Great Union Day of Romania

On December 1, 1918 1,228 elected representatives of the Romanians in Transylvania, Banat, Crisana, and Maramures convened in Alaba Iulia and declared by unanimous vote, “the unification of those Romanians and of all the territories inhabited by them with Romania.”  Thus the modern state of Romania was created.

The date was reset to December 1st after the 1989 Romanian Revolution.  The Communist Governmemt had changed the date to August 23rd to mark the 1944 overthrow of the pro-fascist government of Marshal Ion Antonescu.  Prior to that the date was set at May 10th with a double meaning in celebration of the day Carol I set foot on Romanian soil (1866) and the the prince ratified the Declaration of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877.

This day is celebrated in Romania as the 4th of July is celebrated in the United States.  Romania is a country in transition years after the Revolution of 1989 and the economy has been slow in coming back after the world economic crisis.

We wish all Romanians a happy day as they celebrate the Great Day of Unification!