ROUMANIAN SUPERSTITION: DAYS AND HOURS.
Grimm has said that “superstition in all its multifariousness
constitutes a species of religion applicable to all the common
household necessities of daily life;”[33] and if we view it as such,
particular forms of superstition may very well serve as guide to
the character and habits of the particular nation in which they are
prevalent. In Transylvania, however, the task of classifying all the
superstitions that come under our notice is a peculiarly hard one,
for perhaps nowhere else does this curious crooked plant of delusion
flourish so persistently and in such bewildering variety as in the land
beyond the forest; and it would almost seem as though the whole species
of demons, pixies, witches, and hobgoblins, driven from the rest of
Europe by the wand of science, had taken refuge within this mountain
rampart, aware that here they would find secure lurking-places whence
to defy their persecutors yet a while.
There are many reasons why such fabulous beings should retain an
abnormally firm hold on the soil of these parts, and looking at
the matter closely, we find no less than three distinct sources of
superstition:
First, there is what may be called the indigenous superstition of the
country, the scenery of which is particularly adapted to serve as
background to all sorts of supernatural beings. There are innumerable
caverns whose depths seem made to harbor whole legions of evil
spirits; forest glades, fit only for fairy folk on moonlight nights;
solitary lakes, which instinctively call up visions of water-sprites;
golden treasures lying hidden in mountain chasms—all of which
things have gradually insinuated themselves into the minds of the
oldest inhabitants, the Roumanians, so that these people, by nature
imaginative and poetically inclined, have built up for themselves, out
of the surrounding materials, a whole code of fanciful superstition,
to which they adhere as closely as to their religion itself.
Secondly, there is here the imported superstition—that is to say, the
old German customs and beliefs brought hither by the Saxon colonists
from their native land, and, like many other things, preserved here in
greater perfection than in the original country.
Thirdly, there is the influence of the wandering superstition of the
gypsy tribes, themselves a race of fortune-tellers and witches, whose
ambulatory caravans cover the country as with a net-work, and whose
less vagrant members fill up the suburbs of towns and villages.
All these kinds of superstition have twined and intermingled, acted
and reacted upon each other, so that in many cases it becomes a
difficult matter to determine the exact parentage of some particular
belief or custom; but in a general way the three sources I have named
may be admitted as a rough sort of classification in dealing with the
principal superstitions here afloat.
* * * * *
Few races offer such an interesting field for research in their
folk-lore as the Roumanians, in whose traditions we find side by side
elements of Celtic, Slav, and Roman mythology—a subject well worth a
closer attention than it has hitherto received. The existence of the
Celtic element has been explained by the assumption (believed by many
historians to be well founded), that as the present Roumanians are a
mixed race originating in the fusion of Romans with Dacians, so were
these latter themselves a complex nationality composed of Slav and
Celtic ingredients.
The spirit of evil—or, not to put too fine a point on it, the
devil—plays a conspicuous part in the Roumanian code of superstition,
and such designations as _Gaura Draculuj_[34] (devil’s hole), _Gregyna
Draculuj_ (devil’s garden), _Jadu Draculuj_ (devil’s abyss), frequently
found attached to rocks, caverns, and heights, attest that these people
believe themselves to be surrounded on all sides by whole legions
of evil spirits. These devils are furthermore assisted by _ismejus_
(another sort of dragon), witches, and goblins, and to each of these
dangerous beings are ascribed particular powers on particular days and
at certain places. Many and curious are therefore the means by which
the Roumanians endeavor to counteract these baleful influences; and
a whole complicated study, about as laborious as the mastering of an
unknown language, is required in order to teach an unfortunate peasant
to steer clear of the dangers by which he supposes himself to be beset
on all sides. The bringing up of a common domestic cow is apparently
as difficult a task as the rearing of any “dear gazelle,” and even the
well-doing of a simple turnip or potato about as precarious as that of
the most tender exotic plant.
Of the seven days of the week, Wednesday (Miercuri) and Friday (Vinere)
are considered suspicious days, on which it is not allowed to use
needle or scissors, or to bake bread; neither is it wise to sow flax on
these days. No bargain should ever be concluded on a Friday; and Venus
(here called Paraschiva), to whom the Friday is sacred, punishes all
infractions of this rule by causing conflagrations.
