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This paper deals with the question of how and how much of the Romanian folk traditions related to New Yearʼs Eve celebration have been transmitted from the last century to the present days in some Moldavian villages from the Eastern part of the country. It brings into discussion the specific alterations induced by communist cultural politics during the second half of the twentieth century, among which the most relevant for the ethnographic field seems to be the establishment of official festivals such as Cântarea României, comprising bits and pieces of popular rituals, reshaped by the former political regime according to its ideological criteria. In order to evaluate the present situation, in 2015 I conducted a field research in Țibănești and the surrounding villages in Iași county. There are two basic approaches in ethnographic research: studying the literature previously written on a particular topic, and backing it with specific fieldwork. This paper reflects the sequential use of both methods, which enables the results of one approach to respond in a better understanding of the other. Masque carolling and offering symbolic, as well as proper gifts on New Yearʼs Eve – a custom most germane to traditional life in small communities – represent the main focus of the first part of my paper. Romanian ethnology has identified five traditional ways of carolling, of which masque carolling seems to be the most ancient. Romanian term colinda means both the custom of wandering through the village on festive occasions such as Easter, Christmas Eve, New Yearʼs Eve or individual celebrations, in order to offer gifts and propitious wishes, and the songs sung on Christmas Eve by children or/and adults who go from one house to another bringing the good news of Nativity or awakening various mythological elements in the memory of the community. On the one hand, the continuity of such practices is guaranteed by the long-term mechanisms of tradition. On the other hand, communist authorities have interfered by trying to recreate the folklore and the popular culture according to their ideological criteria. Thus, a new series of (official) celebration emerged, aimed at replacing the old, untamed, and seemingly “irrational” popular ones. Official festivals turned peasants into stage performers. Could those peasants have regained their ancient heritage by now, after decades of ideological forced compliance? Applying this conceptual framework, I expected to find on the ethnographic field the results of merging the two sets of practices. Indeed, the celebration of New Yearʼs Eve started in 2015 at Țibănești as an official contest among peasant companies delivering a stage performance. Then, once the winners had been declared and rewarded by the local authorities, the “performers” got off the stage and gathered at the local pub, which proved to be a real centre of community festive life. The atmosphere changed into that of an authentic popular feast, with people carousing and getting ready for the next part of the celebration, which was masque carolling through the village. The masque troupe is locally called Capra (The Goat). It is an assembly of dancers and instrument players who perform folk dances and drama, with the aim of symbolically putting an end to the ancient year and starting over a new one, which is meant to be perfect in every aspect of community and individual life. The troupes go from one house to another, wearing the Capra (Goat) mascoide, along with some heavy, furry masques such as the ones called Moșnegii (Old Men), ritual attires such as Ursarul (the Bear Master), grotesque ones, such as Țiganca (The Gipsy Woman, always performed by a man) or frightening ones, such as Lupul (the Wolf) and Moartea (Death). This paper contains the first part of the description of the present ritual New Yearʼs Eve masque carolling in Țibănești (Iași county) and some hypotheses on the dynamics of the phenomenon. The topic will be continued in a future article, where the second part of the description and the conclusions will be delivered.

Belief in animal protectors from around the home managed to reach present times almost unchanged in Romania. In this respect, the paper publishes for the first time information gathered in The Folklore Archive of Moldavia and Bucovina, founded in 1970. The two sub-sections are based both on a bibliographic and field information perspective on swallows, storks, and on the snake of the house respectively. The close relationship with these animals is on one hand created by the conviction that birds bring good fortune to the house they nest in, and on the other hand by the belief that each house has a protecting serpent. None of these can be killed or even disturbed by people since great misfortune will follow. The swallows and the storks will set the house on fire if their nests are destroyed and the death of the snake will also end the life of the inhabitants, because they are presented as double egos. This later perspective can be supported both by personal stories and folk ballads on the lad who grew together with the serpent beneath the house. There are also many legends on swallows and storks backing up the mythological image of these migratory birds. The active beliefs also influenced architecture and crafts, since people felt the need to decorate their houses, gates and house objects mainly with the image of the snake, but also with representations of the swallow. The conviction is so strong that even animals who harm the birds are believed to suffer from their revenge. The portraits are obviously drawn in an humanizing manner in order to support the idea of special creatures coming to help the entire household. While the birds have a solar projection, since they come in Romania with the spring and leave when the day is getting shorter, the serpent keeps his sepulchral auro that has been documented ever since Roman Antiquity.

