Romanian Music Festival Trades Tickets For Blood

Inspired by the legend of Dracula, the fictional vampire from Bram Stoker's horror story, organisers of the Untold music festival in Transylvania have launched a campaign to encourage blood donation in Romania.

Music Festival Encourages People to Donate Blood|Photo by Untold Festival 

"As Romania is facing an acute shortage of blood in medical facilities, a campaign inspired by this legend to draw attention to a real problem is more than welcome," Bogdan Buta, director of the festival, said.

"Through the 'Pay with blood' campaign, we want to raise awareness on this need and contribute to increasing the number of donors in Romania," he added.

Blood donors at regional centres can get cheaper Untold Festival tickets up until July 24. Those who donate blood at two mobile caravans in Bucharest and Cluj will receive one-day tickets to the festival.

Untold, an electro-dance-music festival, will take place between July 30 and August 2 in Cluj, central Transylvania.

The line-up includes big names in the international electronic music scene such as Avicii, Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, Fedde le Grande and Patrice.

In recent years, most hospitals across Romania have faced a blood shortage, as the number of active blood donors in the country is very low.

Only 1.7 per cent of the population routinely donates blood, and most only become donors to help a person close to them, according to the Romanian Institute for Blood Transfusion.

Transylvania is known as the land of Dracula. The story draws on the legend of Vlad the Impaler, a prince who ruled part of Romania in the late Middle Ages.

About 500,000 tourists a year visit Bran Castle,which has become linked to Stoker's story of the legendary black-caped and sharp...

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