Tuesday, however—or Marti, named from Mars, the bloody god of war—is
a decidedly unlucky day, on which spinning is utterly prohibited; and
even such seemingly harmless actions as washing the hands and combing
the hair are not unattended by danger. About sunset on Tuesday the evil
spirit of that day is at its fullest force, and many people refrain
from leaving their huts between sunset and midnight. “May the _mar
sara_ (spirit of Tuesday evening) carry you off!” is here equivalent to
saying, “May the devil take you!”
It must not, however, be supposed that Monday, Thursday, and Saturday
are unconditionally lucky days, on which the Roumanian is at liberty to
do as he pleases. Thus every well-informed Roumanian matron knows that
she may wash on Thursday and spin on Saturday, but that it would be a
fatal mistake to reverse the order of these proceedings; and though
Thursday is a lucky day for marriage,[35] and is on that account mostly
chosen for weddings, it is proportionately unfavorable to agriculture.
In many places it is considered unsafe to work in the fields on all
Thursdays between Easter and Pentecost, for it is believed that if
these days be not kept as days of rest, ravaging hail-storms will be
the inevitable consequence. Many of the more enlightened Roumanian
popas have preached in vain against this belief; and some years ago
the inhabitants of a village presented an official complaint to the
bishop, requesting the removal of their popa, on the ground that he not
only gave scandal by working on the prohibited days, but had actually
caused them serious material damage by the hail-storms his sinful
behavior had provoked. This respect of the Thursday would seem to be
the result of a deeply rooted, though now unconscious, worship of
Jupiter (Joi), who gives his name to the day.
To different hours of the day are likewise ascribed different
influences, favorable or the reverse. Thus it is always considered
unlucky to look at one’s self in the mirror after sunset; neither is
it wise to sweep dust over the threshold in the evening, or to restore
a whip borrowed of a neighbor. The exact hour of noon is precarious,
because of the evil spirit _Pripolniza_;[36] and so is midnight,
because of the _miase nopte_ (night spirit); and it is safer to remain
in-doors at these hours. If, however, some misguided peasant does
happen to leave his home at midnight, and espies (as very likely he
may) a flaming dragon in the sky, he need not necessarily give himself
up as lost, for if he have the presence of mind to stick a fork
into the ground alongside of him, the fiery monster will thereby be
prevented from carrying him off.
The advent of the new moon is always more or less fraught with danger,
and nothing may be sown or planted at that time.
The Oriental Church has an abnormal number of feast-days, to each of
which peculiar customs and superstitions are attached, a few of which
may here find place.
On New-year’s Day it is customary for the Roumanian to interrogate his
fate by placing a leaf of evergreen on the freshly swept and heated
hearth-stone. If the leaf takes a gyratory movement, he will be lucky;
but if it shrivels up where it lies, then he may expect misfortune
during the coming year.[37] To insure the welfare of the cattle, it is
advisable to place a gold or silver piece in the water-trough out of
which they drink for the first time on New-year’s morning.
The Feast of the Epiphany, or Three Kings (_tre crai_), is one of the
oldest festivals, and was solemnized by the Oriental Church as early
as the second century. On this day, which popular belief regards as the
coldest in the winter, the blessing of the waters, known as the Feast
of the _Jordan_ or _Bobetasu_ (baptism), takes place. The priests,
attired in full vestments, proceed to the shore of the nearest river
or lake, and there bless the waters, which have been unclosed by
cutting a Greek cross, some six to eight feet long, in the ice. Every
pious Roumanian is careful to fill a bottle with this consecrated
water before the surface freezes over again, and keeps it tightly
corked and sealed up, as a remedy in case of illness. On this day the
principal food in most Roumanian houses consists of a sort of jelly;
and in the evening the popa, coming to each house in order to bless the
cattle, which he does by sprinkling holy-water with a bunch of wild
basil-weed,[38] finds a table with food and drink awaiting him, from
which a dish of boiled plums must never be wanting.
He who dies on that day is considered particularly lucky, for he will
be sure to go straight to heaven, the gate of which is believed to
stand open all day, in memory of the descent of the Holy Ghost at the
baptism of Christ.
