Saints’ Day Celebrations (Ruga) in Banat – Community Participation, Dance, Music, and Good Times
Saints’ Day Celebrations (Ruga) in Banat – Community Participation, Dance, Music, and Good Times

Summary/Abstract: The celebration of the day of patron saint of the local church is a custom that is widespread among Christians in various parts of the world. In the plain and mountain areas of the Romanian Banat region, this day is referred to as ruga (pl. ruge), which literally means “pray.” These customary events are local community participatory festivals in the sense that they include both active and passive participants, the former joining in the dancing, the latter sitting and watching whilst socialising with relatives and friends. Although these events are primarily held on fixed calendrical days according to the patron saint of a specific church, they are in most cases attended by representatives of the many ethnicities and religious confessions that live together in the Banat region. This paper examines saint’s day celebrations in Banat as one of the prime community events where music and dancing take place. It draws on the authors’ fieldwork undertaken at saint’s day celebrations in the Romanian Banat where they observed the similarities and differences in these events. Their research is supplemented by drawing on reports from local media on ruge, historical accounts, and conversations with locals. Their conclusion is that over time the concept of the celebration of ruge has been maintained though the precise details of the events have changed over time as these celebrations have been adapted to meet the needs of present- day communities while retaining their function as participatory community celebrations.

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