Moinesti had its annual Bear Parade today. Bear dances are part of a number of age old traditions specific to this part of #Romania between Christmas and the New Year. These traditions are the reason I am visiting during the cold #winter. They are some of the things I miss most about #Moinesti. To explain a bit, between Christmas and the New Year, bands of bears (locals wearing bear skins) tour the towns, performing traditional songs and dances. Today, #bear groups from all around the region gathered at the train station in Moinesti, to then sing and dance through the streets and lastly on a stage set up by the town park. It wasn’t just “bears” though. There were also “goat” dances, masked creatures, and other folk songs and dances in celebration of winter and the New Year. (For the animal activists: It’s very unlikely that any of these bear skins came from newly hunted bears. They are usually very old, passed down through generations.) @dianazeynebalhindawi for @burndiary