and all I could find were some miserable chat rooms in Romanian and some sites dedicated to Romanian cities by Romanians living in Canada or United States etc, hosting their sites on the servers over there.
It took a long time for the Romanians to come online compared to Australians or Americans or any others, despite of the fact that they had from the start the fastest Internet in Europe.
They, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be embarrassed or to care, they all behaved like they were the only ones online, nobody else really counts and the only important thing is that on behalf of freedom of speech now, because there was no more any Communist censorship we can say whatever-whenever crosses our minds because we don’t give a crap about the others and how they might feel .
Nobody else but Romanians spoke Romanian online all day, so who cares.
This freedom of speech thing was completely misunderstood by a lot of jerks and I believe still is.
But nothing and absolutely nothing about Romania appeared online in English before Romania joined the European Union.
No tourist accounts of any attractions (although you see, those majestic mountains with their lakes and rivers and bears and all those old buildings and all the villages were still there then as they are today!! Go figure…)
So no travel blogs, no historical analysis or language comparisons on CZcams or anything; nothing, nada, zilch
Once they did, a bit of good and all the bad surfaced like oil on water; there were 1 billion Romanian patriots chanting their patriotism and nationalism, there were even few scams and even neo-N@zi sites in Romanian and there were a lot of anti-Gypsy and anti-gay sites and there were all sorts of things that I didn’t like and I started wishing that they didn’t come online at all, because I felt embarrassed for them or on their behalf.
But good advertising or some ads of good, positive things - none.
There were a lot of reports of Roma people from Romania stealing and begging throughout Europe being named “Romanians” although everybody knew they were Roma, but other than that, there was nothing unless some thieves broke into a jewellery store and they turned out to be Romanians, nothing else even in the news online .
The Brits were exceptionally good on making a truckload of documentaries to post on on CZcams about “all those Romanian criminals who reached UK…”
After a while I thought that the Russians, the Poles, the Bulgarians, the Albanians , the Serbs, the Hungarians, The Italians , the French and all the others had no criminals to export to England with one exception: Romania.
As I said above, Romanians abroad made sites dedicated to certain cities but no foreign visitor left an impression or a comment there ever besides Romanians; nobody seemed to be interested, everyone everywhere was talking occasionally about Poland or the Czech Republic, sometimes even Budapest got a mention but the rest of the ex-Warsaw Pact countries did not exist in the mind or knowledge of the rest of the world at all as tourist spots , not even the fascinating Croatia.
For 18-19 years there was virtually no decent information about Romania anywhere online, not even Wikipedia in Romanian existed for a very long time and the English version provided just a bunch of truncated informations in relation to communism there, nothing more.
The country had no history worth browsing.
No wonder the Dacopathy - a Ceausescu more or less favourite creation appeared to balance the feeling of being completely ignored by the world.
Completely; except when some need to be belittled arised somewhere , in some journalist’s brain.
An Anti-Romanian campaign flourished in Europe blown out of proportion in the 90s and early 2000s, I’m not kidding you.
And it was sort of pan-European.
Things started clearing up a bit and once Romanians joined the EU.
But helas, as soon as the application was lodged, the Ruzzian trollzz popped up like mushrooms and vomited their propaganda pretending to be Romanian voices and a bit later the trolls and fans off Mr Orbán from Hungary started to appear, very keen to polish Mr Orban’s pedestal and as keen as the Russians to fabricate “information”.
I’ve got to tell you Ben I’m still amazed by the fact that every time I login now, CZcams feels compelled to serve me a bunch of travel blogs recommendations from visiting influencers in Romania, a bunch of video clips in English about Romanian history, geography, cuisine, language, Latin connections and Romance languages , all in relation to Romania.
It’s like all of a sudden the travellers of the world discovered it overnight and they are all in a rush to post their vlogs on CZcams.
This is why you get so many Romanians on your channel Ben, because finally CZcams woke up and started advertising Romania to its subscribers.
It might be a miracle, or aliens, or reptilians, or it might be because the Romanian government or EU finally bribed CZcams but it is a lot of information about Romania on social media right now, finally.
We managed in the end to catch up with Sri Lanka.
Pfeeww!
I would take it as a sign that your country is growing and people are finding worth in your cultural and language - I wish more would be done for my own country, Cymru. There are not that many of us.
@@BenLlywelyn I think a larger percent of your people than previously thought want ( or simply don’t care about it ) assimilation.
My people emigrate too much, they hastily get fed up with changes if they don’t work instantly the way they want or hope.
It looks like their patience and ethics were eroded by communism and yours were eroded by the Brits.
Well done man! I'm also a 61 years old person and I have a lot of stories about comparing the goods and bads. After '89 was a huge media campaign made to shame the romanians. I would like to see more honest media to speak about the goods and bads of the communism and Ceausescu. No-one is speaking about the economic plan made by Manoilescu following the Eminescu economic texts which was very efficient for a strong and independent Romania. We were much better than the Chinese in '89. This was the main reason of the "revolution". Ceausescu did a lot of mistakes but he was killed for what he did good and not for the bad things. The new "rulers" after 89 were the children of the russian jews communists commissars which sent to prisons and to Siberia hundred of thousands of people because, what a very few people are understanding, the communism in east Europe was to prepare the conditions for the globalization. We were too self-sufficient in a 80% of the people rural farms life to be interesting for the world based by the slavery of the employment and banks dependency. Don't forget that most of the communist, as well as the pre ww2 time, leadership were jews so it isn't any antisemitism in Romania but a very deep sadness looking how they are folowing them interests stepping on the locals head in Romania and allover the world.
@@ionelghiorghita688 I don’t like your post, it’s antisemitic as hell, with conspiracies innuendo and with obvious Ceaușist-nostalgia.
I don’t like when Romanians blame other ethnicities for their own stupid mistakes or their own stupid betrayals, or for their old stupid alliances with the wrong people, I have absolutely no respect for such concepts.
Whenever we lost to the Russians or the Turks there was always a Romanian involved in the betrayal.
When my people are doing stupid things and behaving dishonourably I admit it publicly and I take pride for having the guts to admit it, the same way I admit say it clearly when others wrong us, but it’s important to blame ourselves for all the 💩we created or we are responsible for and not to blame others!
The Jews were not a majority in Romania ever!
Even now we have like 5000 out of 19 or 20 million people.
5000 in the entire country!
What the hell are you rambling about!
When they were more than 5000, that bastard Ceausescu sold them like cattle for hard currency to Israel or to their own relatives who lived in the Free World - the relatives paid Ceausescu and the Securitate millions of dollars and so did Germany for the German minority who wanted to repatriate because after 700 years of cohabitation , they could not stand anymore the Romanian Stalinism almost half a century after that bastard Stalin died!
Ceausescu kept stalinism alive even after the Soviets gave up on it!
Don’t forget who you talking to here, you’re talking to a person who lived in those times and knows everything in detail.
You must be totally uneducated because if you were even slightly educated you would know that more than half of our cultural personalities, great musicians and poets and writers and university professors and art and literature critics and painters and sculptors and philosophers of Romania were Jews!
Without them we wouldn’t have the culture that we have today because they were a small minority but had brains and talent and they contributed to everything.
And how did we repay them? With pogroms? Selling them for dollars?
Their intellectual capacities are still visible even today throught the world, if you look at the list off the Nobel Prize laureates 25% of all the winners of all time are Jews!
They did for humanity more than anybody else.
I have a great respect for Jewish intelligence, creativity and talents, they always excelled in a lot of ways at a lot of things and I wouldn’t mind to live with them as neighbours as many as possible, I would prefer them to anybody else, I never had a problem with aJewish person in my entire life and the best doctors or dentists or professors I had were Jews.
