Romanian New Year kinks

For the last post of the year I will add an article about various Romanian traditions, charms and practices of a superstitious nature relating to the New Year, along with a few superstitions relating to this time. Although some of those practices can come across as simple superstitions, they stem from beliefs that span back into the midst of time. They are part of the popular, agrarian calendar that in many cases overlaps with the religious one. This increases the diversity of the customs and their symbolism.

Some of those beliefs were identical to or at least similar to some degree to those of other cultures regardless of geographical location. Others still, are unique to these lands and in many cases they are unique not only between different historical provinces, but also between various regions that compose each province. Therefore, I can only write down but a few of them. You'll have to excuse me for switching between tenses and all the grammar quirks, since it's been cumbersome to flip through several exhaustive sources over a very short period and to translate from them at the same time.

Just as on the days of Saint Andrew, Saint George and Easter Sunday, people rub garlic and lovage on their doors and windows on the New Year for protection. They also place a piece of iron underneath the lower threshold of the front door for that purpose. There was also a habit for people to tap their forehead with a piece of iron several times on these days so their head would be as strong as iron. These simple practices were related in The Superstitions of the Romanian People in 1913, by Gheorghe F. Ciauşanu. 

According to Tudor Pamfile, whom I'll discuss further on, the devils and the strigoi fear children and so during the winter holidays when children are out caroling there are no strigoi around. Magical Practices of the Nehoiu Valley by Duţu C. Alexandru, offers examples of the great diversity of traditions found in a rather small geographical region. Among the examples, the author details several practices performed around the New Year. On the eve of the New Year groups of children up to the age of 12 start cheering and sounding bells in what is called "the little plough". Towards dusk the youths (young men up to 20) gather and start cheering with "the plough", whereas in other regions the two traditions are merged into one, the purpose of which being to spread cheers of prosperity and abundant harvests to people in the village. 

Customs differ, as already mentioned, but the band of carolers is usually welcomed by each host. They throw wheat grain inside the homes they visit as a symbol of prosperity and they usually receive wine or moonshine in turn. The plough is adorned with colored paper and ribbons and besides bells, the actual prosperity cheer that is shouted is accompanied by striking whips, beating drums, playing flutes, accordions or bagpipes. Depending on the region, the throwing of the wheat grains is done on the following day, 1 Jan, when it is said that people "go sowing".

Other practices that take place on New Year's eve, or even between Christmas and the New Year, are the goat and bear dances and in some parts of the country the stag dance. Without going into the intricacies of these traditions with respect to the people involved, their costumes and so on, the origins of these dances can be traced in ancient times and they are symbolic of fertility dying and reviving, as depicted in the theatrical displays of the dance itself. This symbolism fits with the winter season and the changing of the year. These dances, along with "the plough" usually last throughout the entire night. Note that no animals were hurt during such practices, as people usually made fake goats out of wood, dressed in bear pelts obtained from past hunts, or wore dear antlers.

Romulus Vulcănescu discussed the ritual sacrifice of the bear and its presence in the lands of prehistoric Dacia in his book Romanian Mythology, where he also spoke of the masks worn by the young men who take part in such dances. He said the masks were of, basically the term means "old men" and "old women" although it alludes to ancestors (who's cult was very powerful around here, and still is to this day in some form or another), who would portray all sorts of indecent behaviors towards one another in the form of jokes, to symbolize fertility. Vulcănescu also referred to a custom from Suceava county (Moldova province) where bands of carolers had a young man within their ranks, who carried a huge phallus made of rags wrapped around a stick. Far from being appalled by this, good Christians welcomed the young man carrying the phallus inside their homes, recognizing the ancestral symbolism of the act. Also in the lands of Moldova, the people wearing masks of old men and women would mimic failed coitus scenes as a humorous act to reflect the nature of eroticism towards old age. 

