Parting Songs of the Dobruja Aromanians and Tatars

Abstract

Dobruja, a consequence of numerous overlapping cultures and civilizations, is an actual example of cohabitation and each ancestry keeping its identity. Adapted and accepted in the compact mass of the majority, minority ethnics from Dobruja’s culture and lifestyle are asserted both as part of the community and outside of it. In geographical areas characterized by multiculturality, such as Dobruja, traditions are performed in diverse forms, thus contributing to the assertion of the identity of the group that practices them. This paper aims at introducing the songs accompanying a major moment in the Dobruja Aromanians’ and Tatars’ nuptial rituals. The bride parting with her family environment is distinct in the case of both communities. Parting Songs are both vocal and instrumental. In the Aromanians’ case, they are played when the bride is taken by the groom from her parent’s house, to go to the religious ceremony. In the case of Tatars, the actual wedding starts with this song, at the moment when the bride and the groom leave the parents’ house and join the guests. These community practices prove the existence of a homogenous ritually background in the Dobruja area, currently deemed to be the native land by all referenced community members.