I don’t like your post, you sound exactly like those extremist AUR members.
I don’t have any respect for those fasc!sts.
Don’t bring your politics here! 😡
very accurate observations. and it really does feel like everyone discovered Romania all of a sudden and they have good things to say about it. it feels like a conspiracy tbh haha. also feels good to be something more than “romanian thieves”
I am going to Romania
Specifically Bucharest
In early 2024
Planning out a staycation with a buddy of mine
He was raised there
Looking forward to it after watching your Chanel
I subscribed looking forward to learning more
Thank you for the insightful information
Thank you for subscribing.
You must vizit Romania
Yes, indeed.
Beautiful explanations Ben...Very deep understanding!! Thank you and "Salut din Romania" to you... God bless the wonderful welsh people!!
Superb!,
esti nimic mai putin dintre cei mai buni.
Nu ești cu nimic mai puțin apreciat.
I enjoyed your tentative descriptions and impressions. It was interesting to watch and see what others think of us. I assume you haven't visited yet, so I encourage you to plan a trip with video coverage and comments. God bless Wales and Romania.
Thank you. Some time I will visit - don't know when.
I hope you will find a lot of joy in your new journey. I have a strong feeling that you will be very happy in the future that you decided to explore this beautiful country and it s culture.
Look at Flavours of Romania by Charlie Ottley. It shows the various regions of Romania. About Romania's culinary influences, not so much German, but rather Austrian, Hungarian, Ottoman influences, then French, so we have improved and mixed all sort of recipes. Not so much rice, we are an important producer of wheat and maize, also vegetables, fruits. And as the entire Balkans, we love our meat.
About Oltenia, it is only west of the Olt river, the eastern part is Muntenia, until you reach the Danube. Between the Danube and the Black Sea is Dobrogea.
A Hungarian mix in the cuisine sounds very tasty indeed. Thank you for your recommendation.
@@BenLlywelyn you should try eating also in Vienna or Istanbul. Great food!
(3rd comment) If I were to summarize Romania's superpower it would be "innovation with what we have". That's how Romania got anywhere, "innovation with what we have". Because we didn't have much, and we had to use that not much to innovate with. Cuisine and military come to mind: "sarmale" a Romanian speciality, was originally invented by Turkey, but Romanians added a twist to it - with pork. Which Turkey would never do because they are Muslims. So one of Romania's 'national dish' is just taking an already existing concept (meat covered by grape leaves) and twisting it into an unique thing. Most of the Romanian cuisine is like that, it's usually from somewhere else but with an unique Romanian twist, thus making it unique. During World War 2, these were Romania's battle tanks: R-2c (Light Tank) - Romanian FT (Light Tank) - French Renault FT tank with Romanian modifications, R-1 (Light Tank) - Czechoslovak AH-IV tank with Romanian modifications; Czechoslovak Skoda LT vz.35 tank with Romanian modifications; Carul de Lupta R-35 (Light Tank) - French R-35 tank with Romanian modifications; T-26/37mm (Light Tank) - Captured Soviet T-26 tanks with Romanian modifications; TACAM T-60 (Tank Destroyer) - Captured Soviet T-60 tanks modified to be Tank Destroyers; of course we had AB Md. 1941 (SPAAG) - Original Romanian design. (1 Prototype); Maresal M-00 (Tank Destroyer) - Original Romanian design, not based on German Hetzer, it was the other way around that were 100% Romanian design, but also R-35/T-26 (Light Tank) - French R-35 tank with Soviet T-21 turret and gun. Romania basically mixed French & Russian tanks into something new. Vanatorul de Care R-35 (Light Tank) - An improved version of the R-35/T-26, the turret was changed to R-35 as it had better armor and various Romanian parts added. Do you see a pattern? Romania is very good at being culture adapters and then culture improvisers based on the things they adapt. Romanians used to be shepherds, the very first mentions of Romanians in Gesta Hungarorum, the Russian Chronicle, the Saga of Eymund, Nibelung Saga, as well as Byzantine/Italian sources, they all describe Romanians as shepherds. So when did the Romanians stopped being sehpherds? when the Turks came. The Turks would take the Romanians's sheeps, so the Romanians started rising pigs instead, and to this day there is a Romanian tradition to kill the pig on Christmas. That is the most Romanian thing ever in my opinion, the adaption, if that doesn't describe Romania, nothing does. This is the consequence of a smaller people living between bigger people with a struggle of survival, you have to adapt or you will die, we choose to adapt rather than have Turks steal our sheeps.
Actually sarmale are not Turkish. Stuffed cabbage comes from our area, Romania perhaps, maybe Serbia.
As long as all the countries in the Thracians area are having this dish it's probably older than the Turkish in Anatolia.
As long as all the countries in the Thracians area are having this dish it's probably older than the Turkish in Anatolia.
You know some things, and the idea of adaptation is correct, but sarmale is a much older dish and does not come from Turkey, another thing is that many people think that Romania got influenced by its neighbours but never the other way around, that only because they have been brainwashed by schools and media...
Shmecher frate.
Not sure if our Borsch is such important in Germany or other countries. "Borș de casă" or "Borș crud", is when you put water with wheat bran, corn flower and some yeast to start the fermentation. It gets sour like lemon juice. But its very healthy - for the intestinal flora, not to mention all the B vitamins, etc.
Anyway, this borș is whats used in all "soups" to make them sour, and its so wide spread that many people do it at home. And if not, there's a relative or a person in their neighborhood which does it and sells it. (besides finding it in the supermarket).
Sounds tasty. Thank you.
"Anyway, this borș is whats used in all "soups" to make them sour"
Let me guess something, you're not a cook?:) Now being serious, only soups made with bors are made with bors..
Definitely not all soups. In fact we differentiate between soups and sour soups:
Supă
Ciorbă (sour soup).
Usage of the borscht is slightly more widespread outside the Carpathians though
That was a fair assessment.
It is very diverse.
Cheers, thanks.
As a Romanian I have a bit of advice: if you come to our country to know our people try to travel more than to the more touristic towns of Transilvania. As you said, the Romanian space is a world in itself and we have a different flavour for each 100km that you travel more. Everywhere you will find a thick Romanian base-layer but sprinkled on top will be different proportions of things we borrowed form near or far. In southern Transilvania you will find germanic influence, in the center of it it's magyar and on east Transilvania is the Sekely identity (which is not magyar, mind you). Then travel to the north border, in Maramureș you will find magyar and ukrainian influences and nearby, on the northeast border, in Bucovina you will find that ukrainian and polish influences make a very different space altogether even if they are just a mountain apart. Come down from the mountains on our eastern border to see how the steppes people had influenced our way of life and then enter Dobrogea to meet the Old Russian Church people who live alongside tatars communities. Travel through the rich plains of eastern and central Muntenia, avoid Bucharest for now and go into Oltenia and visit the hideout villages and monasteries at the foot of the mountains and there you will understand how we survived as a people even though centuries of conquest and economic hardships. And finally come to Bucharest to meet modern Romania, the last 200 years western-bound modernisation plan, with its french, german, nationalist and cosmopolitan influences overlapping in a fascinating way. Do all that and you will understand a little bit about Romanians as a people and not as a population. Everyone is welcomed here as long as they come in peace, that is our only condition, to be peacefully, not even respectful - you are allowed not to like us as long as you do it peacefully.
Looking forward to your adventures in Romania! ❤
Many thanks for your tour of Romania there. It may be a while before I can visit Romania, but in the meantime I can learn about it and from time to time make videos about your wonderful country. Oltenia seems an interesting and fertile region.
