Sfântul Andrei
St Andrew’s Day, the patron saint’s feast celebrated with garlic folklore rituals to ward off spirits, Romania’s traditional Halloween.
Sfântul Andrei, 30 November, is the feast of St Andrew, patron saint of Romania, and a public holiday since 2012, the day before the national day on 1 December. The folklore belongs to the night before, Noaptea Sfântului Andrei, when the strigoi, the restless dead of Romanian belief, are said to roam and the wolves to speak with human voices. Families rub crushed garlic on doors, windows and even the cattle shed, hang garlic wreaths at the entrance and turn the pots upside down so that no spirit can hide in them.
In villages the young people keep the 'guarding of the garlic': they gather in one house with a bowl of garlic bulbs on the table, watched over by an old woman, and dance and eat until dawn; the garlic is then shared out as a charm for the year. Girls put a sprig of basil under the pillow to dream of the man they will marry, or look for his face in a mirror between two candles. Wheat grains are set to sprout in a pot: tall green shoots by New Year mean a good year ahead.
The pack has 36 words spread across these domains.
Same words in both. Beginner gets more help: matching and completing. Advanced listens and spells it out unaided. Pick it in practice; it locks when you take the scored run.
Practise as often as you like, all year. The scored run happens once, while the competition is open, and cannot be retaken.