#muma padurii

[xphaiea]

Muma Pădurii is a grotesque mischievous hag from Romanian folklore. Dwelling deep in the forest she cares for the native flora and fauna, scaring away those who threaten to harm her wild habitat.

Handmade artdoll by XPHAIEA

#folklore #xphaiea #handmade #textileartist #muma padurii #romanian #romanian folklore #hag #witchcraft #esoteric #occult #supernatural #goblincore #goblin

[adarkrainbow]

Romanian witches: Muma Padurii

(Note: I unfortunately cannot add the accents needed for the writing of those names since my keyboard is not equiped. So know that there are accents missing)

I originally made a post about one Romanian fairytale figure... which turned into a post about two fairytale figures... which became a post about three fairytale figures... So ultimately I decided to split this post into a whole series because it was getting too big. I want to explore with you three characters tied together in Romanian folklore and all present within Romanian fairytales, but each fascinating in their own right. And I want to begin with the first of these ladies... Muma Padurii.

Muma Padurii means "The Forest Mom", or "The Mother of the Forest" (Muma is an archaic form of "mom").

In fairytales, Muma Padurii is an antagonist. She is an embodiment of the wicked witch, or rather of the hag. She is a very old and very ugly woman (so ugly the expression "You look like Muma padurii" is an insult) who lives all alone in a little, dark and scary house in the depths of the woods. She is not a normal woman: she is a witch gifted with various supernatural powers (including shapeshifting), and she is also an ogress who loves to eat children. It is as a children-predator that she usually appears within Romanian fairytales, luring kids to her house to kill and cook them. One of the most famous Muma Padurii fairytales is the Romanian version of "Hansel and Gretel", which mostly differs by A) having the witch named B) the house not being made of candy and C) the genders are reversed (here it is the girl that is to be boiled alive into a soup, while it is the boy that pushes the hag into the oven).

But the thing with Muma Padurii is that, in a similar way to Frau Holle, she is an entity that was "split" between fairytales and legends. There is a Muma Padurii of folktales which is the evil hag I presented above, but there is also a Muma Padurii of beliefs and legends which is quite different and much more neutral.

This Muma Padurii is still an old, ugly, shapeshifting witch - but she is presented as amoral rather than wicked, with a personality mixing a fairy-like mischieviousness and just pure insanity. The name "Muma Padurii" is also very revealing... In the fairytales this name is used in the typical motif of the witch/hag as the "false mother" or "anti-mother", but in the Romanian mythology, this name indicates what Muma Padurii is. She is the Mother of the Forest, as in the spirit of the forest. Her main role, and the reason for her hostility towards humankind, is her function as the guardian of the woods. She still lives in a remote and hidden location - but it is not always a little cabin, it can just be a tree, and it is usually within a virgin-woodland at the heart of the forest, untouched by human hands. She still brews potions - but they are good potions, that she uses to heal injured animals and sick trees. For Muma Padurii always keeps the forest alive. She does attack humans - but only those that destroy the fauna and flora, or that trespass within forbidden areas where only wild things are supposed to be. This was why those that entered the woods were warned to not go too far and to respect what surrounded them: else Muma Padurii would at best scare them away, at worst drive them to insanity with her magic. As such, it was forbidden to pick up certain wild fruits and berries in the forest during certain times of the year - they were for the animals to replenish their strength, and Mama Padurii made sure this rule was followed. In the most extreme cases she would kill the trespassers and devour their corpses like a wild animal - a bogey-version of Muma Padurii that explains her role as a child-eating crone in fairytales...

