Tradiții de Anul Nou - ARNĂUȚII din Răucești (Târgu Neamț, Moldova)

The video shows one of the street performances of a group of Arnauts from Raucești, a commune located 6 km northeast of Târgu Neamț. The recording was made on the occasion of the traditional New Year's carnival which takes place in Târgu Neamt (Neamț County, Moldova) usually on January 2 of each year, but now two days ahead (so December 31, 2021) for reasons of management of the Covid-19 pandemic. The group of Arnauts from Raucesti has a long tradition and their dance stands out for its virtuosity and complexity. They are accompanied by a band that performs songs specific to the dances of arnauts. The word ARNAUT is of Turkish origin and refers to the Albanian population in general, regardless of religion, sometimes with reference to Albanian soldiers in the Turkish army. On the territory of the Romanian Principalities, the term Arnaut has lost its ethnic connotation and refers to the occupational one, the Arnauts being mercenaries of Albanian origin who carried out their military activity in the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Thus, in the final period of the Phanariot rulers, Serbs, Greeks and even Romanians were enlisted to the Arnauts. The Arnauts formed army corps in the service of the Phanariot rulers (but also of the boyars) from Wallachia and Moldova, used as bodyguards, posse and guards. They were known for their skill, bravery, and loyalty to the ruler. However, during the revolutionary events of 1821, the Arnauts had an oscillating attitude: they betrayed their Phanariot masters and sided with either the side of Eteria or the side of the movement led by Turdor Vladimirescu, after which some of them even entered in the service of the Turks. After the fall of the Phanariot regime (1822), the army corps made up of Arnauts were disbanded, but for several decades they were seen in the big cities as armed servants of boyars or foreign officials from the two Romanian countries, dressed in rich and multicolored clothing, guns at the waist. The Arnauts are dressed in folk costumes and wear a floss silk cloth or a napkin on which their beads are fastened, and a red blouse on top. On their heads they have a hat adorned with pieces of mirror and beads. They have white „itari” (pants), most of the time a white „skirt”, a pair of „opinci” (peasant's footwear) and a multicolored embellished mace in their hand. Some bands, as we see here, also include "Arnaut women", probably a funny analogy to the fact that in the Arnaut families the craft of weapons was a family heirloom. Within this group (Raucești, but not only them) we notice the additional presence of some soldiers dressed not popularly, but in military uniform. I assume they represent the officer corps. In the Târgu Neamt area there are several groups of Arnauts in Filioara, Agapia, Humulesti, Boistea, Urecheni, Bariear, Oglinzi, Baltatesti etc. We also saw the group from Raucesti in 2016:    • Tradiții de Anul Nou (XI) - ARNĂUȚII de la...   Other groups of Arnauts recorded on January 2, 2016 are the Humulesti -    • Tradiții de Anul Nou (XV) - ARNĂUȚII din H...  , Valea Seaca -    • Tradiții de Anul Nou (IV) - ARNĂUȚII din V...  , “Barrier ”Târgu Neamț -    • Tradiții de Anul Nou (XVI) - ARNĂUȚII din ...  , Timisesti -    • Tradiții de Anul Nou (VII) - ARNĂUȚII din ...  , Blebea - https://www.youtube.com/ watch? v = IsS1-KLoX0g, and on January 2, 2020, those from Topolita -    • Arnăuții din Topolița - Tradiții de Anul N...   and from Bariera - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= aTcljD5k-xw Also on December 31, 2021 and also in a street show, we recorded the Arnauts from Humulesti -    • Tradiții de Anul Nou - ARNĂUȚII din Humule...