Faces and Views

di Mihai Vlasie (Autore)

Mihai Vlasie, 2026

I think it was a Christianized pagan custom, which has reached us through the centuries: on Maundy Thursday, at the break of dawn, fires were lit in all the courtyards for the dead, who, it was said, came to warm themselves, and left as soon as the sun rose. The red flames, the smoke that rose above the village with flowering trees and barely green gardens had a kind of sacredness that moved to tears. In fact, as pious as this custom was, it was as healthy: that "sacred" fire was made from the garbage collected after cleaning and sweeping the threshing floor, most often unrotten leaves, straw, twigs, stalks scattered around the neighborhood, etc. Fortunately, at that time I did not realize the practical side of this custom; I lived it with all my being, pious. The sun was rising and I still couldn't bring myself to cover the hearth with earth, as the ritual required. On Maundy Thursday, the village was spotlessly clean, full of flowering trees, noisy sparrows and newly arrived swallows, who were looking for a place to nest on the eaves, baby chickens and goose chicks, barely out of their nests, skinny lambs and bees in the flowers of the greens and apricots... Then the housewives who, no matter how worthy and skilled they were, still couldn't do their jobs... for that spring holiday was approaching, when the bell in the old tower would ring at midnight, like a song of victory for the renewed nature: Easter. We would stay by the hearth of the "sacred fire" even after covering it with earth, watching the sun rise, filling the village with a tender, warm light.

• Autore: Mihai Vlasie
• Anno edizione: 2026
• Editore: Mihai Vlasie
• Formato: EPUB2 con DRMFREE
• Lingua: Inglese
• Compatibilità: Tutti i dispositivi (eccetto Kindle)
• Layout: Reflowable
• EAN: 9798233770258