TRINITIES IN BRAILA’S CIRCLE

-text and photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
design Florin Alexandru Stancu-

In 20 December 2017 I saw from Braila
the Moon (soon after the First Quarter) over the Danube River.

Then I moved to the balcony of my aunt (and adoptive mother)
Tanti Sila,
from where I saw the Winter Triangle
(the stars Procyon, Betelgeuse and Sirius).

And this inspired me to write:

When the end of the year is close
And the people enjoy the Sacred Holidays
I think that the Winter Triangle should be
Included as the Witnessing Sky Trinity.

And this inspired me further,
to watch the Sun from the same place on the next three mornings:

December 21…

December 22…

December 23…

On December 23 I continued with another trinity:
to see the Sun over
(and inside as artistic representations)
three important places in north-east Braila,
the closest urban zone to the former natural borders of Wallachia:
the Danube River in east (to the Ottoman Empire),
and the Siret River in north (to Moldova).

The first place was the Orthodox Church of Saint John the Baptizer
(made in 1912).

The second place was the Catholic Cemetery
(founded in 1837),
including three beautiful chapels.

The third place was the Orthodox Church of… Saint Trinity
(made in the 1930s).

As an irony, close to the last church,
I saw four blocks of flats made by the communist atheist regime around 1960,
simple boxes without any architectural value,
but pompously named after the four giant gaseous planets
of the solar system
(Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune).

Then I tried a recapitulation of the brightest heavenly bodies
which I had seen during those days:
the Sun (rising through the fog from the Danube River on December 24),
the Moon (December 21),
Venus (December 23),
Jupiter (December 22),
and Sirius (December 21).