Ben you are one hell of a narator and you know your history and facts. very good videos. as a romanian i enjoyed your videos but i will also look further to your narations to the history of other countries as well. Good luck!
Thank you. If you are curious about Cymru (Wales), there is an entire history series here for you.
Ben, very interesting content, congratulations.
Kind. Thank you.
Interesting material Ben.
Cheers!
You are very perceptive! Good realistic view of our country. I hope you will enjoy coming over here :)
I hope to do so some time too!
As a romanian i can say that i admire your contents, romanians are just conservative , i am a very pro democratic person but what you said about our last dictator it was a false information. There is no good or bad political leaders , every leader wants the best for its nation . What was in the past shall remain in the past , now we live the future .
Focusing on the future is a good thing.
@@BenLlywelyn GEORGE ORWELL - 1984: "Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past"
I don't know who you are Ben, I don't know how I found your channel - I think I was watching a video about language similarities between some of the romance languages today- and then your channel came up.
Anyway, I love your videos, I love how you choose your topics and present then in your videos , I like the tone of your voice voice and in general the whole vibe I get.
Long live your country my man and Diolch for your work!
Diolch yn fawr iawn. Similarities between languages could have easily fed into my channel. Glad you came by.
Another nice video,have a great day Ben! On 2020 I went to the top of Snowdon on September it was like a fairytale for us.
Very nice!
As a romanian, love ya Ben. Thanks for being straightforward! We are what we are with the good and the bad. This channel is better because it shows the whole aspects which unlike other content creators coming on a safari here...
You are welcome. Thanks for the comment.
Interesting , Thank you for covering my nation. Could you cover The Concept of getto-traco-dacia. I love your content
Bun venit.
multumesc
Geto-Thracian
I am Romanian, and you got a correct idea about Romania and Romanians.
Your work is welcome.
Beautiful presentation!Thank you for being interested in Romanian history and culture.
It helps lots of Romanians like myself to get reconnected with their native country and other nationalities to know that Romania is more than what they watch on news.
I love your narrative and the music.
You have to go to Romania to try their food and I hope that someone is going to open the door of their house for you, to invite you and guide you through.
Romanians hospitality is very famous and I am sure that you are going to love it.
I just found your channel and I love all your presentations about Romania.
I have found it very informative and I realised how much work you put to do the research and gather everything together.
Thank you for your work!
Just love it.😊
Can't wait to try Romanian food.
I recommend watching Charley Ottley - flavours of romania. I think there are 9 episodes but I could be wrong, or some content from Tessa Dunlop but the best would be to visit and spend time in RO. Greetings from essex.
Found some episodes here on CZcams.
There are 2 seasons of Flavours of Romania on Netflix
Greetings from Maramureș Romania! Also known as the land that wasn't occupied by the Romans which caused us to have a very unique architecture style and a very rich regional culture. I have been watching your content for a few months and I've been really enjoying it! Honestly exposing the Dacopaths like Roxin and their wierd theories are eyeopening for some but I do still believe that we can consider ourselves as Dacian. Ok, through relexification we have changed almsot all of our vocabulary as a result of the numerous foreign occupations but I merely see this as a peopls speaking a foreign language. Ok, the language may be different but the people itself is still there. And as the Dacians adopted Celtic and Greek culture to enrich its own I seee the adoption of Roman, Magyar and Slavic cultural elements as just benefits for our own as cultural diversity is an amazing thing. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for watching the channel. As you are the people of that land - I respect you are the caretakers of the Dacian memory. How Romania views.the Dacians is entirely your path and choice.
@@BenLlywelyn Of course and I respect everyone's take and opinion. What matters is the ideal goal of preserving our culture and history.
I live her abd love it.
I must agree about the French influence, because parts of Timişoara remind me of Périgueux, even the cemeteries. ( and tge Railways) ps, the Eiffel Tower is made from Romanian steel
Fascinating comparison. The Dordogne is a beautiful region.
Thanks
Yes! Multusmesc / Thank you.
There were exceptions in the relationship with the Hungarian kingdom. In 1377, Radu I achieved a notable victory by defeating or halting the Hungarian king's army in open-field combat. This success was not reliant on natural barriers like forests and mountains but on a heavily armored cavalry, procured through the Venetian Republic. Following this battle, the king of Hungary granted the Saxons from Brasov a piece of land under the condition that they construct a fortress to safeguard one of the main crossings in Wallachia. This marked the inception of the Bran fortress, now erroneously associated with Vlad Țepeș - Draculea's fortress. (The real favorite fortress of Tepes was the Poenari Fortress).
Romanian anti-Semitism, in most cases, aligned with the extreme right, with such parties prevalent during the interwar period. While some sympathizers still exist, they are unable to express themselves officially.
It's challenging to draw direct comparisons between the left in former communist countries and the left in democratic nations.
The collective psyche of Romanians has evolved over time due to significant economic, political, and social changes. For instance, before 1920, a majority of the population comprised impoverished peasants with limited land. Before 1989, freedom was absent, but people sought solace in culture. Post-1989, despite gaining access to various resources, economic crises and a decline in values occurred. Politicians have adeptly exploited people's fears and anxieties, contributing to substantial corruption that persists as a problem. Some individuals express admiration for regimes in Hungary, Russia, and Turkey. Certain politicians specialize in discrediting European values, particularly following the EU's endorsement of anti-corruption efforts. Conversely, self-proclaimed supporters of European values often resemble the others in terms of incompetence and corruption. Recently, Russia's influence, backing anti-EU parties and stances, subtly asserts itself. Attention, we have problems with roads in various regions (one of the problems affected by corruption, is the construction of new roads and highways). The intention is not to dwell on negativity but to underscore the obstacles hindering progress.
Yes, Romanians tend to be more direct than others; they are friendly and open to conversation. The architectural influences before 1945 were diverse, drawing inspiration from various styles, including the French. However, contemporary architecture lacks a distinctive style. While different regions exhibit specific characteristics, they all boast various attractive features.
Mulțumesc pentru că. That your society has so many different views and the extremes are a small minority is a sign of good health.
Bran is correctly associated with Dracule, because Vlad tepes was imprisoned there.
Otherwise you talk about issues you do not understand.
I'm talking about the foreign tourists who come to see "Dracula's Castle"(and not because he was imprisoned in Bran for several months, according to a Romanian historian). And it would be good to keep the politeness in the discussion.
The first registered Wallachian Hungarian encounter was in 1280s, during Negru Voda. He was supposed to be supplied 10k armors by the Vlachs of Ragusa, but the convoy was intercepted by the Serbians of Milutin and soon after, under the protectorate of Hungary Milutin started to conquer around. Mostly Vlach land.
Actually the romanians are basically peasant, the cities was an allogeneic majority before ww2 and became a mix of 50/50 in the communism time due to the industrialisation and more acces of the peasants children to the high schools. So when we we speak about antisemitism in Romania is just a reaction to the corruption when looking up you still can understand, even after 150 years of changing them names, most of them are having a jewish heritage. I'm saying jewish to simplify because many of them are considering them self "Turkic, Greeks, Tatars or whatever but we know that the new came jews preferred to be considered whatever else than jews and they came in Romania for business or as rulers/authorities representatives of the surrounding empires. So forget about the" romanians antisemitism " which is actually a very weak try of defending from the Jewish cultural political and cultural hegemony. The Romanians are having a low social level but, due to the thousands of years of history, a high level of understanding of the others cultures, approaches and interests. Some kind of wisdom which can be very well known reading the old popular stories collected 100-200 years ago. This would be a big challenge for any non-romanian language speaker if are not all ready translated. More than this to understand the meaning of some facts suppose to have a filosof initiated in interpretation of them.
