Thursday, January 18, 2007

No, They Aren't Marking Their Territory

Last night I had a very strange conversation with my boyfriend, Mircea. I was joking around with him that something wasn't real (long story) and he said something like "well, the Easter bunny is real, right?" and we laughed and then he started telling me the Romanian tradition of Easter. I could hardly believe my ears-this would never fly in the United States. Well, it might, but there will be a lot of black eyes to account for.

This is how he explained it to me.

"If I was participating in this tradition here, I would go to a girl friend's house, let's say Lainie, and I would spray her with perfume and wish her good luck for the year." (Yeah, right before Jose punches you in the nose!)

I said "Excuse me, what are you spraying on my friend?"

"We spray perfume on women we know to wish them good luck for the year."

"So, are you like, marking your territory? Do you spray them in the eyes?"

"No, we just spray them." (This clearly did not answer my question.)

"Let me get this straight. On Easter, you're going to drive around town, spraying my friends with perfume?" (I'm giggling now.)

Clearly pissed he says "No, we don't drive around."

"You're going to walk to all my friends houses?"

"I am not spraying your friends. I was being hypothetical!"

"So you're not spraying my friends? They aren't good enough for you?"

"Oh Lord, we just used to do this in Romania. Its mostly for the young people."

"Wait, so are you trying to get laid?" (Now I'm getting a little upset)

"Ok, no more conversation about this. I won't be doing this."

"Ok, good. Don't mark your territory with perfume. Where do you get this perfume? Does your girlfriend get the half empty bottle after your travels around town? This is crap. What do I get? Do you spray me?- YOU DON'T SPRAY ME! I DON'T GET GOOD LUCK!"

"We are not marking our territory, other boys will spray you, and you can have good luck."

"Can I drive you around to spray my friends this year?"

"No"

"Can I spray all the cute boys in town with nice cologne?"

"Does it matter what I answer?"

"No"

I was laughing so hard after this because he was getting so angry with me. I kept telling him I was going to go and mark my territory on Robyn's husband Andrew (whom he calls Andrea-ew) and he was getting pissed that I didn't appreciate his tradition. We then wondered how the hell we ever started talking about this, and traced it back to that Easter bunny conversation. It was so weird.

I found a couple of links that talk about the tradition...it sounds weird but it seems to make sense and its actually a pretty nice and sentimental tradition. But if I catch him spraying all my friends...

4 comments:

Pa said...

He'd have to travel a long ways to spray me. I say go for it, as long as the perfume smells nice and all the guys spray the same kind. No one wants to smell like 10 different kinds of perfume, you'll just end up smelling like a hooker. (Yes, I imagine hookers smell like 10 different scents due to the interaction, ok?!)

P.S. Stop making fun of people from foreign countries, no one likes to be mocked.

P.P.S The Big Amehican Eyes is sweeping the nation. I'll email you that story.

Kate said...

If you think for one second that I am making fun of him, you are dead wrong. I think the tradition is awesome and we both laughed how it wouldn't transfer over into American culture. It seems like a very sweet tradition...and I know that I'm going to expect a spray of perfume this year (even though you don't do it for your significant other which was the part I just couldn't grasp)

I heart Romania!

Missy said...

I am laughing out loud right now, that is too funny. :)

Anonymous said...

I have to say, pretty funny. Instead of spraying par-fume, can I just come over and mark territory. I think america needs more holidays that demostrate who owns what. It also needs to involve drinking. And, depending on how drunk I get, I may crap in the bushes purely for toilet humor and shock factor.

Didn't your mother ever teach you not to tease the boys kate, sigh. The poor guy.