The Feast of St. Theodore, January 11th (corresponding to our 23d of
January), is a day of rest for the girls, those transgressing this rule
being liable to be carried off by the saint, who sometimes appears
in the shape of a beautiful youth, sometimes in that of a terrible
monster. No decent girl should leave her house unescorted on this
day, for fear of the terrible Theodore.[39] In some districts youths
and maidens choose this day for swearing friendship, which bonds are
inaugurated by a tree being hung over with little circular cakes, and
danced round with songs and music, after which each cake is broken in
two and divided between a youth and a maiden.[40]
On the Wednesday in Holy Week the Easter loaves and cakes are baked,
which next day are blessed, and some of the hallowed crumbs mixed up
with the cows’ fodder. Woe to the woman who indulges in a nap to-day;
for the whole year she will not be able to shake off her drowsiness. In
the evening the young men bind as many wreaths as there are persons in
their family, and each of these, marked with the name of an individual,
is thrown up on the roof, the wreaths which fall to the ground
indicating those who will die that year.
Skin diseases are cured by taking a bath on Good Friday in a stream
or river which flows towards the east. This will not only cure the
patient, but prevent the disease recurring within the year.[41]
In the night preceding Easter Sunday witches and demons are abroad, and
hidden treasures are said to betray their site by a glowing flame. No
God-fearing peasant will, however, allow himself to be tempted by the
hope of such riches, which he cannot on that day appropriate without
sin. He must not omit to attend the midnight church-service, and his
devotion will be rewarded by the mystic qualities attached to the wax
candle he has carried in his hand, and which, when lighted hereafter
during a thunder-storm, will keep the lightning from striking his house.
The greatest luck which can befall a mortal is to be born on Easter
Sunday, and this luck is increased if the birth take place at mid-day
when the bells are ringing; but it is not lucky to die on that day.
Egg-shells are glued up against the doors in memory of the Israelites,
who anointed the door-posts with the lambs’ blood at their flight
from Egypt; and the wooden spoon with which the Easter eggs have
been removed from the boiling pot is carefully treasured up by each
shepherd, for, worn in his belt, it gives him the power to distinguish
the witches who seek to molest his flocks. Witches may also be descried
by the man who on Easter Monday takes up his stand on a bridge above
running water, remaining there from sunrise to sunset.
Perhaps the most important day in the Roumanian’s year is that of St.
George, April 24th (May 6th), the eve of which is said to be still
frequently kept up by occult meetings taking place at night in lonely
caverns or within ruined walls, and where all the ceremonies usual to
the celebration of a witches’ Sabbath are put into practice. This night
is the great one to beware of witches, to counteract whose influence
square-cut blocks of turf (to which are sometimes added thorny
branches) are placed in front of each door and window.[42] This is
supposed effectually to bar their entrance to house or stables; but for
still greater precaution it is usual for the peasants to keep watch all
night near the sleeping cattle. This same night is likewise the best
one for seeking treasures.
The Feast of St. George, being the day when most flocks are first
driven out to pasture, is in a special manner the feast of all
shepherds and cow-herds, and on this day only is it allowed for the
Roumanian shepherd to count his flocks and assure himself of the exact
number of sheep—these numbers being, in general, but approximately
guessed at and vaguely described. Thus, when interrogated as to the
number of his master’s sheep, the Roumanian shepherd will probably
inform you that they are as numerous as the stars of heaven, or as the
daisies which dot the meadows.
The custom of throwing up wreaths on to the roof, as described above,
is in some districts practised on the Feast of St. John the Baptist,
June 24th (July 6th), instead of on the Wednesday in Holy Week. This is
the day when the sun, having reached its zenith, begins its backward
course (according to the people) with a trembling, dancing movement, in
the same way as the sun is said to dance on Easter Sunday. The gate-way
of each house is decorated with a wreath of field-flowers; and at night
fires lighted on the mountain heights are supposed to keep away evil
spirits from the flocks. This custom of the St. John fires is, however,
to be found in many other countries, and is undoubtedly a remnant of
the old sun-worship practised by Greeks, Romans, Scandinavians, Celts,
Slavs, Indians, Parsees, etc.
The Feast of St. Elias, July 20th (August 1st), is a very unlucky day,
on which the lightning may be expected to strike.[43] Every year—so we
are told in an ancient legend—St. Elias appears in heaven before the
throne of the Almighty, and humbly inquires when his feast-day is to
be. He is invariably put off with divers excuses, being sometimes told
that his feast-day has not yet come, sometimes that the date for it is
already past. At this the saint grows angry, and wishing to punish the
human race for thus forgetting him, he hurls down his thunderbolts upon
the earth.
