Motto: „And the oak of my people lifts today Its dark forehead and fresh leaves” Its dark forehead and fresh leaves” Mihai Eminescu

O long cultural tradition turned this tree into a symbol of physical strength and endurance. With its roots deep into the ground and its top up among the stars, oaks presented to the humans as a tree providing communication between three worlds: subterranean, terrestrial and celestial. Oaks are a human metaphor for the man fighting against fate, an allegory of its moral verticality. Witness of so many individual existences, it signifies the permanence and continuity of life and facts, as personification of Romanian national ideals. Oaks are a human metaphor for the man fighting against fate, an allegory of its moral verticality. Witness of so many individual existences, it signifies the permanence and continuity of life and facts, as personification of Romanian national ideals. Oaks are the most important and sacred trees for the Romanians. Our ancestors often used to settle under this tree. With its impressive size, it represents the longevity and the strength to resist any adversity in time.

In a Romanian western village there is a story of a teacher. 91 years ago, upon the birth of a Romanian king, he wished to plant an oak. Upon the end of World War II, the communist regime proposed the clearing of the square where the oak was planted. They failed, as the people of that time surrounded and guarded it for 10 years until the oak got deep roots...

Still in that period, the officers’ uniform had an oak leaf and the royal crown on their military hat. The hat peak was plain for the lower officers and adorned with brass oak leaves, for upper officers. The ground troops generals had the so-called “general’s sun” – a silver insignia with sun rays and a 5- corner star – and a hat peak with two layers of oak leaves. Nowadays, generals or admirals of the Armed Forces have on their peak with two layers of oak leaves made of gold-plated metal while lower officers have one layer of oak leaves made of gold-plated metal. Romanian national rugby team has the oak leaf as their insignia.

Oaks symbolize greatness, strength, longevity, spiritual and material greatness, moral and physical strength, source of wisdom, life, happiness and prosperity. Its thick branches and leaves show hospitality, the collective united in thought and deed. Its green leaves signify the spring, fertility, harmony, freshness and has a strong emotional correspondence to safety, stability and resilience. Each great oak starts with a few acorns deeply rooted in the ground. The seeds of this symbol are already there, in our culture and being. All we have to do is plant and cultivate them to later harvest the fruit. A well known folk chorus says: A well known folk chorus says: “A joyful Romanian is like an oak in bloom, “A joyful Romanian is like an oak in bloom, A loved Romanian is like a green oak" A loved Romanian is like a green oak"