This paper deals with the question of how and how much of the Romanian folk traditions related to New Yearʼs Eve celebration have been transmitted from the last century to the present days in some Moldavian villages from the Eastern part of the country. It brings into discussion the specific alterations induced by communist cultural politics during the second half of the twentieth century, among which the most relevant for the ethnographic field seems to be the establishment of official festivals such as Cântarea României, comprising bits and pieces of popular rituals, reshaped by the former political regime according to its ideological criteria. In order to evaluate the present situation, in 2015 I conducted a field research in Țibănești and the surrounding villages in Iași county. There are two basic approaches in ethnographic research: studying the literature previously written on a particular topic, and backing it with specific fieldwork. This paper reflects the sequential use of both methods, which enables the results of one approach to respond in a better understanding of the other. Masque carolling and offering symbolic, as well as proper gifts on New Yearʼs Eve – a custom most germane to traditional life in small communities – represent the main focus of the first part of my paper. Romanian ethnology has identified five traditional ways of carolling, of which masque carolling seems to be the most ancient. Romanian term colinda means both the custom of wandering through the village on festive occasions such as Easter, Christmas Eve, New Yearʼs Eve or individual celebrations, in order to offer gifts and propitious wishes, and the songs sung on Christmas Eve by children or/and adults who go from one house to another bringing the good news of Nativity or awakening various mythological elements in the memory of the community. On the one hand, the continuity of such practices is guaranteed by the long-term mechanisms of tradition. On the other hand, communist authorities have interfered by trying to recreate the folklore and the popular culture according to their ideological criteria. Thus, a new series of (official) celebration emerged, aimed at replacing the old, untamed, and seemingly “irrational” popular ones. Official festivals turned peasants into stage performers. Could those peasants have regained their ancient heritage by now, after decades of ideological forced compliance? Applying this conceptual framework, I expected to find on the ethnographic field the results of merging the two sets of practices. Indeed, the celebration of New Yearʼs Eve started in 2015 at Țibănești as an official contest among peasant companies delivering a stage performance. Then, once the winners had been declared and rewarded by the local authorities, the “performers” got off the stage and gathered at the local pub, which proved to be a real centre of community festive life. The atmosphere changed into that of an authentic popular feast, with people carousing and getting ready for the next part of the celebration, which was masque carolling through the village. The masque troupe is locally called Capra (The Goat). It is an assembly of dancers and instrument players who perform folk dances and drama, with the aim of symbolically putting an end to the ancient year and starting over a new one, which is meant to be perfect in every aspect of community and individual life. The troupes go from one house to another, wearing the Capra (Goat) mascoide, along with some heavy, furry masques such as the ones called Moșnegii (Old Men), ritual attires such as Ursarul (the Bear Master), grotesque ones, such as Țiganca (The Gipsy Woman, always performed by a man) or frightening ones, such as Lupul (the Wolf) and Moartea (Death). This paper contains the first part of the description of the present ritual New Yearʼs Eve masque carolling in Țibănești (Iași county) and some hypotheses on the dynamics of the phenomenon. The topic will be continued in a future article, where the second part of the description and the conclusions will be delivered.

Belief in animal protectors from around the home managed to reach present times almost unchanged in Romania. In this respect, the paper publishes for the first time information gathered in The Folklore Archive of Moldavia and Bucovina, founded in 1970. The two sub-sections are based both on a bibliographic and field information perspective on swallows, storks, and on the snake of the house respectively. The close relationship with these animals is on one hand created by the conviction that birds bring good fortune to the house they nest in, and on the other hand by the belief that each house has a protecting serpent. None of these can be killed or even disturbed by people since great misfortune will follow. The swallows and the storks will set the house on fire if their nests are destroyed and the death of the snake will also end the life of the inhabitants, because they are presented as double egos. This later perspective can be supported both by personal stories and folk ballads on the lad who grew together with the serpent beneath the house. There are also many legends on swallows and storks backing up the mythological image of these migratory birds. The active beliefs also influenced architecture and crafts, since people felt the need to decorate their houses, gates and house objects mainly with the image of the snake, but also with representations of the swallow. The conviction is so strong that even animals who harm the birds are believed to suffer from their revenge. The portraits are obviously drawn in a humanizing manner in order to support the idea of special creatures coming to help the entire household. While the birds have a solar projection, since they come in Romania with the spring and leave when the day is getting shorter, the serpent keeps his sepulchral aura that has been documented ever since Roman Antiquity.

This collection considers the relevance of the Annales 'school' for archaeology. Three introductory essays consider the relationship between Annales methodology and current archaeological theory. Case studies draw upon methodological variations of the multifaceted Annales approach.

Ana María Lorandi was a pioneer researcher in her country and the impact of her research and management capacity extended beyond Argentina and reached the Andean region. A journey through her trajectory is traversed by the political ups and downs of Argentina - in line with the region -, the disciplinary transformations in the Social Sciences and the institutional developments oriented to the training of researchers and the diffusion andfinancing of their works. For this we recover the voice of Ana María in interviews carried out in the last years and we present unpublished material of the organization of the Congress Key words: A grandes rasgos, estos tópicos incluyen sus trabajos pioneros en arqueología del NO argentino (NOA); su labor etnohistórica, que ayudó a posicionar el Tucumán colonial como tema de investigación; la creación de la cátedra Sistemas Socioculturales de América II en la Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) y de otros espacios docentes de grado y posgrado; la formación de innumerables recursos humanos; la continua implementation de proyectos de investigación con diversas fuentes de financiamiento; su labor reformista al frente del Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas de la UBA y la organización de eventos académicos de alcance internacional.