Christmas and New Year's greetings

The phrase "Sărbători fericite" ("Happy Holidays") is used as a generic greeting for the winter holidays.

Play: Christmas greetings

Christmas greetings

English	Romanian
Christmas	Crăciun (plural: Crăciunuri)
Merry Christmas!	Crăciun fericit!
Christmas Eve	Ajunul Crăciunului

"Crăciun" is considered a neuter word in Romanian.

Christmas is the Feast of the Nativity and is celebrated on December 25th.

On Christmas, the most common greeting is:

"Crăciun fericit!" ("Merry Christmas!")

The word etymology is one of the most discussed etymologies of Romanian language.

Some controversial etymologies have been proposed for this word: lat. "creatio,-onis", lat. "calationem" or lat. "incarnationem".

The same word appears in other languages that have been in contact with the Romanian language: Kračon (Bulgarian), Kračun (Serbian), Koročjun (Russian).

"Crăciun" can also be a family name in Romanian.

The Romanian name for Santa Claus is "Moș Crăciun" ("moș" means "old man").

"Christmas Eve" is "Ajunul Crăciunului" and refers to the evening or the entire day that precedes the Christmas (i.e. 24th of December).

New Year's greetings

English	Romanian
New Year	Anul Nou
New Year's Eve	Ajunul Anului Nou
Happy New Year	Un An Nou Fericit / La mulți ani

The phrase "La mulți ani" is used in the month of January when we meet our friends/colleagues for the first time in the new year. "La mulți ani!" is also used for "Happy Birthday!".

Bibliography:

Mona Moldoveanu Pologea, Ph.D. Linguist

ROLANG School Managing Director