Nea Fane – Un Biet Român Pripășit în America / A Hapless Romanian Stuck in The US

It wasn’t until my second visit to The Perch – five years later – that I finally understood why we had to wait an hour for our food, and why, when it arrived, it tasted a bit off.

I was wearing this shirt, and it turns out that The Perch is not only a brewery, it’s also a bird sanctuary.

If only they’d have asked…

Significance of the tolerance zero logo (translated from the tolerantazero.ro website)

One of the founding myths of the Romanian people is the arrow and the raven that stole the heir’s ring. This legendary image was incorporated into the coat of arms of the Corinees 600 years ago, but its origin dates back thousands of years.

A prince falls in love with a girl from the other side of the mountains, and she gives birth to a boy. Times are troubled, and the girl is forced to run away with the child to her parents. The prince offers his ring to the girl so that she can, in later years, prove the child’s noble origin and her right to return with him to the land of his birth.

The child grows up and, together with his mother and some courtiers, sets off back over the mountains to his father’s kingdom, On the way, they stop and, while resting, the boy plays with the ring. A raven is attracted by the glitter of the ring and swoops in unexpectedly, snatching the ring in itsbeak, and flies away.

The mother and companions are horrified, as the ring is the only proof of the child’s legitimacy and birthright. Amid the general despair, however, the boy seizes a bow and arrows offered by one of the soldiers, sets out resolutely to hunt the crow, and ultimately recovers the ring.

The event, of course, took place in the times when the crows talked to shepherds and she-wolves nursed orphaned children.

Even in the third millennium, however, the value and importance of identity has remained: history, names, and birthrights. And today, as in the legend then, it is often true that some will attempt to expropriate them from those to whom they rightfully belong .

Even so, the story of the savage and elusive raven reinforces our faith that sometimes, with perseverance and courage, we can succeed in our quest , and the ultimate retrieval of the ring can also be the recovery of those things which are meaningful and sacred to us.

Pofta ce-am pohtit (the lust I wanted) is the famous expression the ruler Mihai Viteazul uttered when he, with the single strokes of one hand, signed and imposed upon us the legacy of a treaty that established the union – and the borders – of Transylvania, Moldova, and the country of Romania .

Since then, it has become the phrase that expresses the wish for fulfillment of a most long desire of our people.