The National Day (or according to Wikipedia, “Great Union Day”) is a celebration of the unification of Romania that happens every year on December 1st.

Before 1918, Romania was separated in three countries. Transylvania, Moldova, and Tara Româneasca. Every year they do a huge military parade in Bucharest. This year, we watched the parade from the warmth and comfort of our home.

Next year the celebration will be amazing, I’m sure, because it will be the 100th anniversary of the unification.

I am always really impressed by the parade. They practice for weeks beforehand and everything is super choreographed (in previous years, my fiance had to go to Bucharest and train his cadets for the parade – thankfully, it was not his turn this year!). All the branches of the military are represented as well as the emergency services (police, fire, etc.). They also invite military from other countries to be in the parade as well. I saw the American flag at one point, which made my heart very happy [side note: American parades do not have tanks. I would really like to see a tank parade in America].

I made a video from the TV. I know it’s kind of lame and the quality isn’t so great, but I hope you enjoy anyway!

Although there are no special foods to eat this day, people usually mark the occasion by having the day off and generally feeling patriotic. We celebrated our spirit by putting up our Romanian car flags (affiliate link). La multi ani, Romania!

Woohoo, Romania!