News
Remetea is the Smart Rural 21 ‘Village of the Month’ in April, during which the project will feature updates from the village, as well as its unique culture and traditions.
Remetea is one of over 800 Romanian villages, located mainly in the counties of Covasna, Harghita and Mureş, in which the main language spoken is Hungarian. These Hungarian-speaking villages contribute to the rural regional diversity of the country which has approximately 13 000 villages in total, each with their own specific landscapes and traditional cultures.
Celebrating Easter in Remetea
This year’s Easter celebrations in Remetea were limited by the Covid restrictions, however, the local community managed to observe several religious customs. Those included the fire, water and food consecration ceremonies, as well as the traditional ‘watering’ which, according to local traditions, consists of boys and men sprinkling perfume or pouring water on girls and women on Easter Monday to make them flourish throughout the year. The girls and women then give hand-decorated Easter eggs to the boys and men, thus rewarding the ‘watering’.
Remetea celebrated Easter at the beginning of April, following the Catholic calendar, while in most parts of Romania, it is to be celebrated following the Orthodox calendar in early May.
Early childhood education in Remetea
Remetea’s early childhood education and development programme has been running since 2011, bringing parents and toddlers together to share experiences, learn and play. The weekly sessions feature creative and engaging development techniques and are led by a mental hygiene specialist, Lujza Czirják, who also provides personalised advice and individual support on request.
The programme is attended by a small but steady number of parents and children in two separate groups intended for babies and toddlers. Discussions and activities reflect the changing needs of growing babies and their families, and, importantly, provide a strong feeling of belonging to a community.
Remetea’s support group for the elderly
Remetea runs a support group for elderly people on a bi-monthly basis since 2009 to maintain the physical health and keep up the spirits of the elderly. On top of the bi-monthly meetings and with the help of the responsible social worker, Róbert Péter, the group organises special events such as carnival parties, summer hiking trips, Elderly World Day events, and Christmas celebrations.
The 25 members of the group share hobbies, concerns, family issues, offer help in managing small everyday challenges, thus forming a strong, interlinked micro-community.
Remetea hosts futuristic photo exhibition
The Remetea Town Hall is hosting an exceptional exhibition, featuring photos of the micro and macro worlds, invisible to the naked eye, including images of the Maros river basin – reconstructed from 250 photos – and the Horsehead Nebulon in Orion, located 1 300 light years away.
The ‘Father and Son’ exhibition by Remetea artists Szabolcs Mincsor and Tamás Mincsor was opened on 25 March 2021. The artists have used innovative drone technology to take the photos and special software in the post-production.
Remetea and sustainable online learning
The quick digitalisation of education due to Covid distancing measures introduced important changes in Remetea: the municipality had to quickly supply the equipment necessary for online learning; and find a way to manage the consequences of children’s and parents’ increased time in front of screens.
The former issue was dealt with by purchasing and distributing 400 tablets to families with schoolchildren and in need of a device to follow classes online. The latter issue was addressed in an innovative way by introducing workshops for parents, which intended to help with the physical and mental wellbeing within the family.
Three interactive workshops of two hours each took place on 10 April, providing advice and good practice tips and tools to parents on how to organise the ‘digital life’ of the family.
History
Located in the mountainous area of the Giurgiu Basin in Harghita county, Romania, Remetea is one of the largest villages in the region, with a population of 6 171 inhabitants. The total surface area of the village is 10 774 hectares.
Remetea is a settlement of several hundred years of history, with strong traditions and eloquent cultural characteristics. One of the biggest assets of the village is the natural mineral water springs and supplies. We hope to revive the ‘bath culture’ of the region by opening a wellness and bath centre, while using resources efficiently.
The traditional economy is based on agriculture, forestry and handicrafts. The community has entrepreneurial spirit, including service providers, a chocolate and sweets factory, and an office furniture enterprise. In this context, the priority is to identify and eliminate factors that limit the pursue of new business opportunities.
The leadership and management of Remetea is stable, makes use of cooperative management techniques and builds up local knowledge-base, besides the subordinated institutions (health centre, touristic centre, community centres, social centre, nursery) tries to respond to all the community needs.
‘Our village has been facing complex challenges and dynamic transformations that require the implementation of a new, integrated, digital management system that facilitates interaction with all the local actors of our community’s everyday life. Our motivation to participate in the project is to learn and adopt an integrative development approach, including economic development, health, innovation and education.’, Elemér Laczkó-Albert, mayor
We visited Remetea
begining of August and we were very happy to find a nice, motivated team. We liked Remetea right after reading through the application and we were more then enthusiastic to feel the energy and commitment at ground level.
We visited the area and got to see some of the projects that were implemented in the commune and we also had a peak at the agro-market which is about to open soon.
Circular economy, a lot of opportunities and things to do, very strong and open community makes us want to connect and have Remetea as a positive example of living in rural areas for other villages in Romania.