Muma Padurii is present all across Romania, sometimes in local variations (Padureanca, Muma Huciului), and this explains why there are so many different incarnations of her. Sometimes she is an angry ghost of the woods, a vengeful spirit which can be heard crying among the trees for all the plants that mankind destroyed, and if a house built near the forest isn't carefully locked up at night, she will enter in them at midnight and kill all those inside... Other times she is depicted as a young and beautiful fairy of light, who will be kind and helpful to children but will trick adults into being lost, having their body paralyzed or dying in various ways. This specific idea of the "young faced Muma Padurii" is notably present in another folktale/fairytale, where it is said that the Muma Padurii is a witch that needs to eat human hearts to keep herself young and alive - as such she takes on the appearance of a beautiful woman to lure young men into the woods, but once they are isolated enough she turns into a giant monster and rips their hearts away.

Her link to the forest is highlighted by how she is often said to disguise herself as a tree, to be a part-tree woman, or a hag clothed in moss (she also can appear as a cow, a horse or an ox) ; her function as a "Romanian fairy" is also highlighted by how in various legends she either makes babies sick, or replaces them by changelings (and as such they were several folk-spells and rituals Romanian country-folks used to protect their babies from the Forest-Mom). But mostly Muma Padurii stays an embodiment of the woods in what they have of dangerous and scary. She can be kind and helpful - but only towards the "innocent", animals, plants and (sometimes) children. However she stays an ancient woman of the woods, the mistress of the wild animals, the embodiment of a state of non-civilizations, and as such she is the fright that drives one mad and the savage force that will kill and eat men. And even then, the fauna and flora itself is not always escaping her wrath - some records say that Mama Padurii knows the name of every tree of the forest, but that she can get angry at some and curse them to fall either by the woodsman's axe or by lightning.

The last interesting difference between the fairytale Muma and the legendary Muma is that, while the fairytale Muma is usually a lonely entity, in beliefs Muma Padurii was part of a large family. Sometimes Muma Padurii herself was multiplied into several "Muma" - there was notably a belief about many of them sometimes visiting the cabins of those that lived near the woods, asking to have their hair brushed and cleaned, with a comb and butter (which isn't an easy feat since she had her hair dirty, tangled in snake-like braids and so long it touches the floor). Anyone who agreed to the task and performed it well could receive a wish from the Mother of the Woods - but the rule was that they could only pronounce three words in total as long as she was here, if a fourth was pronounced, she would take your voice and leave you mute. Sometimes Muma Padurii was given a male counterpart of companion called "The Father of the Forests", or the "Woods Papa".

Muma Padurii was also said to have several sons, which were the spirits of the woods and/or of the night (going by names such as Decuseara, Zorila, Murgila, Mamornito or "Midnight"). She is also linked to a set of female forest spirits known as the Fata Padurii (Fata being of course linked to the "fairies", "fées", "fatum" - but here it is to be understood as "The Daughters of the Forest", "The Girls of the Woods, and fittingly they are said to be the daughters of Muma Padurii) ; and to an entity I personaly do not know much about, "Mosul Codruilui" (she is said to be her mother, and "Mosul" means "old woman")

Finally, there was a certain Christianization of the Muma (as some tales started saying her task as a guardian of the forest was given to her by God), and a modern attempt at explaining how she could be such an ambiguous entity, benevolent and malevolent at the same time: most modern storytellers highlight how protective she is of the fauna and flora, and how she was said to wail and cry for the destroyed wood, to explain her "transformation" as her becoming more and more bitter, and angrier and fuller of hate the more humans destroyed her domain, harmed her trees and wounded her "children". A true ecological fable.

Some people point out that Muma Padurii could be a "Romanian equivalent" of the Russian Baba-Yaga which is... not quite exact and not quite true. The two characters seem to derive from a same old "forest mother-goddess" but there are too many differences between Muma Padurii and Baba-Yaga for them to be consideed one and the same. There is however a interesting link between the two, which will be the subject of my next post... about Baba Cloantza.

