In the 15th century an oral epic folk literature emerged, and writings in the Romanian language took shape in around 1420. Modern literature emerged in the 19th century. Literature became a tool of the communist party from 1947 onwards. Since 1990 many works have been published attesting to the horrors of the communist period. Folk music and dancing have long been popular in Romania.
Couples dance in a circle, a semicircle or a line.
Modern gypsy music has absorbed many influences and professional gypsy musicians play whatever village clients want. Romanian is closer to classical Latin than it is to other Romance languages, and the grammatical structure and basic word stock of the mother tongue are well preserved. Speakers of French, Italian and Spanish won't be able to understand much spoken Romanian but will find written Romanian more or less comprehensible. Romanian is spelt phonetically so once you learn a few simple rules you should have no trouble with pronunciation. Romania is the only country with a Romance language that does not have a Roman Catholic background.