“Urătura” as it looked like 57 years ago! A video shot by Emil Loteanu

“Uratul”, an agrarian custom structured compositionally according to the model of carols/”urături”, practiced on New Year’s Eve. It is synonymous with Ploughman. The verb “a ura” expresses a wish for good, spoken to someone, usually on the occasion of a special event and is synonymous with congratulating.

But it also has the meaning of going with the “Plugușorul” (the Plow-which is a symbol of wealth and fertility) for the New Year. The verb “a ura” is the archaic form of “a ursi” (to desire), meaning to foretell health and rich fruits for the new year.

The one presented below was filmed 57 years ago in Lozova, Străseni district, by the famous Moldovan director Emil Loteanu. The National Archives Agency published one of the sequences, thus congratulating Moldovans on the occasion of New Year’s Eve.

History teacher Ion Ursu appears in the video. He utters the traditional prayer, being surrounded by the fog which, according to tradition, is costumed and carries with it the coils received from the householders, the bells ring, and the oxen are taken out of the stable.

“We promise you that in 2023 we will continue what we started in 2022 because, as far as I understand, you did not like our activities, starting with facilitating access to our funds and continuing with the dissemination of artistic films and documentaries, popular Romanian songs and stage from our recent history that helps us to know our past and ourselves better”, reports the National Archives Agency.

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The sequence is part of the almanac “Soviet Moldova” from January 1965. The production was made by Moldova-film, directed by Emil Loteanu.