#romanian folkore #romanian fairytales #romanian witches #romanian mythology #romania #muma padurii #forest goddess #hag #witches of folklore #legendary witches #forest-woman #wild woman #fairytale antagonist #forest mother

[kurimuri100]

Unveiling the Mystery of Muma Padurii in Sims 4! @thesimsofficial🌲✨ Hey Simmers! Today, join me again on a journey into the heart of Romanian folklore as we explore the myth of Muma Padurii (The Mother of the Woods) in Sims 4. 🇷🇴✨ 🏡 Step into a tiny house inspired by our traditional Romanian homes, nestled in the woods, where Muma Padurii resides. In Romanian folklore, she represents the guardian of nature, both benevolent and fearsome. She symbolizes the delicate balance between the beauty and the dangers of the wilderness. 🌿 Watch as Muma Padurii tends to her mystical fireplace, brewing potions that echo the magic woven into our tales. Ready to embrace the magic and unravel the mystery?

CC used:

Hair by @thekunstwollen

Peasant Homelife Set by @simbishy

#sims4 #sims #thesims4 #the sims 4 #simscc #kurimuri100 #kurimuri #sims4cc #thesims #romania #eastern europe

[tsunbath]

I think the lil gremlin old lady is neat

#re8 #resident evil 8 #re village #resident evil village #resident evil #old lady #baba yaga #muma padurii #witch #horror game #survival horror #gif #capcom #mine

[lpbestiary]

Muma Pădurii is a hag in Romanian folklore. Said to be an incredibly ugly old woman, she lives in the forest in a hut, or sometimes in a hollowed out, ancient tree. She is the protector of plants and animals, and will brew potions to heal injured animals.

Muma Pădurii will ward off intruders by scaring them or driving them mad. She can change her shape at will, and as such is feared by many.

Image source.

Monster master list.

Suggest a spook.

#muma pădurii #muma padurii #monster #hag #supernatural #mythology #monsters #bestiary

[aestheticschaos]

Muma Pădurii aesthetic

Romanian folklore creatures series - VI

Muma Pădurii is an ugly and mean old woman living as a spirit of the forest . She is an evil witch, the opposite of fairies and literally means “the Mother of the Forest”, though “mumă” is an archaic version of “mamă” (mother).

She lives in a dark, dreadful, hidden little house or in the hollows of old trees, and sometimes goes to the huts of those living near the forest to scare them. If a brave man manages to catch and tie her, she will fulfill a wish. She is also thought to attack children, and because of this, a large variety of spells (descântece in Romanian) are used against her.

In the forest she is a sad mother, mourning, groaning, snorting, howling, because people are cutting her babies, the trees in the forest. She will punish every man whistling or singing through the woods, woodcutters who disregard the rules of the forest, those who collect berries, wild apples and pears, hazelnuts.

#muma pădurii #muma padurii #witch #mother of the forest #evil #dark #witchcraft #fantasy #magic #romania #forest #romanian #mythology #folklore #woods #horror #creepy #blue #aesthetic #moodboard

[flintss]

So I just found this really cool thing about Romanian folklore. If you are interested in mythical creatures I’d definitely recommend taking a look.

#Romania #romanian folklore #crowhag #muma padurii #o

[ryelys-mikeilo-blog]

"Muma Padurii" or "Forest Mother"/"Mother of the Forest" is kinda like the equivalent of Baba Yaga from Slavic stories. A supernatural being, often referred to as the forest's witch, that lives solely in her forest house, trees or holes. She can shape shift and considers every tree as her own child and can be very vengeful when someone harms them. She is portrayed as both an antagonist in tales or a wise being that offers advice depending on how the protagonist interacts with her.

#freestyle #character design #muma padurii #baba yaga #forest witch #romanian #my art

[jgmail]

LUCIAN BLAGA Y LA FUNCIÓN KATECHÓNICA DE LA ESTÉTICA DEL CAMPESINADO

Por Alexander Bovdunov

Traducción de Juan Gabriel Caro Rivera

 Alguien muy observador dijo que a medida que nos movemos desde Europa Occidental hacia Europa Oriental, las cercas se vuelven cada vez más torcidas y la gente cada vez más abierta. Esta situación sorprende a muchos y parece inaceptable desde el punto de vista estético. Sócrates, en su oración a Pan, en el diálogo “Fedro” pide armonía entre lo interior y lo exterior, lo salvaje y lo cultural: “Querido Pan y otros dioses locales, ¡dejadme que e vuelva bello interiormente! Y lo que tengo hacia fuera, que sea armonioso con lo que tengo por dentro”.