I find it funny that Romania has kinda adopted your channel in terms of your audience proportion. Keep it up (I found you from those but I now watch all of your videos)
Wales and Romania are oddly similar not just the Vlach/Welsh name but the Roman legacy, mountain people, sheep, preserving their language and culture for so long. You might be interested in looking more into the Vlachs/Aromanians in Greece etc, they're at risk of losing their culture because they're not allowed schools in their language and the young people lose connection with their identity and assimilate. They also have a mysterious origin, nobody knows for sure if they're Romanians or brothers of Romanians or if Romanians came from there (not likely) even the different clans between them argue about it, the languages are so similar. As an Irish speaker I know how important it is to keep the language alive through teaching our childen and making it more used in real life, Welsh people have done such a good job it seems at least from my experience watching 2 Welsh CZcamsrs who can speak it :)
It is funny, indeed. You cannot predict where the CZcams journey goes! Thank you for the support.
Hi Ben 👋 I’ve recently subscribed to your channel and must admit that your content and your tone of delivering it is really cool and rather witty 😎 Over and above that it is really impressive how without having ever visited Romania 🇷🇴 you’ve penetrated its history and spirit !!!
I’m actually originally from the Basarabian Moldova 🇲🇩 and would like to chip in as well into this little pool of comments, if I may.
At the time when I was born Leonid Brezhnev was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR. In 1993 by a stroke of sheer fortune I ended up in England. Whilst Romania 🇷🇴 and Basarabian Moldova 🇲🇩 share the same language, folk and traditions, I must say as a first hand witness that due to all the historical roller coaster 🎢 events we grew to be in some ways somewhat different as well. I remember when I first visited Romania 🇷🇴 in 1990 after the Iron Curtain fell I felt in many ways so much more different then the Romanians. After all, we spoke the same tongue, I could understand them and they could understand me, however on the point of Slavic influence, we in Basarabia really got proper hammered by how you put it, ‘’ Slavic influence.’’ I found the Romanians so sweet 😘, well mannered, humble, empathic, friendly and overall really good lucid people compare to us Russian-ised Basarabia Romanians. I genuinely perceived them as Sweetie Pies.
Now I’m not sure 🤔 if that is still the case right now with the new generation, you know, the millenniums and staff, did they get the bug of unalloyed materialism and modern day consumerism ( a phenomenon from which in my humble opinion humanity is suffering on a Global scale ) or have they been lucky 🍀 enough to still preserve that sweet bed side manner soft hearted ness for which Romanians 🇷🇴 once upon a time were known for ??? In either case I would boldly encourage you to go and visit that beautiful country of Romania 🇷🇴 and fear not of them, for I genuinely know for a fact that they are intrinsically down to earth well mannered, kind lot. Obviously wherever one may go, one ought to be street wise at all times and take good care of her/his safety as good practice would have it. Looking forward to more of your content 👍
Thank you. I value your watching and commenting. Moldolva has certainly has a lot of ups and downs in history, stuck in a hard place. And I hope for peace over there in future days. As for Romania, I say it is up to the 2 if you if you want to reunite or not and both of you of course need a long think on that, and for both to want it. If history has changed you, I understand. Glad you enjoy the content.
Something very interesting about Romania.
First illuminated city in the world was Bucuresti. 1857
First electricity illuminated city in Europe. Timișoara 1884
Light is a wonderful thing in winter!
@@BenLlywelyn
Again thank you for doing this!!
We’ve had enough horrible press in your country before Brexit.
Thank you!
The Republic of Moldova 🇲🇩 is România too, saying this because the maps used in this video shows that land like a gray zone
Just going by international borders. If Moldova wants to unite with Romania (more power to them and I see reasons why), but their choice.
@BenLlywelyn Originally, I am from Moldova, and I consider myself Romanian. Reunification is complicated due to Russian aggressive behavior in that region.
Russia is going to have a few problems over the next couple decades, maybe this will help you.
Hi Ben. I was wondering... Why Romania? I've seen several videos you posted about it and I bet it took you and your team a fair amount of time to produce them. It doesn't seem to be an aleatory choice either. Good job, so far!
Hey thanks. Just me, no team yet!
As for why Romania, it got views and besides it is genuinely an interesting country.
If you did it all by yourself, it's even more amazing. I wish you many views on your future videos, sir! :) And thank you for reply!
(2nd comment) As a Romanian, I can say Romanians as a whole aren't anti-semitic. WW2 was a complicated period in Romanian history, but long-story short Romania only went against the Jews because Hitler promised them Northern Transylvania back if they help Germany in WW2. The far-right Iron Guard only got 17% votes in the 1937 general election (last democratic elections) and most people didn't hate the jews, my great great grandfather personally went to prison for trying to protect the jews during the Iasi Pogrom caused by the Iron Guard. And after the 1941 revolt, Ion Antonescu only "hated" the jews so that Germany would give Romania northern Transylvania back. WW2 for Romania was a struggle for survival more than anything else. Trapped between the hammer and the anvil, Germany and USSR. They used to be pro-France but since the fall of France that was unreasonable. Romania recognises Palestine due to communist times, but even in communist times Romania was the black sheep of comunism. It condemned the invasion of Czechoslovakia and was almost invaded because of it, it got the status of "most favoured nation" from USA, as a communist country, and was selected as an arbitrary for peace negociations between Israel and Palestine when all of the Eastern Bloc was pro-Palestine. USA approved of Romania because they weren't like the rest of the Eastern Bloc. You said it best, Romania is everything Hungary, Russia and Turkey are not. Since for most of our history we were separated in 3 regions: Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia; and trapped between 3 bigger states (Hungary, Russia, Turkey) that would often use us as a battlefield. So Romanian collective consciousness developed as everything Hungary, Russia and Turkey are not.
You are so wrong, Antonescu didn't hate the Jews but even saved hundreds of thousands of them helping them to cross Romania from Hungary and Poland. Hitler pressed him to arrest and send him all the jews found crossing the country and he did a law about doing this but it was just for image, he ordered to be never applied. What was unconvenient for the Jews was that never accepting to fight in the war they were sent to do "social" works, in Bucharest after 1940 earthquake, for cleaning the streets of the collapsed buildings. Very bad for them 99%of them never touched a brick before. There were few situations where some jews were killed usually due to them membership to the communism movement which determinate them to sabotaged the romanian army and authority knowing (before ww2 many Jews sold them properties knowing what next) that Romania will become after ww2 part of the communism as Stalin and Churchill even decided. This kind of rematches wasn't possible to be controlled in the war time and some of them was made by the German army but assigned to the romanians. As I know after ww2 Antonescu even had a statue in Israel as a recognition of his help. But, you know, we all have to be guilty when is about jews, never them killing thousands of romanians when they conquered north of Bucovina and Basarabia before ww2 after Ribbentrop-Molotov pact.
ROMANIA IS A VERY MYSTERIOUS COUNTRY !!!!
I love it very much!!!
And most of us we don’t have issues about how are your roots , the most important factor for us as a Romanian is to be human and respect that !!!
Well come to Romania 🇷🇴 ❤ my lovely country !!!
Thank you kindly.
Hi, there is a Dacian cohort in the Roman fort in Park in the Past near Wrexham. A group of Romanian reenactors came over this year to join in the Auxiliar event. Im sure if you went along there you would love what is happening there.
Hope to see that some day. Wrexham is not easy to get to from where I am.
