ADVIT Moldova experience report by: EVS volunteer Kärt Koosapoeg, Estonia

The date then was the 12th of April. An important religious day celebrating the rising of the dead. Our goal for that day was to experience it according to the local Moldovan traditions. Weeks before we were told that all the people will leave the comfort of their homes and city surroundings to take some time off and head to the graveyard to meet with their dead grandparents and the weirdest part suggesting that people eat with the dead. Of course we were curious, who wouldn’t be?

We got an invitation from a volunteer we had met a short while back to join him for this holiday in a city called Comrat. Our host was waiting us already in the graveyard when we arrived in the middle of the city. At first we feared of getting lost, but after arriving we noticed that a lot of people with food were moving in one direction, so of course using our logic we started following people with food supplies and in no time soon we arrived to a big blue church. There were two big tables simply covered with abundant food and drinks and a priest went around putting holy water on food.

The wheather for the day was great, first half of the spring and perfect time for the holidays with its new leaves and weird smells. Arriving to the graveyard was quite surprising. Compared to the nearly empty city, the graves were surrounded with hundres of people talking, eating, drinking and having good time. Half a minute after entering the graveyard a petite blond woman came up to me, handing me a plastic plate filled with different candies and bread with a candle that had just blown out. She said to me something in Russian which I didn’t understand as I was too busy looking confused. Later I was told that she said to accept her gifts in the name of her deceased grand parents.

Finally we found our little graveyard box surrounded with a blue metal fence and people buzzing around everywhere. The family we were staying with was the family of the volunteer’s mentor and it was rather big, with at least eight members. Next to the two graves were tables and some seats, also blue. We sat there and suddenly the tables were covered with delicious and traditional food. They also started making small plates with different foods, candles and paska, which is a traditional sweet holiday bread looking like a giant muffin. After a while of watching the delicious food we were given the permission to start eating, which we gladly did. We talked about sarmale – a delicious Moldovan food, made with a mix of rice and meat, wrapped into a grape leaf – and we were told that if you want to find a good husband you have to know how to make it.

Of course you cannot celebrate things without wine, so pretty early they brought out big two litre bottles of delicious home made wine and the foreigners were first on the list to try them out. According to the local tradition you had to drink the wine with one gulp and so did we do. Everything that was left in the glass was used to water the graves. In such spirit we spent several hours in the graveyard talking and eating. Towards the evening people started heading home and we did the same filled with good mood and food. It was great participating and seeing the local traditions which you might not ordinarily meet and that makes the experience so much better.