Getting back to the book on the practices from the Nehoiu Valley, the New Year's day is the time for small children to go around performing a custom that is called "sorcova" - a carol cheer that involves tapping the host with a twig (the sorcova itself) and wishing them a long and healthy life using a specific rhymed cheer. The twig was usually adorned with flowers and ribbons and this custom seems to trace back to early Roman times when the New Year was celebrated on 1 March and the people used to offer laurels to their leaders. As a reminiscence of those times, says the source, elders usually collect a small apple or cherry tree branch on St. Andrew's day (30 Nov) or on St. Nicholas' day (6 Dec). They place the twig in a vase full of water and set it somewhere warm inside the home so the twig would blossom before the new year. The resulting flowers would then adorn the sorcova although in many cases artificial flowers made of colored paper were used. The children would traditionally be rewarded with nuts, apples and bagels.

On New Year's day young men would parade around the village with a plough pulled by oxen, while in other parts horses are used instead. On top of the plough there would usually be a fully decorated Christmas tree and the lads would carry bundles of quince tree twigs. They would go from house to house and whenever they come across a home in which a maiden lives, the girl would pick a twig at random which she would place in what I imagine to be a very shallow part of a river on the night of Epiphany (6 Jan). She would check the twig the following morning and observe the shape in which it had frozen, thus getting an idea of how their future husband would look like. 

In The Yearbook of Folkloric Archive, Ion Muşlea spoke of maidens from Bicsad (Ardeal province, aka Transylvania to foreigners) who used to bathe naked in the river on New Year's day so they'd have increased vitality throughout the year, while in Moldova there was the belief that it was good to drink red wine on the first day of the new year to renew one's blood. The custom of girls bathing naked was also common on the day of St. George, when the coming of spring was celebrated. 1 Jan coincides with St. Basil's day in the Orthodox calendar and the author said there was no caroling or cheers around Bicsad on that day. Instead, there was dancing and the girls who wanted to get married would pray for that when they bathed in the river, usually reciting a specific charm-like formula. 

The author recorded the onion calendar yet without offering details of it. This custom is usually common in Ardeal and the divination practice is performed on New Year's eve. An onion is cut in half and twelve scales are selected, representing the twelve months of the new year. These are then set next to one another with the concave side up as if they were mini bowls. A bit of salt is put inside each scale and they are left over night. The following day the calendar is read by interpreting the amount of water found inside each scale. Obviously, each of the scales is assigned to one of the new year's months in advance and the people would know the general weather patterns for each month in advance. This technique is quite precise. 

The girls who wanted to get married would also count the number of poles in a wooden fence at night. If the number was even it meant they would marry during the new year, while if it was uneven it meant they would marry the following year. But there are more active, magical ways girls performed in order to get married, some of them specific for the New Year. Petru Ursache quoted this practice documented in the vast work of Simion Florea Marian, the one who also documented the last charm I shared here and one from here. It is a spoken formula called "The calling of dew water" and again, I cannot overlook the fact dew was used even by mentioning it in magical practices from around here. As in the case of the previous articles on this topic, I cannot translate the text into rhymes...

"Water, dew water! Make me great and fair / Just as the best wheat on the table / Like the holy Sun / When it rises / Like basil in flower / The entire love in the world / May you put wholly into me [NN] / Whatever lads would see me / May find me dear to them / Whatever elderly would hear me / May they honor me with their word." 

The charm comes with the following instructions:

"The girl who wishes to benefit from love (usually as a precursor to marriage) is to wake up before sunrise on New Year's day, St. Basil's day. She is to dress herself with the newest, finest clothes she possesses, go to a nearby spring or running water and recite the aforementioned words. Afterwards, she is to wash her hands and face and return home. On the way back she is to be careful not to be seen by anyone, otherwise the charm would be broken."

