The Christian Celebration of The 40 Holy Martyrs is the first of a series of religious spring holidays, marked by many customs. According to popular belief, it is said that this day is a line of demarcation between winter and summer, between the capricious days of Dochia and the warm ones of the Old Men.
Tradition also says that Baba Dochia dies and turns into a cliff on the Martyrs’ day. On this day, the Old Men were believed to have been sacrificed and later transformed into ashes on the funeral …

Isolated in the heart of the mountains, far away from the noisy world, The Horăicioara Convent (also known as “The Old Horaița”) is situated all around Cracaoani Village. The Horăicioara Convent „is a eagle’s nest hanging in the crack of an air cliff” as the famous Romanian writer Calistrat Hogaș recalled.
Not only is the place wonderful -a real oasis of peace and quiet- but is also believed to be a place where miracles happen. The monks and villagers say that nearby the convent there is a spring with healing water. …

The tourists who come in Neamt at the end of March or even at the beginning of April will be surprised to see gardens decorated with trinkets (Romanian “mărţişoare”), in some places.
Mărţişor celebration (on March the 1st) is a rooted tradition in Neamț. The custom is more than 2000 years old.
The trinkets, which are considered a herlad of spring, usually consist of a tiny adornment tied with a red and white entwined string. The Moldavian ethnographers tell that the trinkets used to be offerd to young fellows by young unmarried …

The 1st of March is approaching and beside the customs and traditions related to the trinket (mărțișor) the herald of spring, popular belief reminds of The Old Ladies’ legend, associated with Baba Dochia, the one who brings winter. Once the weather gets warmer, from the 1st to the 9th of March, Baba Dochia starts throwing away her heavy coats.
The beginning of spring is a good occasion for the tourists who like trekking to climb Ceahlău Mountain. Up there, Dochia Cliff reminds of a beautiful legend. According to it, Dochia was …

 
Bistriţa Monastery
 
 
 
Its successive founders are the four great Muşat princes: Alexandru cel Bun, Ştefan cel Mare, Petru Rareş, and Alexandru Lăpuşneanu. The most precious religious artefact of the monastery is St Ana’s Icon reputed for producing miracles, presented as a gift by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II the Palaiologos and his wife Ana in 1407. In the early fifteenth century, the monk Chiril created here a genuine work of art by copying and decorating with miniatures the Tetraevanghel [the Four Gospels]. The tradition was carried on between the sixteenth and …

 
Durău Monastery
 
 
 
Commissioned in the seventeenth century by one of Vasile Lupu’s daughter, the monastery was rebuilt in 1835, at the expense of some affluent tradesmen in Piatra-Neamţ.
The church – made of stone and brick – combined traditional Moldavian architecture with laic elements. However, the western facade – in neoclassical style – is decorated with a frontispiece with recesses, al fresco icons and an exquisitely carved oak portal.
The painting made a century on by Nicolae Tonitza has a special character both owing to the style and composition of religious scenes and …