Good content. There are things I think are somewhat different but it is OK, you need to make you own impression. I live in Maine USA, but am Romanian, and spent my youth under communist rule, I think you got most of it right. I also loved your protochronist (dacopathy) content. That was perfect!
Hey thank you. Sending love back to America.
@@BenLlywelyn This video was good as well. I would have been harsher with my compatriots, but maybe I would have been wrong and your kindness was wiser and more fit for the situation.
@@titisuteuhe just tried to correct the video about "dacopats" were he was very agresiv and ironic about Hașdeu or others which he don't know nothing about but he laughs about. I didn't comment his attitude but I was very decided to stop looking at him. He probably understood his mistakes from the people reactions or he just realised how many viewers he can lose.
@@ionelghiorghita688 We get waay to easily offended. If one of our cultural personalities says something blatantly wrong, we should not support the error just because he is Hasdeu. He has his contribution s to our culture that will remain valid even if we criticize his errors. And protochronism (dacopathy) is pseudohistory of the lowest quality. I feel ashamed that several of our cultural personalities supported something so wrong.
Greetings from Romania!
Bun venit.
My favorite building in Romania is the Constanta Casino.
I like Constanta because it's multicultural like Constantinople was.
A short trip to the park and you hear many languages spoken.
I've even had Japanese tourists taking pictures of me while fishing through a hole between the rocks in Tomis port. 😂
They have large stone coffins in the Constanta city center, Ukrainean restorant Chernomorka and the poet Ovidiu statue.
Lots of Roman and Greek influence, not visigoths like Buzau.
In the summer that would a great drive I'm sure.
As a Romanian I enjoy your videos but since I don't know Welsh what I really like is the way you pronounce your last name. Please, at the beginning of each video don't stop giving us that micro lesson in Welsh. The double l is an amazing sound. Romanian also has a couple of schwa sounds that foreigners find hard to pronounce. Maybe you should do a series on the Welsh language? Intro to Welsh for Wallachians?
Some more comparisons between Romanian and Welsh Languages could be interesting.
Thank you for your description and impressions of Romania, it's interesting to see the differences between countries, remind the history, sad sometimes. Yous are right on most of your comments, but you still have to descover by yourself all the different sides of my country. I lived in the communism period untill my 11 years old, I have good and bad memories. After I lived in some of the west countries, Canada, France, I went back to Romania, then I left again. But I prefer that my kids live in a democratic world and have the choice, human rights and good conditions for living, which we didn't have in the communism period. Romania had evolved, life it's much better and romanians try to keep some traditions because it's part of their identity. There are diferent minorities that live together this is an exemple for the world. But the real romanians are the most kind, sincere and generous people you can meet. They are not perfect and as you said there are scars, but romanians try to heal, time will solve that.Thank you again. Good luck in your research.
Multumesc. A wonderful country I hope I get the chance to spend time in and speak with the people and learn from.
Great video ! really impressed the way you analyze things. You are not always right but i can see how you come to your conclusions.
Romania is sadly ignored and misunderstood..
There are very different layers to or identity and personality. We do love to talk about ourselves ....that you can count on , so definitely come and visit and you are sure to find lots of people willing to discuss the deepest things .. from religion to economy , and culture .
Not all will say the same , not all will be right . But i guarantee it will be entertaining. !
I hope to sometime - it would be a pleasure.
In Romania we love Israel , we have many comunities there, we were coerced by hitler in ww2 to do some shit ...read about ww2 and Romania , its very interesting what happened
Om bun.
Good video! Come to ROMANIA! Love to chat and show you around!
Thank you. Lots to see there.
I’m Romanian and I can say that while we shamefully played our role in the holocaust, the overwhelming majority of us are not antisemitic. Hatred of Jews in Romania still exists but it is a fringe minority. We have our share of holocaust deniers and antisemites, but not any more than any other country. I am personally friends with many Romanians Jews, in fact, my mother’s best friend, who now lives in Israel, gave me my first name when I was born (because my parents hadn’t decided what to name me). So to conclude Romania is not an antisemitic country.
Very kind and good. Multumesc.
Romania is, indeed, not hatful towards Jews. That hate goes more to the gypsies
@@NuSuntSerb Indeed. Anti-gypsy sentiments are deeply ingrained in Romanian society and that is something Romanians need to work on.
Despre ce holocaust vorbești când te referi la România? Crimele din Ardealul de Nord au fost comise de Ungaria. În Transnistria au fost DEPORTAȚI, nu uciși. Da, au murit acolo COMUNIȘTI evrei dar civilii evrei au fost readuși în țară. România a fost singura țară din lagărul comunist care a permis emigrarea in massă in Israel. Și atunci cum or fi ajuns 600 de mii de evrei (și mai mult) în Israel câtă vreme în Ro fuseseră 800 mii? Ori în Ardealul de Nord fuseseră 200 mii (au scăpat cam 25 mii care au fugit, cu acte false, în Ro lui... Antonescu). În Basarabia fusesră 200 mii care număr, după război, a rămas tot așa (bașca cei care au preferat și ei să fugă dincoace de Prut de frica sovietelor? Deci despre ce vorbești? Despre minciunile propagandistice?
Wait 'till you get strucked by zionism
I think its also important to not understate the sheer influence Orthodox Christianity has had on Romania throughout its history, especially with how Codreanu came to be so popular. I definitely suggest you read some of his books, gives great insight on Romania and the iron guard movement as a whole.
Good suggestion.
I greatly recomand the documentary/doccumentarys about the romanian revolution. They are/were shown on TVR 3.
From the last 2 weeks to be exact.
Super !
Regarding Romania, you have to see and feel the people, that will explain it all to you (and anyone interested) . We are humans, just like you. We love, we hate, just like you. The amount of passion involved, well, you are lagging behind, if I may put it so bluntly.
Dude, Romanians still in Romania don't care about the negative view some of you fine people have about Romania.
We have lower crime rates, lower unemployment, healthier food, a country with mountains, beaches, deltas, hills better than Tuscany, 4 seasons and I could go on.
We don't have time to think about how we're viewed abroad.
I'm glad you've discovered a Romanian audience but get on a plane and spend 2 weeks here.
When I can I will. Multumesc pentru vizionare.
@BenLlywelyn gave an upvote for calling Orban a threat to democracy :)))
Technically, our default state is balancing between the empires for a morsel of independence.
But, the Austro-Hungarian one is gone, the Russian one is going and we'll see about the Turkish one. For now we have great relations with Turkey and we would need them to balance off against Russia if it got closer.
All in all, this is the best time in the past 2000 years to be a Romanian and I think you'd find some surprising things if you dig deeper into the complexity of the Romanian economy and what we do here.
Cheers
All what you said about Romania is, OK. Buy, not about crimes, pick-pockets from where every tourist is attention is advised. in rest Romana is a beautiful Country!
Will you talk specifically about the Romanian Language and what makes it beautiful in your opinion?
Yes, that would be good. But I have to listen to more of it, learn a bit more, and and decide what I think about that.
Escuse me, can you make a video about Queen Mary of Romania? I like your videos! Thank you!
What about her do you like?
My personal opinion it's that without her, we didn't have Great Romania in 1918.
Romania didn't have a revolution: external stages forced a mini tv series. That's when we really started to watch TV.
:)
Ben visits Romania because you have to meet people personally
It is the people who make a life good.
