Guarding garlic usually takes place on the night of November 29 to 30, the eve of St. Andrew. 10-12 women gather together with friends at a pre-established house. Young girls 3 crowns garlic, a bagle or a loaf is put on a red tablecloth. Two old ladies guard garlic until 12, and then the young come out and „play garlic”. When they finish, each one takes a few cloves of garlic that they guard as a cure for various diseases of humans and animals as well as for love spells.

The goat dance is a custom spread all over the country; in the ethnographic area Botosani the goat’s head is made of birch wood, carved in a shape as close to its natural representation, the bottom of the muzzle being worked in a special timber with a nail caught so that by pulling a string the mouth opens in a noisy sound. At the top of the head there are fixed horns, usually real goat horns, or sometimes simple wooden imitations, then the head has ears, beaded eyes, brass tacks. The head thus constructed is fixed to a holder consisting of a rod whose length varies depending on the performer. The goat’s body consists of a rug fixed to the rear of the head of the goat, leaving a gap through which the performer can follow the dance and join it when his turn comes. The actual adornment of the goat knows no restrictions, it is only based on the imagination and personality of each performer. The rug will be adorned with fragments of mirrors, the horns with colored cloth tassel, bells. The goats covered in reed that were once seen on the village streets (Corni, Sarafineşti, Ibăneşti, etc..) disappeared and were replaced by those covered in old rugs.

Death is a biological reality, while the physical death of the human body does not mean a death of the spirit and the soul, but a release from its temporary package.
In the ethnographic area of Botosani, the funeral ritual is fulfilled based on ancient traditions and is considered a moral and social duty.
Beliefs and practices related to the burial are many and varied, with several aspects of local feature but also with a great number of common elements across the country. The burial traditions in Botosani area show essentially a dignified position of the simple human facing death. Belief in the afterlife is embodied in the care of the deceased’s family to provide all the necessary for the road of no return (money on the dead person’s chest, wake, chicken given at the tomb „for the soul of the deceased”, etc.)

In the ethnographic area of Botosani, marriage is, of old times to this date, the ideological basis for social relations. Wedding ritual brings order and control to the social transition and focuses on the bride the and public reconstruction of her social person. This gives woman the opportunity to reflect over her condition in society as she is inserted into her new role and status. The rite of passage – WEDDING – is accompanied by a variety of mythical and magical beliefs and practices in the area of Botosani, designed to ensure the newly-weds a prosperous life, healthy children and a full understanding between mother and daughter-in-law etc. All this takes place with the help of parents, relatives and close friends, from the very time the marriage is planned. The ritual is particular mostly in Botosani area where these traditions are kept (Tudora, Ibăneşti etc.).

In the ethnographic area of Botosani birth is characterized by a sense of joy to the birth of a newborn. Traditional ritual moments follow birth: cutting navel, presenting baby’s first bathing, the coming of Fates, baptism, bathing and godparents party.
In Romanian, there are many ritual practices of magica land religious nature related to birth: during the first bath the baby is splashed with cold water „so that it wouldn’t be cold as long as it lives.” „The bathing ritual only reunites women, relatives or friends who bathe the baby in a trough where they thow flowers in the water to make the baby beautiful like a flower, some beans to help it have beautiful teeth, feathers so that it can be easy to work and play with, a pen so that it will be a good student, an egg so that it has white and clean skin and bread crumbs so that it has a a good heart. The water in which the child was bathed is poured at the roots of a fruitful tree and on the wooden trough there will sit all the women who want to have children.

St. Andrei’s Eve

In the ethnographic area of Botosani, the night which makes the transition to the holiday of St. George (the old start of the Pastoral Year) is very important, it is believed that witches and wearwolverines threaten wheat fields and cattle stealing their milk. Therefore, all magical practices of this night are to defend animals and crops.
Popular tradition says that on this night the witches and wearwolverines, naked and disheveled, gather in groups of 12 on each village boundary, being guided by an older witch. They say that they are fighting on the border between the two countries, and those who win get the rain that will bring a rich year in the country. The other side would suffer from drought and the year would not be fruitful. To steal cattle milk and field products, witches tie empty bags or milk strainers to their feet, and they crawl through cornfields and pastures. For the same purpose, they cut green wheat with a sickle, bury magic salt in the way of cows and chant different spells. In the area of Botosani, on the eve of the holiday, a swath of green grass is dug and a branch of willow (wicker) is put in its middle – then they put it on the porch and at the gate pillar. If someone takes from this furrow or branch it is a bad sign for the household – with the branch of wicker stolen or the furrow, one can make spells, take cow milk or field product, as well as the „wealth of household”

The central celebration of this calendar cycle, also found in the archaic register of holidays as New Year Spring represents the victory of light over darkness, of life over death. Easter is preceded by a strict fast for 7 weeks. In the middle of the fast eggs are chosen forpainting. The holiday preceding Easter, „Passions’ Week” is loaded with special symbolism: harsh fast starts, religious services called Denii are held every evening, Maundy Thursday (when eggs are painted), Barren Friday (Mourning over Jesus Christ), Saturday preceeding Resurrection. The night of the resurrection is accompanied in Botosani by the belief that heaven is open, that dead return to their homes, etc.
The phrase „Easter of the proud” as opposed to „the Christmas of the full” is still valid today: each family member must get a new piece of clothing.

March 1 is the holiday of Dragobetele, who appears in legends as Dochia’s son. In contrast with his mother, he appears as a beautiful young, bearer of love and goodwill, and makes all girls fall in love with him. Dragobete was identified in literature with Eros, the god of love from Greek mythology and Cupid – the Romans’ god of love.
Celebrated on 24 February, in some ethnographic areas of Romania or on 1, 3 and 25 of March, Dragobete didn’t have a fixed date (Muntenia, Oltenia, Dobrogea, Transylvania). On these days, birds built their nests to mate, and girls and boys wanted in their turn to fall in love, thinking of a future engagement or marriage.