 Somos rusos, y como nosotros otros europeos del Este, aunque creamos literatura y arte únicos, vemos en nuestros pueblos no un plano, sino abismos metafísicos, rodeados por un espacio de vallas torcidas, chozas desvencijadas, algo que no está completamente arreglado y no se encuentra construido según las líneas rectas.

 Una cerca derribada es, por supuesto, una opción extrema. Sin embargo, es significativo que una cuestión similar no solo fuera de preocupación para los rusos.

 El entusiasmo de la torpeza

 El gran filósofo rumano Lucian Blaga, reflexionando sobre temas similares en el contexto de la cultura rumana, dijo en su obra Spațiul mioritic (espacio miriótico) una serie de interesantes observaciones filosóficas y conclusiones sobre lo que en rumano significa el término stângăcie - torpeza, rusticidad, "curvatura", etc. (literalmente, zurdo).

 Por ejemplo, al comparar los pueblos de los rumanos y los sajones de Transilvania ubicados en las mismas regiones, enfatiza que las casas rumanas, a diferencia de las alemanas, "crecen en el paisaje con un entusiasmo incómodo".

 “Las casas sajonas se erigen como una sola pared, una al lado de la otra, como soldados. Sus ventanas son altas, no se puede mirar hacia afuera. Cuando los miras, queda inmediatamente claro que la comunidad sajona es "una comunidad racional de personas cerradas, cada una de las cuales tiene escrito en la frente el imperativo categórico de Kant".

 “Los pueblos rumanos no se ubican por casualidad, sino que, más naturalmente, surgen de un paisaje tan orgánico que ni siquiera puedes imaginar que no siempre estuvieran donde viven. En la agitación viviente de estos pueblos, sientes la presencia de la imaginación humana, que expande la naturaleza más allá, hacia el reino de la maravilla y los cuentos de hadas”.

“De la casa sajona se espera ver salir una trilladora. De la casa rumana emerge la madre del bosque, Muma Padurii”, dice Lucian Blaga al observa la diferencia entre las casas de los europeos occidentales y orientales.

 Evitando la artificialidad

 En otro fragmento, Blaga habla de la belleza de la pintura de los iconos populares. Todos, probablemente, se encontraron con la impresión que causa el ícono popular rumano, aunque hay una desviación notable de las normas del arte bizantino en él: desproporción, ingenuidad.

 “El rumano realiza en los iconos (sobre vidrio o madera) ... la forma humana y sobrehumana, rodeándose siempre de cierta torpeza y desviaciones de la norma de la perfección, gracias a las cuales el estilo hierático adquiere un espíritu orgánico y vivo”, apunta Blaga. El encanto especial de estos iconos está asociado con alguna interferencia de tendencias polares: el esfuerzo elemental, hierático (sagrado, solemne congelado) no es del todo frío, sino debilitado por el contrapeso de la tecnología orgánica. El virtuosismo científico, que siempre resulta rígido y conformista, seco y estéril, es contrario al instinto artístico de nuestro campesino, como todo lo que es artificial, y parece deliberadamente ignorado”.

 Más revelador aún es el fragmento donde Blaga escribe que si bien el campesino rumano prefiere las líneas rectas en la ornamentación, en el arte popular se impone un tabú al uso de dispositivos técnicos que permitan trazar estas líneas.

 “Es interesante y destacable que el campesino todavía evita trazar una línea recta a lo largo usando una regla; tanto en el arte textil como en la ornamentación esmaltada, así como en la arquitectura. El uso de una regla, real o imaginaria, no es para nuestro campesino la base para elevar la belleza".