Ciauşanu also mentioned the fact that on the night of the New Year buried treasures "light up (burn)" - i.e. dance, just as on other important nights throughout the year, such as Christmas and Easter. The belief was that treasures were buried for two causes, either their owners wanted to keep them safe during times of great peril such as invasions, or those owners wanted no one to ever get their hands on them, not even their offspring, out of tremendous greed. The ones buried by people who wanted to keep them safe were said to be "clean" and we're thought to burn with a blueish flame, while the other ones were said to be "unclean" and we're thought to burn with a white, sometimes golden flame. 

While the "clean" treasures were said to be guarded by spirits and were said to "burn" from midnight to dawn, the "unclean" ones were said to be guarded by the devil himself and "burned" from dusk to midnight. Near the Homorod-Almaş comune in Ardeal there is a cave that is said to host a treasure guarded by a fairy. The flames such treasures are thought to emit do not burn literally, nor do they emanate heat and it was said that the height of the flames corresponded to the depth at which the treasures were buried. Of the "unclean" ones it was said that they could not end up in the possession of anyone until that person fulfilled the conditions imposed by the devil. 

Such treasures were often said to consist mostly of coins that were stored inside pots or jars. According to superstitions, they were to be discovered only by those who were destined to find them, but even so, there were warnings attached to this. As such, the person was to remain silent for the entire time they dug up and collected the treasure. They were also supposed not to cover the pots or jars with the lids having taken out the coins, nor to fill back the whole, for they would go blind. 

The same Ciauşanu wrote of beliefs relating to animals. It was said that cattle could talk on the night of the New Year and it was thought their owners would have to take extra care of them. Otherwise, instead of wishing well for their owners, the cattle would curse them until the people died. There was also the belief that animals could speak prophecies on that night. In Romanian Mythology: Enemies and Friends of Man (1915), Tudor Pamfile wrote that people who listened to cattle speaking prophecies on the night of St. Basil would endure great punishments. Although the author did not mention the nature of the punishments or the force that subjected people to them, I think they were considered of a divine nature and would consist of various hardships that made people's lives miserable in many ways. S. F. Marian wrote that anyone who heard the animals talking would die.

Pamfile also spoke of the onion calendar although detailing a variant of it. According to his book, on the evening of New Year's eve people would place the same number of onion scales on the outside window sill as the number of family members that lived inside the home. They assigned an onion scale to each family member and they would put some salt into each of them. The following morning the observed the scales and judged the luck each family member would have throughout the new year, according to the amount of water found inside each scale. Other divinations for this purpose involved leaning twigs against the wall (especially the eastern wall) on the night of the New Year and noticing if anyone's twig fell over night, as that person was said to die before summer. Yet other practices involved sticking pieces of wood upright inside potholes in the ground or snow and setting them on fire - if the embers fell inside the pothole, the person would die.

The onion practice could also be performed in other ways. Pamfile mentioned the people of Ialomiţa county (Ţara Românească - Romanian Country, aka Valahia to foreigners) would place spoons full of water inside a tray on the evening of New Year's eve and would judge their luck the next morning upon observing how much water had evaporated. Elsewhere, in the lands of Moldova people used glasses for this purpose, which they often placed in front of icons. He also spoke of some who placed the plant called "the table of heaven" (Sedum carpaticum) on the inside beams of their home and if the plant remained green for a long time then the person who placed it there would be lucky.

Simion Florea Marian named the evening of New Year's eve to be "the richest in customs and beliefs, the most mysterious and one of the most pleasant for the Romanian people" in Holidays of Romanians (1898-1899). He wrote that at sunset people would light a new beeswax candle in front of every religious icon in their home so that luck would not evade them. He also detailed about the custom of rubbing garlic on the doors and windows, adding it was done in the sign of the cross. Then the people would also rub garlic on their domestic animals, on their family members and on themselves.

