The National Day of Romania
29.11-01.12.2013
In 1990 the 1st of December was decreed as the National Day of Romania as a commemoration of the Great Assembly of Alba Iulia where the unification of Transylvania and Romania was voted and which date symbolizes the unification of all Romanians into one national state.
On the 1st of December 1918 Transylvania unites with the Romanian Kingdom which is formed by the principalities of Moldova and Valachia. This is a historical event which resulted in a united Romania, a powerful Romania which now could fight against all enemies, a country which could be independent and settled once and for all.
Alba Iulia as the venue for this historical event was not randomly chosen: on the 1st of November 1599, Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul), having come out victorious in the battle of Selimbar, organized his victorious entrance into the town of Alba Iulia which was the capital of the ruler and in a short time he managed to achieve the first unification of the Romanian territories. In 1784, on the same plateau of the Citadel, Horia and Closca died as martyrs from breaking on the wheel as a result of a conviction.
The resolution of the unification was read by Vasile Goldis and contained the following: “The great assembly of all Romanians of Transylvania, Banat and Hungary, assembled in Alba Iulia by their lawful representatives on this day of the 18th of November/1st of December, decrees the union of the Romanians and of all the territories inhabited by them with Romania. This assembly proclaims the inalienable right of the Romanian nation to Banat, lying between the Mures, Tisa and Danube rivers.
The year 1918 represents in the life of the Romanian people the triumph of national ideals, the crowning of a long line of fights and human and material sacrifices to establish their unitary national state.