In the last day of every year, traditions and customs from Neamt County are an eco over time of our primordial traditions and customs. Here are two traditions that are still alive and that take place in the day before the new year.

“Plugusorul”  (The Little Plow) (performed on December 31)
The tradition of “Plugusor” continues in Neamt County under different forms, depending of the ethnographic area. Although there are different names for this custom, like “Plugusor” (Little Plow), “Urat”, “Uratura de Sfantul Vasile” (St Vasile Wishing), “Buhai” (The Bull – because of the sound it makes), “Plug” (Plow), “Plugul Mare” (Big Plow) or “Plugul Flacailor” (Lads’ Plow), in all cases the message is the same: health for hosts and rich harvest for the following year.

The first bands of 5 – 10 members are made out of children. They start their songs at about 10 AM when they begin visiting the surrounding houses. Dressed in thick clothes, with hats decorated with colorful pieces of paper, holding in their hands bells and whips they visit every house in their path.

Along with bells and whips they also have an instrument called “buhai” (bull in translation because of the sound it makes). This instrument is made from a small wooden barrel with the bottom made out of sheep skin. Through the sheep skin passes some horse hair that when it’s pulled with wet hands it makes a specific sound that sounds like a bull. The band that performs the tradition of “Plugusor” is rewarded by the hosts of the house with apples, nuts or money.

“Plugul Mare” (The Big Plow) or “Plugul Flacailor” (The Lads’ Plow) (performed on December 31)
The band that carries this tradition is made out of grownups. The band starts to visit the surrounding houses in the evening of New Year’s Eve, after it gets dark. This is a special tradition in Neamt County where elders and young people participate together. The procession is accompanied by music and a plow with horses or bulls.

The band’s members are dressed in traditional clothes: every member of the band has his own colorful beams, ivy starts and basil, as a sign of his rank in the band. It is a custom for girls to try and still the basil for good luck in the next year.

The band stops in the court of each house and wishes them health, good luck and a rich harvest in the year to come. At the end they draw the first furrow, signifying the crop from the next year and the beginning of a new stage of life.