Identity emblems of the national culture: romanian Calus

In the present text, a brief radiography of the Romanian ancestral custom, called Calus, is undertaken, which attempts to identify some cultural signs and symbolic meanings found within it. Meanwhile, the general aspects, the temporal context of the unfolding of the custom, the structure of the singing group and its characters, the clothing, the props (main, secondary) and the accessories of the group of dancers are highlighted. The symbolism of the numbers that mark the group’s composition with the deciphering of the significance of the odd numbers and the description of the functional aspects of the Calusarian ritual are also analyzed. A substantial part in the economy of the study is dedicated to the analysis of the three ceremonial sequences of Calus, the main attention being focused, in particular, on the spectacle and the symbolism of the dances performed by the dancers during the performance of the ritual. The presence of the choreographic element is supported by the musical substance of the dance melodies, which caused the author to present in a synoptic regime some of the morphological particularities of the melodies specific of the ritual. The conclusions of the study aim to highlight once again the unquestionable value of Caluș in the traditional Romanian culture, recognized as a masterpiece of the immaterial heritage of humanity and its inclusion in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity