National Day of Romanian Culture – A tribute to Mihai Eminescu

The Embassy of Romania in Athens is planning to organize a series of cultural events this year to celebrate the 166th anniversary since the birth of Mihai Eminescu, the National Poet of Romania.
January 15th is also the Romanian National Day of Culture.

The Embassy aims at promoting the Romanian culture in Greece and the strong ties between the people of both countries.

Mihai Eminescu (Jan. 15, 1850 – June 15, 1889) transformed both the form and content of Romanian poetry, creating a school of poetry that strongly influenced Romanian writers and poets in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Eminescu’s poetry has a distinctive simplicity of language, a masterly handling of rhyme and verse form, a profundity of thought, and a plasticity of expression which affected nearly every Romanian writer of his own period and after. His poems have been translated into several languages, including Greek.

As a tribute to the huge contribution of Mihai Eminescu’s work to the Romanian culture, January 15th was declared by Law, in 2010, the National Day of the Romanian Culture.

The poems of Mihai Eminescu span a large range of themes, from nature and love to hate and social commentary. His life, work and poetry strongly influenced the Romanian culture and his poems are widely studied in Romanian public schools. His most notable poems include:

“Doina” (the name is a traditional type of Romanian song), 1884

“Lacul” (The Lake), 1876

“Luceafărul” (The Vesper), 1883

“Floare albastră” (Blue Flower), 1884

“Dorința” (Desire), 1884

“Seara pe deal” (Evening on the Hill), 1885

“O, rămai” (Oh, Linger On), 1884

“Epigonii” (Epigones), 1884

“Scrisori” (Letters or “Epistles-Satires”)

“Și dacă” (And if…), 1883

“Odă în metru antic” (Ode (in Ancient Meter), 1883

“Mai am un singur dor” (I Have Yet One Desire), 1883

“La Steaua” (At Star), 1886

Some of his poems, as well as his works “Luceafărul”, “Făt-Frumos din lacrimă” and “Luceafărul”, have been translated in Greek.

SOURCE/PHOTO: Embassy of Romania in Athens