Wedding Dances and Bloopers from Bulgaria and Romania

All tragedies are finished by a death, all comedies by a marriage.
Lord Byron

Today's post features wedding dances and bloopers from Romania and Bulgaria. You will get your daily dose of Vitamin C (for comedy) here, and lots of dancing, some of it performed by people in elaborate embroidered costumes.

The first video is Svatbarsko Horo (Wedding Dance). Where are the wedding guests?  I see a group of people in folk dress, and a guy singing. (Maybe the people in the park are the wedding crashers.  No, it's that bird hopping around on the walkway in front of the bridal party!)

And Google, please lay off the ads, it's annoying to close out of them while I'm watching YouTube.  You have to find a way to bring in the cash without driving people nuts.



The next video is a group of five Romanian wedding bloopers. A little too much booze combined with the inclination to show off while dancing is a recipe for laughter, and sometimes, disaster. This is the kind of stuff that people talk about for years afterwards. They don't remember the church ceremony, or the beautiful couple; they remember the relatives who drank too much and made total fools of themselves!

What is really cool about weddings in Eastern Europe is how they combine traditional and modern music.  The Penguin Dance (no. 3 in this group), seems to be a staple at Romanian weddings.  I can listen to it for about a minute, then it starts to get annoying. It's the kind of music that's best tolerated in a drunken stupor. Check out the guy at the back of the line, he can barely stand up!

No. 1 shows a bride with black nails and missing teeth. Did the groom escape at the last minute? I sure hope so :)



The fine art of folk dancing is taken to new heights when done with cake and pastries.  The rachenitsa, national dance of Bulgaria, is a form of flirtation.  It is made more challenging when there are poles in the way and cake in the hand.  Amazingly, there is no damage to the cake, and the men do some amazing deep knee bends. I wonder if they could dance with wine bottles on top of their heads?



If you enjoyed this you may also like: The "Flavors" of Bulgarian Rachenitsa, Part 2
 (a dance that can be masculine, feminine, or flirtatious). 

The "Flavors" of Romanian Hora

The "Flavors" of Romanian Sirba (More Romanian wedding videos here!)



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