@@BenLlywelyn I visited Germany, they were curious if we Romanians are gypsies.
quite intriguing but normal your interest for Romania Ben, as a tour guide in Transilvania I will be happy to take you on a day trip to explore some parts in the middle of the country; I had Welsh clients in the past and they were all genuinely interested in this part of Europe; few facts about our antisemitism past : you were right , we were similar as all the east Europeans were , maybe lighter but we ow them a lot in terms of economic development; there are hundreds of cemeteries spread all across the country and their history is documented and respected ; we even made official public apologise for the crimes in Basarabia and Odessa and we have an institution who studies this part of our history and this is a healthy process of knowing and assuming even the dark pages of our past ; you also will be amazed by the diversity of the country despite more than a hundred years of centralism we still have some regional identities and diverse culture, ethnicities and religious
A generous thing for you to say. If I get a chance, that would be nice. And glad that Romania's diverse roots are still growing flowers.
Exactly! Respecting the person you're talking to means you avoid BS and tell things as they are.
You're missing MOLDOVA there - not insulted (I'm from that part of Romania). But it is the Most Important Part :)
Come visit Cluj-Napoca :), try “VARZA A LA CLUJ and PAPANAȘI and MICI” 😊
I would enjoy the bilingualism.
If that's what you're planing to enjoy, it might disappoint you. It's true that the local Hungarians also speak Romanian, however most local Romanians don't speak Hungarian. You would enjoy, however, the hospitality of both, and upon closer inspection, you'd notice there are at least two versions of the same city coexisting at the same time, in the same place and interacting with one another from time to time @@BenLlywelyn
I didn't realize you are in Texas! When you plan to visit Vancouver/Canada, give me a shout - I'll take my wife and meet you for a coffee!
From Texas. In Wales. Vancouver sounds gorgeous.
Not insulted at all, actually I believe you have the most accurate view of the Romanian country and people. It is the first time I hear a non romanian talk about the scars of communism and I find that fascinating. I do see the younger generation continuing the battle with the old communist ideas that my generation also continued (which gives me tears of joy). I'm pretty proud of them. I don't believe we have this anti semitic thought here, but to be honest I didn't know there was one in the UK. I will also think even though you're 99% on point, you'll be surprised (in a good way I hope) once you come here. By surprised I mean that you'll discover much more you wouldn't think it would be found here (and in some cases anywhere else in the world). I believe you've paired well with the romanian person in university is because you seem to be a down to earth, open minded person.
Down to earth. Romanians seem very down to earth and unpretentious. Sure there are some in every country, but yes, it will be fun to explore your country should I get the chance.
im romanian..come and see Romania
The region in the south of Romania is Muntenia - Wallahia called in the Middle Ages = Muntenia (Greater Wallachia) and Oltenia (Lesser Wallachia) . Wallahia means in the Middle Ages - the Latin, Romanic country.
I'm Romanian with Jewish roots, living in Czech at the moment. To be honest, I contemplate moving back to Romania, the Oltenia region, in the hills, towards the mountains. I've got a bug out location there. Romanians are direct, but not blunt. I think we are a bit more subtle and softer in comparizon to the Slavs. Czechs, for instance, are much more direct and willfully offensive, also less hospitaleous. If you are in Romania this summer, maybe we could meet and I'd like to give you a grand tour of my region. There are some great vineyards in the area and lots of UNESCO protected sights you may find fascinating from a historical and cultural perspective.
A warm comment, thank you. I doubt I will be in Romania this summer, but if the channel took off and I made a better living with it, I would certainly want to visit.
Hello (World),
About those worlds there is one more, the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, now made up of small states like Austria. What a coincidence, isn't it?
Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, (Transylvania is a bit missing). They are very happy in their community, so to speak. Very good.
Moral: The Romanians don't understand why they don't enter the Schengen zone (by the way, what a bad name).
Yes, these human ecosystem worlds are quite fluid, but I can see how Austrio-Hungary would have formed out of one.
I moved to UK from Romania in 2010 and the first thing I noticed about food here is that UK uses a lot of rice. So, rice is not that important in Romania. Wheat, potatoes, beans and corn are heavily used.
Corn is sorely lacking in proper usage in Britain.
Cabbage is also used quite a lot. But, of course, cereals and potatoes are staple foods, like in most of Europe I would assume. We also consume a lot of meat, mostly pork. And we also consume a lot of cheese, yogurts and milk, dairy products in general.
All this very recent hype on the internet about Romania is scary :-).
Let me explain. The governor (it means CEO) of the Romanian National Bank, Mugur Isărescu, once said in a public interview that Romania is not buying gold over 100 tons because twice our gold reserves went significantly above and the first time almost immediately the WWI started, and the second time WWII started :-), and Romania got trashed both times. At the time of that interview the National Bank had 106 metric tons of gold, and they did not buy one ounce more since then :-).
There was no centralism in Romania to stamp local cultures. What happens is traditionally Romanians practice both strict exogamy (no marriage between people who have a common ancestor 5 generations back, that's a Church law from before the schism and we're probably the only culture to actually enforce it; it is not illegal, it just does not happen ) and neolocality (the married couple is endowed by both families and live in a separate house away from both families). This is old, at least from the 1500s. Exogamy and neolocal residence led to a lot of mixing of population over large areas. We assimilate minorities by marriage, not by forcing them to only use literary Romanian. Those who do not cooperate :-) are still there (still have a Hungarian enclave in Moldavia from the time of the Wars of Religion, and Russian staroveri still speak Church Slavonic after being part of Romania for at least 150 years). Even the Jewish immigrants from the last half of the 1800s intermarried a lot with Romanians, Jewish journalists in Romania around 1900 were reporting a rate of up to 30% mixed marriages.
I appreciate that the recent Prime Minister Ludovic Orban of Romania was from a mixed Romanian-Hungarian background, and this is probably a good sign for mutual co-operation and a Romania built on civics, dignity and good character.
@@BenLlywelyn
"Ludovic Orban of Romania was from a mixed Romanian-Hungarian background" did not know that :). Relations between Romania and Hungary are in fact a lot better than what they seem when you only read the press, we only had trouble when they were under strong foreign (Austrian, Soviet, Nazi) pressure.
We don't care much about civics, dignity or character in Romania (well, in public declarations we do care, in practice not much) or ancestry or origin or color or religion, mostly we care about what somebody can do, that is skills and applied knowledge, which is extremely lucky for me since I'm the abrasive 'resting-bitch-face' type :-). For example a prime minister which appears competent will be forgiven a lot of other sins (including sexual orientation, corruption, greed etc.) but when he proves incompetent he'll be sent to jail as fast as Adrian Nastase was sent to jail by his own party (PSD, supposedly on the Left) when he lost elections through his own arrogance, and also misused his party's election funds :-). Ceaușescu himself had real support in the country until March 1989 when Romania finished paying back the foreign debt (that was accepted as necessary) but once the debt paid he did not relax austerity and things did not improve, and that was the end for him.
If you'll visit Romania and the people around will notice you have a skill we believe is scarce you'll be seen as extremely eligible :-).
Celts were living in Transylvania along the Dacians until the rule of Burebista,when the celts were pushed out to the west.
Trust to be you on path of Romania
Multumesc
This man needs to be protected and brought to our country, and invited to some good "sarmale cu mamaliga" and "ceva de la bunica" ;)
Mmmm, gustos.
I would say that some people have it right when they describe Romania as a patient and calm people who endure a lot. This is a people that had to endure a lot of invasions, that had to suffer through oppression and not being alowed to flourish on their own land or identity.
So one word to describe them is "endurance". The second is "adaptability".
Because of so many times of changing Leaderships and alliances changed so frequently, Romanians have learned this feeling of adaptabilty and self-reliance. Taking care of your house and your land and your family ranks highest on Romanian to-do-lists.
And also because they aren't afraid to change if there is benefit to it.
The Dacians saw the Romans use shields and helmets, Dacians started using shields and helmets.
