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"Each place has a story, but you have to listen it carefully and you have to have  a bit of love to understand it". (Nicolae Iorga)

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EUROPEAN MULTIGUIDE - COMENIUS MULTILATERAL PARTNERSHIP 2012-2014

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Myths and legends - Romania - The legend of the Rarău Mountain

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The stories of myths and legends of many countries talk of times long ago, before humans walked the earth when the world was ruled by giants. Although some people are more confident about this being true than others, one thing that is certain is that there are amazing, spell-binding stories about these bygone eras and Romania is no exception to this.

Described as one of the most beloved creatures from the folklore stories of Romania, Jidovi are talked about as being patient and kind beings that walk with huge strides through the hills. The people of Romania have done well to capture their presence and bring this through to modern day with their name being represented in various places such as the Jidovi Cave, the hill, or tombs of Jidovi. Additionally, there is Jidovina, a unique measurement that equates to several meters and represents the length of a giants step. Across Romania, you will encounter a myriad of places that look to encapsulate this story, with some people still staunchly believing in their existence.

The creatures were believed to live in caves and thick woods and respected the humans of the earth as they were seen as their successors and would soon be the next owners of the land, mountains and rivers. At the start of the 1900s, there were still a handful of people that claimed to have heard ‘real’ stories from their grandparents about the Jidovi who had seen them in person.

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Typically associated with being scary and Maleficent, mythical creatures of the night hold a reputation of not to be trifled with. However, there is one that stands alone called Zburatorul which means The One Who Flies; described as a handsome airman that torments the sleep of young girls and young wives, a true prince of the night.

Following Romanian mythology, the creature is characterised as the personification of the intense feelings of erotic desire and the longing for a man. The myth describes the man entering the house of the young woman as a shooting star and entering the bedroom in the shape of a truly handsome man. Their engagement takes place in a world of dreams that is so intense, it almost becomes a second reality, which leaves the woman exhausted and obsessively in love.

There are tales in old books of women who were consumed by the lust for this fictional being and would behave like lunatics by walking in the streets semi-dressed and barely conscious. Even in modern Romania, there are a handful of people in remote villages that recall the days of women being at the edge of losing their minds.

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Sanzienele, celebrated on June 24, is a religious celebration that has roots in pagan traditions. Sanziene are gracious fairies that protect nature, represented by yellow flowers that bloom around June 24. Several rituals are related to this celebration. One rite involves young girls hiding Sanziene flowers under their pillow in the Sanziene night, hoping that they will dream their willed. Another custom is to throw a garland of Sanziene on the house’s roof; if the flowers don’t fall, the girl will marry in the same year.

In the countryside, the Sanziene are represented by the girls of the village; dressed in white dresses and carrying flower spikes, they dance in a circle, recreating the whimsical atmosphere that surrounds the celebration.

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Transylvania is often associated with the land of Dracula and blood-thirsty vampires that sleep during the day and get out by night to suck the blood of their victims. But in the local folklore, vampires didn’t exist before the novel of Bram Stoker. Or at least, they weren’t called vampires, but strigoi, undead souls that rise from their grave during the night and haunt the villages, feasting on the blood of the living. The Strigoi are usually assimilated with people who had a violent death or in the case of a Christian ritual that wasn’t fully respected during the funeral.

It is believed that they are afraid of the garlic and incense odor. In the villages that are supposedly haunted by strigoi, locals grease their doors and windows with garlic and eat as much as they can. The little ones wear a necklace made of garlic cloves while they sleep.

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Every year on November 30th, Romanians celebrate Saint Andrew, the patron of the country and the apostle that visited Romania to spread Christianity. But in ancient times, the old Dacians celebrated Santandrei, an old and powerful wizard (solomonar), the master and protector of wolves.

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In Romanian mythology, the Iele are mythical creatures similar to the Nymphs and Dryads found in Greek mythology. Oftentimes people claim to see them at night, dancing Horas naked in the moonlight, with bells on their ankles and candles in their hands.

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Today, Transylvania is mostly known for its myths about vampires and the blood-thirsty count Dracula. But while the fictional character is a creation of the Irish writer Bram Stoker as the central figure of his fantasy book Dracula, Transylvania has its own folk creations. For centuries, Transylvania was colonized by several transient populations that have shaped its history. Romanians, Hungarians, Saxons, Ottomans, Jews, and Roma Gypsies inhabited the whimsical territory of “the land behind the forests” (trans silvae), shaping the local folklore and giving birth to fantastic creatures, magic legends, and a fascinating tradition of storytelling.