But not anytime soon. Romania has been on my list of places to go only insofar as everywhere is on my list of places to go, but I never really had a specific interest in it. That has changed, thanks to this article.
Evidently, superstition and witchcraft and magic is still very big in Romania. Witches and fortunetellers are widely accepted and have recently been officially acknowledged as "self-employed workers." On the one hand, this is awesome for both them and me, because I think that is just fabulous. On the other hand, witches are now required to pay income tax. This does not sit well with many witches, and they have planned protests in the form of evil spells and hexes.
I am thinking, this is a great country. So I will definitely visit there someday, but will probably wait until this income tax thing has died down. I don't want to be talking to someone in a pub and say, "so, how about those income taxes?" and then be the victim of a dead-dog-hex. That would be not so fun. But this, albeit very poorly written, article has sparked an interest in me for Romania, and I will add it to my tangible list of places to go, instead of just letting it remain implied based on the fact that it is a place to go. I mean, it's the birthplace of Dracula, and now they have government-acknowledged witches and voo-doers roaming the countryside. Its gotta be worth a closer look!
BW:You are welcomed to Romania whenever you come,but before that you need to drop the proverbial American ignorance and get some real knowledge.Superstition and witchcraft and magic may be widespread in the USA due to the aforementioned ignorance but that is not the case in Europe,where people get knowledge in school not "education"as in the USA.The birthplace of Dracula is not in Romania,it was in the head of Bram Stoker who is buried in Ireland I guess.Vlad the Impaler has nothing to do with that fictional character.As for the fortunetellers and the likes,they are rather ignored since they are Gypsy crooks and not accepted as you and the equally ignorant article you mention states.The law in fact is rather aimed mainly at making possible to held these crooks responsible in the court of law for the consequences of their "services"on the life and welfare of defenceless naives and religious citizens who need to be protected in a civilised society,or as you call it in the USA "money back warranty".For a real understanding of Romania I suggest you check Sam"s blog "I"m more Romanian than you"at http/King of Romania.com and see what a genuine American has to say after ten years of living in Romania.Best regards from Romania!
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