Another day trip has come and gone and though it felt like we were in the car for a good majority of it we all had a fantastic time. On our list of places to see was the Densus Church, Corvinilor Castle (also known as Hunedoara Castle the town where it is located), and the Prislop Monastery, all of which were beautiful. The church is famous for being the oldest church that still holds services and has a background of being a pagan temple for the Dacians and then the Romans when they invaded and built on it for their god Mars. The church is unique in its paintings because it depicts Jesus in traditional Romanian clothes and has a picture of the Trinity in which God is visualized as an old man, Jesus as a baby and the Holy Spirit as a dove. The odd thing about this is that normally paintings in the Orthodox Church do not depict God at all but in the Densus church God is portrayed as a bearded timeworn man. What I found immensely amusing was that on the back of the church roof is a statue of two lions both of which were at one time connected by their tails. When I saw this I guessed it to be a sign of fertility which can be connected to the pagan traditions though when I researched it I didn’t find anything specifically related to lions tails. While we were visiting, a whole bus of kids arrived and ran wild over the church grounds after seeing a bit of the church and hearing about it from the priest. Once we felt we had combed the place fairly well, concerning information, we hopped back into the van and headed in the direction of the castle.
On the way we saw some of the handiwork of the Roma since they like to present their skill of metal work through their architecture and specifically on the roofs of many buildings. I cannot express how truly amazing it was to be able to not only see an intact castle in Europe but also to walk around and take pictures inside pondering what the lives of those who lived there before were like. 
The castle of course was marvelous and legit since it had its own moat and wooden bridge to cross. I was extraordinarily bummed to find so many doors locked preventing us from accessing many intricately carved portals. Before we entered the castle Zach gave us a brief presentation on the castle telling us about some of the more spooky legends that create the image and feeling of a creepy haunted place. In one of them 3 or 12 Turks (the exact number is debated) are imprisoned there and are told that if 
they dig a well and find water they will be freed. The prisoners upon hearing this dig fervently and discover water but are denied freedom and instead given a ticket into the next world as their reward. In response to this the Turkish prisoners supposedly inscribed the phrase “you have water but you have no souls” on the wall of the well before being executed. The message that was left was in reality not as near disturbing and once translated meant that prisoners were here or something like that. Another spooky tale is about Vlad Tepes who also known as Vlad the Impaler, he was imprisoned in the castle by Mattias Corvinus. Corvinus was a Hungarian king who allied himself with Vlad early on in order to kick the Turks out of Hungary but when Vlad came to ask for his aid against the Turks, Corvinus arrested him on false charges and threw him in his dungeon. He was kept in the dungeon for around seven years and it is said he was so thirsty for flesh and blood that he impaled rats in his cell leaving their skewered corpses everywhere for the jailers to find. Near the end of seven years Vlad is given the sister of Corvinus whom he marries and lives with until he is free to leave the country.After giving the castle a thorough inspection we all met in the courtyard to take some group pictures and make sure no one was lost. While standing in the courtyard the sound of choir music floats down and, becoming curious as to the origin of it, we following it till we arrived back in the hall where the dinner table and antique chair set were located. Upon entering the room we saw in the row of ancient high backed chairs against the wall a group of 10 to 15 people sitting as they sang together while the director conducted them. The ridiculous thing about this was that the director walked over to us as they were finishing a song and asked us two questions in succession of each other, “do you speak English and will you sing with us?” We, of course, were astounded and thrilled and a little abashed that he was so bold to ask us but nonetheless he began singing in English “As the Deer” listening for our involvement. We of course felt obligated to sing with them and hearing the music echo in such a magical and mysterious place cemented the memory. The last song they sang for us was Romania’s national anthem which was beautiful, but also ironic as the castle for a long time belonged to the Hungarians with many a Hungarian king living in it but was now ringing with Romanian pride.
We left the castle in search for food and discovered a lovely rustic establishment (the kind where they catch, kill, and cook the food as soon as you order it well maybe not but there has to be some explanation for the length of time it took to be served). The place had delicious food, though I only had some soup, but what I tasted from everyone else dish was pretty fantastic. Once everyone had finally chowed down their long-awaited food we hoped back into the van and headed off for the Prislop Monastery, which is a gorgeous representation of harmony with nature since all over the monastery grounds there are flowers, a tree garden, and even a cave dedicated to prayer which was filled with candles and other such meditation paraphernalia.
As I entered through the Maramures styled gate I saw the pile of crudely made long simple blue skirts sitting on the bench inside and watched as the women who did not come in with a skirt would pick one of those up and tie it around their waists moving it up or down for the desired length. Though I am normally averse to even the idea of wearing a skirt I appreciated the demand for it here because not only does it prevent immodesty but it also assists the wearer in developing the mindset that the monastery is a place in which God is the focus and we should come prepared as such. While we were nosing around the place we came upon the graveyard in which a funeral was taking place and it was beautiful and oddly comforting as it reminded me of my Grandmother’s funeral which took place in early February of this year. It wasn’t the memory that was comforting, per say, but the fact that in Romania grief is taken quite seriously and as I watched the tenderness in the kissing of the grave stone and thought back to the many funeral parades I have heard in Lupeni I realized life should be celebrated and remembered and that its acceptable to grieve for the loss of another and is even necessary if one is to process it with healthy results. Back home in the states grieving is a state that is expected and then once you have had your designated time you should not weep or cry at least not visibly for that person anymore because life is good even without them. Here though in Romania there is a day that commemorates those who have died and is celebrated annually and is not a time to grieve but to remember those people who are still dear to you and to rejoice about life with those still living. It made me realize that graveyards should not be areas you avoid but instead be explored and used as an area to ponder life and God and other such big mysteries or read of other’s lives etched on stones. Once we had climbed into the prayer cave and saw the candles, coins and flowers that had been left there we slowly moseyed our way back to the vehicle each in a meditative state as we passed buildings dedicated to deep musing and praying to God.
Once we had climbed into the prayer cave and saw the candles, coins and flowers that had been left there we slowly moseyed our way back to the vehicle each in a meditative state as we passed buildings dedicated to deep musing and praying to God.
Post by Julie, not Marit!
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