Moldovans saw the Mongols use riders with bows, they started using bowmen on horses.
Romanians saw Turks use Canons, Romanians started buying canons.
And today also, Romanians saw Americans use drones, romanians started buying drones.
Besides the jokes and self-depricating attitude of Romanians display, there is one thing that trumps that: the want to be just as good as the ones at the top even if that seems impossible. They respect a country with superior leadership and military power to protect itself. And they want that freedom, development and security.
Your comment was poignant and thoughtful, conjuring the Dacians with patriotism rather than romantic silliness. Thank you.
Imf says romanias gpd per capita is 18.5k$ (Higher than hungary and almost as poland)
Keep building for your people. Buna.
I'm romanian and i inherited a weilsh surname: "Macsen". i don't know from where it comes, but i think from latin name Maximus
It is a very specific name. Maximus was certainly a military title used in Dacia too.
The Dacians - Romanians ancestors , were the first colonizers in England.
British researchers from the Institute of Archeology and Ancient History in Birmingham have made a discovery that completely changes ancient British history, but especially Romanian history. Professors Duck and Romana Smith, together with the legion of researchers from the well-known institute, discovered artifacts that attest to the fact that the Dacians arrived in the British Isles before the Roman conquest of Britain, more precisely since the 4th century BC. B.C. The research took place on an archaeological site hidden from the general public until now, located near Chester, the county seat of Cheshire in the North West region of England, and took place over a period of eight years. Probably a larger group of - a Dacian tribe from today's northern Romania set off towards the northern lands, through contemporary Poland. From here, they reached Denmark, where some of them settled permanently. After a period of accommodation, some of the Dacians joined the Vikings crossing the sea to the east coast of Britain", explained Prof. Dr. Duck Smith. Once they arrived on British soil, the Dacians ventured into the interior of the island. Thus, the Dacian race in Britannia grew by at least a thousand members, soldiers in Cohors I Aelia Dacorum ( Birdoswald Roman Fort) constituted by Emperor Hadrian around the year 117, when he had a revolt took place in the north of the island and when he decided to erect the famous wall that today bears his name. After the withdrawal of the Romans from Britannia, the Dacians who had come with them never left. They kept their language and port and, according to British researchers, even became the ruling elite of the city eventually completely dominating it numerically. The military elite who settled in Britannia received land, built farms and entered the ranks of the nobility. "Based on written sources from the 9th century, we discovered that the first known king of the kingdom of Mercia during the heptarchy, son of Creoda and grandson of Thiaper - which are names of origin if, without doubt - was Wulfhere. Even his name reminds of the wolf, which was the Dacian symbol", declared Duck Smith.
I'm not of the same belief as you that this is true.
There are documents, it is history written even by English archaeologists. These are things that have been known for a long time. That it is hard to accept, I understand.
Robin Edgar Birley OBE was a British archaeologist, Professor Ian Hayness Newcastle University, presented this information. Dacians in England and Scotland. But around here they know each other and discuss them. It is learned. And to be a shocker, the Dacians and Getae (renamed Goths), being the majority population in ancient Europe, multiplied and migrated to the west and north of Europe, where they formed new nations. It is known today and they are documents, not dreams. Spain, Denmark, Sweden (See Carolus Lundius, the president of the Swedish Academy, writes the history of Sweden - 1687, he talks about the Getae also known as Goths, but also other names, writing, etc. '''Zamolxe, primus Getarum legislator'' Zamolxe being the god and the religion of the Geto-Dacians.
You took care of Romania, I wanted to fill in some historical information because we don't really know what is going on with this country. Thank you.
@@BenLlywelyn
Ni , no you don't insulting anyone .. It's very through what you said .
Today, the EU supports the 42 adminstrative zones in Romania as I understand. This is accelerating infrastructure and modernity around the economic centres.
Excellent.
When Romania first joined the EU, they basically had no idea how to use any of the benefits. It was all a blur to them because no one had the time or the patience to teach them how to use EU funds.
It doesn't help that Romanian politicians were very closed off from the world preferring to chase after local squabbles instead of forming political and economic relations with other countries.
Nowadays they seem to have learned a bit of that and they are helping Moldova and Serbia navigate those same problems.
The Dacians, the ancestors of Romanians in England.
Cohors prima Aelia Dacorum ("1st Aelian Cohort of Dacians" - aelia= elite ) was an infantry regiment of the Auxilia corps of the Imperial Roman army. It was first raised by the Roman emperor Hadrian (r. AD 117-38) in the Roman province of Dacia not later than AD 125 and its last surviving record dates c. 400. It was deployed, for virtually its entire history, in forts on Hadrian's Wall on the northern frontier of Britannia province.
The Emperor Hadrian (at 120-125 A. Chr.) sent it in the Britain , UK today , a military unit formed from Dacians : '' Cohors I Dacorum '' , to fight against Scotland, chili and Picts from the north. Of course, the Dacian went there with their specificities, including the Dracon flag . Stay in the Roman Fortress at Birdoswald.
""" The Dacians were warlike soldiers, they died laughing knowing their soul was immortal. They were sent to the front in front of the Wall, in an outpost called Bewcastle, to fight first with the barbarian tribes. Send somewhat to the sacrifice. At a fort located in an open, wilderness, without a wall, without forests, without anything around. That's precisely because they knew their courage and devotion in the fight. They were supposed to die, but they did not die. Then they came to Banna, and here they lived to the end. They received lands, rights, ranks. They have remained forever there in their city. Yes. They were undoubtedly among the best fighters brought here to fight at Hadrian's wall. These are facts, certainties, "says THE archaeologist Robin Birley.'''
Your point of view and your intuition are very correct. In the course of history, the Romanians were oppressed sometimes by some and sometimes by others, looking around the country. The worst part was that successive oppressive regimes got worse and worse. So from the point of view of the individual, who does not have a view from the perspective of history, the most important thing was to save his own skin and his family members. Romanians have a saying deeply rooted in the collective consciousness "Be a brother to the Devil until you cross the bridge". If today's Romanians have some behavioral problems, don't condemn them too harshly. They come to Europe after a dictatorship where they were starved, kept like in a concentration camp, without heat, electricity or hot water. A kind of modern slavery, called by the propaganda of the era "the formation of a new type of man". What happened after 1989? A long transition, equally tough and difficult, which seems still not over, after almost 34 years. The slowness of transformations superimposed on the low standard of living, the EU's promises of a better life, not fulfilled in fact, have led to a loss of hope or at best to a skepticism vis-à-vis the Western world, so much praised and given as an example of prosperity and a role model. People are more and more disappointed and hence their frankness and direct way of being and calling things out. Because they have nothing left to lose.
Our history, all of us today, is at a crossroads. May we enter the new age coming well and cross the coming bridges with courage.
@@BenLlywelynI am not very optimistic about it. The French actor Alain Delon said in an interview (certainly in a different context) that he feels that he is living in very bad times. Unfortunately, I subscribe to what he stated. I have the same feeling too.
