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.

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.

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.

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.