 “Considerar un objeto de acuerdo con el criterio del gobernante le parece una perversión, una distorsión de los fundamentos y reglas del arte".

 “Por lo tanto, una "línea" trazada por la mano de un artista o arquitecto campesino siempre mostrará ciertas desviaciones de la definición de la línea". La línea siempre representará irregularidades notables: de ahí el aspecto vivo de esta geometría. La línea recta se hace a pulso.

 El campesino rumano ama la orientación espontánea de su cultura, la orientación de la cultura ortodoxa, que supera las "formas generalmente orgánicas, que se caracterizan por la severidad de las estructuras cristalinas o por llegar a completar los gestos demiúrgicos", pero le da un aspecto que lo conecta con una vida palpitante.

 “En este plano de significados, la torpeza deja de ser embarazosa, subiendo al nivel del significado”, enfatiza Lucian Blaga.

 La belleza como katechon

 El significado de esta incomodidad, que desde el punto de vista del rumano y digamos no solo del campesino rumano, para el cual la belleza surge en la intersección de lo cultural y lo natural. Está directamente relacionado con el área que en la mitología griega está a cargo del Gran Pan, a quien Sócrates recurre en busca de belleza.

 Una línea absolutamente recta es imposible en la naturaleza, desde tal perspectiva es un sacrilegio el cual la conciencia campesina evita deliberadamente

Por lo tanto, las vallas están torcidas, las cabañas están ligeramente torcidas. En la metrópoli del campesinado de Europa del Este, se manifiesta claramente el deseo no solo de limitarse al espacio cultural de Deméter, sino de integrar en ellos las líneas de la naturaleza salvaje, evitando las formas estrictas a cualquier lugar.

 Los objetos culturales parecen crecer en la naturaleza, y desde la casa se puede esperar ver emerger el espíritu del bosque. Y esto no es la absorción de lo cultural por lo salvaje, sino su interpenetración.

Por otro lado, una conclusión aún más importante de las observaciones de Blaga se puede sacar si reflexionamos sobre el rechazo intencional de los campesinos al “virtuosismo científico”, desde la línea recta de la que habla el filósofo. Al final, se trata de un rechazo del punto material, del traspaso de lo lógico y matemático al ámbito de la física.

 Puede que no sea eficaz, pero es un obstáculo obvio para la cosmovisión de los Nuevos Tiempos, que se basan en la inversión del modelo de Aristóteles y la "deificación" real de la materia.

 El campesino, como representante de la hacienda, en una sociedad tradicional más cercana al ámbito de la "física" en su sentido aristotélico original, siente que este tecnicismo y alienación es destructivo para la belleza de este mundo. Él sabe que eso no se puede hacer.

 En este contexto, se puede incluso hablar de la función "katechon" (en el sentido en que la ciencia política moderna entiende este término después de C. Schmitt) de esta estética popular. Es uno de los obstáculos para el triunfo de tal comprensión del mundo, donde el lugar de la naturaleza lo ocupa la materia, desmembrada en átomos por la fría conciencia inhumana.

#campesinado #katechon #pensamiento #europa del este #rumania #rusia

[doinid]

Povestea firelor - inceputuri

Povestea firelor – inceputuri

Cum a inceput totul… Ileana Cosanzeana era o fata tare frumoasa si tare mandra de frumusetea ei. Ea nu avea abilitati extraordinare, nici a iubi nu stia prea bine ce inseamna pentru ca, fiind crescuta de Muma Padurii, traia intr-o spaima si intr-o trauma continua. Dar chiar si asa, ea crescu si se facu o fata deosebit de frumoasa si sireata. Doar muma padurii era mama ei… Dar Ileana…

View On WordPress

#basm #fire de poveste #poveste #yarn

[drum-cu-naluci]

“About me”. Hi, so, I have a kind of strange aesthetic. It is kinda eerie and strange and vintage. My music taste is also really cool. I love the romanian mythology: strigoi, pricolici, vrajitoare, iele, muma padurii etc. I love art and I make some rlly cool pieces. (Kinda lame, ik, sorry)

