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This blogger is trying to find the town of Tecuci, Romania, under the snow! For some reason, the Google translation renders the town’s name as Tecumseh. There are more pictures of the huge snowfall at the site Criserb. Link -via Buzzfeed
A farmer in Pitesti, Romania was distraught to find his ostrich had been stolen by rustlers. But he needn’t have worried -this ostrich may be part homing pigeon, because she escaped and found her own way home!
Owner Florin Diaconescu, 47, was very relieved to see her return back to the farm and was amazed at how she had managed to return by herself.
‘I had given her up as gone forever,’ he explained.
‘But I saw this cloud of dust heading towards the farm and she came running into the yard as fast as her legs would carry her.’
The bird was reportedly running at about 40 mph when she arrived at the farm. Link -via Arbroath
(Image credit: Reuters)
Like many countries, Romania is in a recession so it’s doing whatever it can to raise revenue. This year, the Romanian government identified a new source of heretofore untaxed profession: witches!
Naturally, the witches aren’t taking this laying down:
Queen witch Bratara Buzea, 63, who was imprisoned in 1977 for witchcraft under Ceausescu’s repressive regime, is furious about the new law.
Sitting cross-legged in her villa in the lake resort of Mogosoaia, just north of Bucharest, she said Wednesday she planned to cast a spell using a particularly effective concoction of cat excrement and a dead dog, along with a chorus of witches.
"We do harm to those who harm us," she said. "They want to take the country out of this crisis using us? They should get us out of the crisis because they brought us into it.""My curses always work!" she cackled in a smoky voice. She sat next to her wood-burning stove, surrounded by potions, charms, holy water and ceramic pots.
Alison Mutler of the Associated Press wrote this story published on MSNBC: Link (Photo: Vadim Ghirda/AP) – via Boing Boing
A bill that would have imposed regulations and taxes on Romania’s witches and fortune tellers failed to pass in that nation’s legislature:
The witch bill would have cracked down on the industry by requiring witches and fortune tellers to keep and produce receipts (somehow “receipt” is not a word I’ve ever associated with witches), and would also have provided that fortune tellers could be held liable for getting predictions wrong.
Link | Image: EMI Films
Previously: Romanian Witches Go Online for Work
Who says that cemeteries have to be all drab and morbid? Take a look at these colorful and "happy" cemetery in Sapânta, Romania:
Originally begun by a peasant grave carver named Stan Petras in the 1930s, and carried on today by the Pop family, the cemetery has become one of the most popular tourism attractions in rural Romania, with tour buses pulling up and unloading foreigners hourly. [...]
The grave markers in the cemetery in Sapânta are carved and painted with scenes of the deceased accompanied by a poem describing their fate in Maramures dialect. About half of them have two painted sides – one showing the deceased as they were in life, and the other showing either the way they died or illustrating some quirk that made them the talk of the village.
Dumneazu blog has the story: Link
Previously on Neatorama: Strange Funeral Rites From Around the World, 10 Most Fascinating Tombs in the World
Phoot: Csont Zsombor
Got old cell phones? Rather than chucking them in a landfill, artists in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, used them to decorate this giant cell phone sculpture as part of the city’s film festival.
More photos of the art installations from around the city at 11even: Link – Thanks Zsolt!
A Romanian man named Gheroghe Stirbu was accidentally declared dead by government bureaucrats and had to go to court to force the government to re-register him as alive:
Bungling civil servants had mixed him up with another man but although Stirbu pointed out what they had done they refused to acknowledge their mistake until Stirbu won a 12 month legal claim to be declared alive.
Judges renewed his status as alive – and then charged him ?500 in court costs.
Mr Stirbu said: “When the judge ruled in my favour I was absolutely delighted – and then seconds later was absolutely shocked when I found out I would have to pay so much in legal bills.
“I will of course appeal the imposition of the costs but I am already beginning to wonder whether or not I would have been better off staying dead.” – ananova.com
Link via DoublePlusUndead
Image via flickr user ambergis