Whereas most homes would welcome carolers who would see light shining though each window, Marian said that some homes had all their windows covered on that night. Some of those houses hosted parties where dancing, drinking and vulgar jokes were made all night although something else probably took place there as well, especially since the author made brief references to stables, attics or storehouses as having "their own secrets". Other such houses hosted groups of girls who gathered to divine their future, especially the man they were "destined" to marry. As mentioned previously, such girls would do more than just divine. In Bucovina (north-western Moldova) girls would get the bells used during the New Year caroling and drink water from them so they would have a fine, melodious voice (likely for the purpose of impressing the lads). They would speak a certain formula when drinking the water. 

Marian also spoke of the onion calendar, but he also mentioned people looking up at the stars on the night of the New Year if the weather allowed it. They used to observe the moon and the stars looking for signs relating to the nature of the new year. Others would go out to "hunt" for treasure fires. An interesting fact about the custom of gazing at the sky on that night is related to "the opening of the heavens". It is said that on the night of the New Year the heavens open and it happens in a blink of an eye. Those who pretended to have witnessed the event spoke of great beauty and brightness both in the heavens and on earth occurring in that moment. It was said that at first something of a powerful shade of blue appeared, followed by a red of great intensity. Whoever saw that and asked for anything they pleased during the "red phase" would receive their heart's desire. The "opening of the heavens" is said to happen on different nights depending on region, other such nights being those of Christmas, Epiphany and Easter.  

It was also a custom for people to threaten barren fruit trees on the evening of New Year's eve. The custom differs from region to region, but in some places children were the ones performing the rite. They would go around the tree thrice with axes while ringing their bells and then one of the children started threatening the tree he or she would chop it down with the axe if the tree failed to produce fruit in the new year. The custom was for another child to stand up for the tree and vow it will be fruitful.

The witches also had a busy night on the New Year. Besides having to divine for all sorts of girls who usually wanted to "see" their future husband, they would also perform all sorts of magical workings on that night. Marian wrote that witches used to go out on that night and steal certain pieces from the yokes they would then use in spells for bringing a girl's love to her. They would also sleep with their divination cards underneath their pillow to improve their divination skills or, depending on the situation, dream of the practical way in which they would perform certain spells they wanted to learn. 

The girls could perform all sorts of charms themselves and I've detailed a bit on them above. Marian's work is full of such charms for both divination and for attracting a husband and translating all of that would be a painstaking work. Suffices to say the charms he documented come from many regions of the country and involve various items, plants and even livestock. A brief example of a divination work would be for a maiden to look into a well to "see" her husband to be, while another would involve divining the man's image into a mirror with a lit candle next to it. 

Besides all the above, people also had various customs that were specifically aimed at their livestock and plants. As such, on the morning of 1 Jan women would use a broom to whisk out any dirt from the home, which they then poured around the base of fruit trees so they would be bountiful. Others would collect whatever dirt had gathered inside their homes between Christmas and the New Year, set it on fire and use it to fumigate the cattle for protection. In some parts of the country people would place a gold or silver coin inside the container from which the animals drink so that the animals would be purified for the entire year. Elsewhere women would feed the chickens from a waist so they would be protected from predatory birds.

A series of superstitions revolve around the New Year, some detailed by Marian. It was said that whoever sleeps during the passage between years or during the day of St. Basil would be sleepy all year. Whoever does not sneeze around that time would not live for another year. If there is freezing cold on the night between years or on St. Basil's day, the sky is clear and many stars appear in the night sky, it is a sign the new year will be good and many weddings will occur. If however, the temperatures would be higher, it meant that summer would be mild and good for hay production. It is not good for a woman to enter one's house on the morning of St. Basil's day, for a man is best to enter first. It is also not good to lend money on the last day of the year or on St. Basil's day for whoever does that would be needy all year round and the same would happen to anyone who has no money on those days.      

There would be more to say, but unfortunately I have neither the time nor the patience to do more translations. Hopefully this article would be of some help to some, otherwise I've written it for myself because it's been many years since I've experienced some of these traditions in as much unaltered state as possible. Until next time, happy merry!

Hate on, dum-dums!

The Great Gazoo