The Romanians are quite used to Israeli tourists, they were among the biggest group of visitors before the war, so I wouldn't worry if I were you. 🙂
Let me clarify the beehive for you: It's not dacopathy. Although most Romanians I know would love to learn about Dacia but hate dacopathy so they know it's a minefield to get good information about Dacia, because there's also accurate & interesting information - When there was a thunderstrom, the Dacians believed that their gods are fighting the gods of the enemy, and thus shoot arrows in the sky to help their gods win the fight. They believed, according to Zamolxis' teachings, that the soul is immortal and they cannot really die, when they are killed, the soul simply changes location. The people on the brink of death were said to be able to speak with Zamolxis directly - And an alleged Trajan quote: "We have conquered even these Dacians, the most warlike of all people that have ever existed, not only because of the strength in their bodies, but, also due to the teachings of Zamolxis who is among their most hailed. He has told them that in their hearts they do not die, but change their location, and, due to this, they go to their deaths happier than on any other journey." - but also dacopathy information. And because of dacopathy, it's really hard to get to the truth of Dacia, learning about Dacia without the pyramids. But, on a broader spectrum, not just Dacia, the western audience finds most interesting French, Spanish, English, Russian, Scandinavian, German, Roman, Turkish, Hungarian, Austrian and Venetian history. Western audiences generally aren't interested in Romanian history, with the only exception being Vlad the Impaler. Stephen the Great although he won 44 out of 46 battles in his lifetime is unheard of in English sources. Or Mircea the Elder or Michael the Brave. So talking about Romanian history in English you are basically stepping on new grounds that few western people stepped on. This is the cause of your popularity in my opinion. It's like discovering America except you discover Romanian history for the western audiences.
1. Only Serbia in the region was a kindred nation as both Serbia and the Romanian Principalities were in similar historic context and at least until the 21st century relations were very good.
2. The 3 colors of the flag (it's been around a while) symbolize: Red for the bl00d of the ancestors defending the land, Yellow in homage to the earth good for growing food and Blue for Romania's best neighbor: The Black Sea.
3. check out 'living ironically in europe' channel content if you want to get the romanian gist and spirit portrayed from a balkaner recently moved to Romania, whom thus can understand easier Romania
5. I never saw anything anti-semite in the major cities at least, so if that raised concerns forget it. 1 good thing from Ceausescu's foreign policies to troll the so great USSR is that he also built good relations with both the arab world and Jerusalem (from exports including livestock genetically bread specifically for that geography, imports to helping Syrian refugees from the Ceausescu era). Since the '89 events, relations have gone cold but at least the people from the Middle East know that Romania feels for their hardships.
6. if you wonder how many cultures and religions can coexist, the mentality is that each have their own sacred days in the calendar and romanians of any kind are always up for a party not needing good reasons 🥳
7. (friendly tip) never talk about romanian post '89 politics in your video as you unintentionally spread false information fed to the outside world. Other than the Russia financed parties that wish to bring back a never ending 1990 year (as Ceausescu was against the soviets, unlike his predecessor, think of Ceausescu as the first mad dictator of North Korea), the other parties have no leaning as understood in 'the west'. 'doctrine' and 'centering' is purely kept for outside appearances as the decision making only revolves around money with no ideological reasoning or direction whatsoever. With the exception of assumed pro-EU parties as a recent result (the past 4 years) generated by the brutally repressed pro-EU protests in the recent past before the pandemic.
There you go, you wanted to open the cookie jar by making this video 👽
Serbia lost a lot of people in WW1. I think it still shapes their society today.
Ce bați câmpii despre culorile drapelului. În heraldică au alt înțeles culorile. De exemplu, roșu face trimitere la purupra imperială a Romei, albastru e legat de Creștinism (de DREAPTA CREDINȚĂ, spre diferență de verdele ereticilor, Galbenul (sau Aurul) e legat de generozitate sau de spiritual.
We have been here for the past 8000 years ....in one form or another ( Cucuteni-Trypillia culture) ...we have mixed with other people but never disappeared ...we are still here ...!!!
nu, am fost aici din 168 BC
Many French are direct Gaulish ancestry - It does not make them Gauls. That culture is gone. As is Dacia.
@@CristiChiri10 Sint de la 10 kilometri de Cucuteni ..!!
@@BenLlywelyn Absolutely.....we are a mixed people .Dacians used to look like the Vikings ( Herodotus )....tall , blondes with blue eyes....now we are more olive skin , and dark hair .....but there is still some traces in us form the Getae ( in the south) and the Dacians ( the Anartes, the Teurisci, the Costobi, the Buri, the Cotini, the Albocenses, and the Potulatenses) in the north west ...!!! Their culture may be gone , but they left some genetic material behind...!!!
@@bogdan78pop ce are legatura cu ce am zis? ziceam ca noi eram aici de 2200 de ani, ca daci
What I learned from my parents and I am old myself always we had good memories with Jewish people , sounds strange you talking about antisemitism in Romania! But for 30 years I leave in US. ? The Români are changed now? I know they are very welcoming and warm people!
I´d say that there´s a difference between the Transylvanian and Wallachian mentality.
The Transylvanians are more laid back. Jovial. Let´s take it easy and have a good time.
The Wallachians are more business oriented. What´s in it for me?
The result of having a capitol city?
@@BenLlywelyn I don´t know. Different cultural influences, I guess.
Life in Wallachia was harsher. Life and death-situations.
Transylvanians were more used to armies coming and going. If they would have opposed them all… Roll with the punches, wait them out, they will go too.
@@BenLlywelynIts being this for thousands of years,like Iordanes says that gepids are slow and their name is an insult meaning slow visigoths.
Gepids and visigoths are the same as Romanians from walachia and Romanians from Transylvania.
My brother: the old welsh word for tribe chief is dh'aak or something of the sorts, fucking dacians were sent to wales 2000 years ago: cohort X Aelia Dacorum. With their military organization - and flags: the wolf head with a serpent body -> which does emerge in british legends in the battle of Utter "pen Dragon" - the son of Dacians. Welsh and Dacians are basically brothers at the end of the continent
I studied Old Welsh. Dhaak looks nothing like any Welsh word I know
👍🇺🇸🇷🇴
I can tell you about what I’ve been exposed to. My father is a devout orthodox. The church organizes trips to Israel every year (my parents have visited 4x). The congregation has a high opinion of Jews, my dad says they’re the chosen people of God - all good. Me and my friends that are not religious - the general impression: Jewish people are cool.
Very nice. Thank you.
The only latin orthodox nation
Bukuresht in ALBANIA LANGUAGE
MEANS
IS BEAUTIFUL
ALBANIA LANGUAGE AND RUMANIA LANGUAGE IS SEMILA
ALBANIAN AND RUMANIAN
HAV SEMILA BLOD AND ADN
BEFORE IT WAS ONE COUNTRY
GADISHULLI ILIRIK
Mihai Viteazul was a warlord, paid by the Habsburgs to fight the Ottomans, but who tried to break free of his donors and create his own realm. For less than a year he controlled all the three major principalities that make Romania today: Walachia, Moldova and Transylvania.
He fought a major battle outside of Sibiu against another contender of the Transylvania throne and won this battle. But his army was too small to threaten the city of Sibiu itself. The Saxons there just closed the gates and didn't let him in. So he never fully controlled Transylvania. And less than a year later he was dead.
Romania has quite a few ambitious warlords in its history.
I can agree with this comment. Although his achievement can be considered as the first unity between the principalities, in my view, he was just doing it to gain power, fame and financial gains. Baddass but not really a hero.
That was a loonie comment. The ruler of Wallachia was not a warlord. And to claim that the Saxons closed shop on Mihai and he couldn't' enter that is nut cracking. lol The entire nobility of Transylvania submitted to him, Saxons included. His job was not to go Sibiu but to Alba Iulia, where all had to be there. The guy not only that destroyed the biggest Ottoman armies at Calugareni and Giurgiu, but sacked all the Ottoman fortresses all the way to Adrianople.
Și eu care credeam că a ajuns domn cu voia Sultanului apoi că a realizat Unirea ca reacție la la uniația de la Brest!
@@sorincroitoru6799In your view,here is about facts about history not your limited views.