The Feast of St. Spiridion, December 13th (January 24th), is an ominous
day, especially for housewives; and this saint often destroys those who
desecrate his feast by manual labor.
That the cattle are endowed with speech during the Christmas night is
a general belief, but it is not considered wise to pry upon them, or
try to overhear what they say, as the listener will rarely overhear
any good. This night is likewise favorable to the discovery of hidden
treasures, and the man who has courage to conjure up the evil one will
be sure to see him if he call upon him at midnight. Three burning coals
placed on the threshold will prevent the devil from carrying him off.
A round cake baked at Christmas goes by the name of the _rota_ (wheel),
and is probably symbolic of the sun’s rotation.
The girl whose thoughts are turned towards love and matrimony has many
approved methods of testing her fate on the new-year’s night. First of
all, she may, by cracking her finger-joints, accurately ascertain the
number of her admirers; also a fresh-laid egg broken into a glass of
water will give much clew to the events in store for her by the shape
it assumes; and a swine’s bristle stuck in a straw and thrown on the
heated hearth-stone is reliable as a talisman which disperses love or
jealousy.[44] To form a conjecture as to the figure and build of her
future husband, she is recommended to throw an armful of firewood as
far as she can backward over her shoulder; the piece which has gone
farthest will be the image of her intended, according as the stick
happens to be long or short, broad or slender, straight or crooked.
Another such game is to place on the table a row of earthen pots
upside down. Under each of these is concealed something different—as
corn, salt, wool, coals, or money—and the girl is desired to make her
choice; thus money stands for a rich husband, and wool for an old one;
corn signifies an agriculturist, and salt connubial happiness; but
coals are prophetic of misfortune.
If these general indications do not suffice, and the maiden desire to
see the reflection of her bridegroom’s face in the water, she has only
to step naked at midnight into the nearest lake or river; or if she
not unnaturally shrink from this chilly oracle, let her take her stand
on the more congenial dunghill, with a piece of Christmas cake in her
mouth, and, as the clock strikes twelve, listen attentively for the
first sound of a dog’s bark which reaches her ear. From whichever side
it proceeds will also come the expected suitor.
It is likewise on the last day of the year that the agriculturist seeks
a prognostic of the weather for the coming year, by making what is
called the onion calendar, which consists in putting salt into twelve
hollowed-out onions and giving to each the name of a month. Those
onions in which the salt has melted by the following morning will be
rainy months.[45]
FOOTNOTES:
[33] “Der Aberglaube in seiner bunten Mannigfaltigkeit bildet
gewissermassen eine Religion für den ganzen neideren Hausbedarf.”
[34] _Dracu_, which in Roumanian does duty for the word devil, really
means dragon; as for devil proper the word is wanting.
One writer, speaking of the Roumanians, observes that they swear by the
dragon, which gives their oaths a painful sense of unreality.
[35] This would seem to suggest a German or Scandinavian element—the
thunder-god Donar, or Thor, who with his hammer confirms unions.
[36] This spirit corresponds to the Polednice of the Bohemians and the
Poludnica of Poles and Russians. Grimm, in speaking of the Russians
in his “German Mythology,” quotes from Boschorn’s “Resp. Moscov.:”
“Dæmonem quoque meridianum Moscovitæ et colunt.”
[37] Also practised by the Saxons.
[38] This plant, _Ocimum basilicum_, is much used by the Roumanians,
who ascribe to it both medicinal and magic properties.
[39] The Serbs have also a corresponding day, called the Theodor
Saturday (_Todoroma Sumbota_), on which no work is done, on account of
the sintotere, a monster, half man half horse, who rides upon whoever
falls in his power.
[40] Similar customs exist among the Hindoos, Slavs, and Serbs.
[41] Also believed by most Slav races.
[42] Also usual in Moldavia.
[43] St. Elias is also known in Serbia as “Thunderer;” Bohemians and
Russians have a thunder-god named Perum; the Poles, Piorun; the old
Russians had Perkun, and the Lithuanians Perkunos—all of which may be
assumed to be derived from the Indian sun-god, Surjar, or Mihirar, who,
as personification of fire, is also named Perus.
[44] Swine have been regarded as sacred animals by various people,
which is probably the explanation of the German expression of
_sauglück_ (sow’s luck), and of the _glückschweinchen_ (little
luck-pigs) which have lately become fashionable as charms to hang to
the watch-chain.
[45] Also practised by the Saxons.