Is actually more accurate than I tried to explain it and I shall try use it from now and then😂😗😙😚❤ thank you 🐣🐣🐣

[adarkrainbow]

Romanian witches: Baba Dochia

Originally I wanted to talk about only one "Romanian hag" from the world of fairytales, but from this one entity I ended up talking about Muma Padurii and Baba Cloantza and many more... Because there is never just one "baba" or one "muma" in Romania. There is a whole series of malevolent hags and magical old women which all embody in one way or another the benevolent, malevolent, or neutral aspects of the archetypal Romanian witch.

I will mention that Wikipedia lists the Muma Padurii/Baba Cloantza in her wicked form as one of the three recurring fairytale villains in Romanian fairytales, alongside the "balaur" (the "dragon", a winged multi-headed evil snake that comes in three variations 1) air-dragon that causes/lives in storms 2) earth-dragon living in chasms and pits and associated with gems 3) water-dragon, usually killed by the saint - see the legend of saint Georges) and the "Zmeu" (Zmei in plural, the Romanian variation of the Slavic creature of the same name, usually a giant sorcerer but which sometimes appear as a dragon)

But now I finally reach the witch I originally wanted to talk about. Baba Dochia. I learned at first about her when looking at an article which covered the Romanian translations of the brothers Grimm "Frau Holle", and this article evoked how in Romanian translations, often the legendary character of Frau Holle was replaced by a Romanian folkloric being: Baba Dochia (which the article did compare to the Baba Cloantza as an aspect of the "fairytale wicked witch"). With the bonus that the Baba Dochia is closely linked to the weather and to seasonal changes, which explains why she can fit the role of Frau Holle.

Here is what the article had to say about the Baba Dochia.

She is one of the many supernatural "babas" of Romanian legends (remember, "baba" simply means "old woman", the same way the German "Frau" means "lady" or "miss"). Baba Dochia ha, like Frau Holle a weather role - Baba Dochia is a manifestation of the cold weather and the winter season. Or, to be more precise, Baba Dochia is only a manifestation of the end of winter. The whole thing of Baba Dochia is that her "weather role" takes places during the beginning of March, a set of nine days that are typically called the "babele" (plural of Baba). This era marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring - a shift of seasons usually symbolized as a fight between two entities. Baba Dochia is supposed to wear nine "cojoace" (coats made of sheep's skin), representing how cold the weather is. During these nine days, when the weather is violent, unpredictable and constantly-shifting, Baba Dochia will remove each of her coats, one per day - and the more coats the take off, the hotter the air becomes and the more snow melts. In fairytales, this "seasonal battle" usually has the spring season symbolized by the "prince Charming" figure.

This is the case of a specific Romanian fairytale that is an equivalent of the Grimm's "The three little men in the woods". In this fairytale the Baba Dochia is a wicked stepmother that sends her martyrized stepdaughter to a frozen stream, to wash black wool until it becomes white. The stepdaughter encounters a beautiful young man named Martisor (I am not adding the accents here because my keyboard is not equiped for it) who embodies spring: not only does he help the girl, he also gives her flowers (we are in winter). When the stepdaughter returns she manages to get her accused of cheating on her husband (because after all you know, she accepted the flowers of a handsome stranger in the woods... It can look bad in an old countryside society) ; but these flowers will cause Dochia's downfall. She believes these flowers mean spring is here (when in fact it is still winter), as such she goes to the mountain with her sheep as she does every spring... but she just ends up frozen to death there, and all her sheep with her. This folktale is tied to the rocky landscape of several mountains - a type of mineral manifestation called "Babele" and which is supposed to be Baba Dochia and her sheep, petrified into stone.

Baba Dochia also appeared in the works of Mihail Sadoveanu, but this author decided to reinvent the character as a less wicked and more tragic character. In his own take on the story of Martisor, Dochia isn't the wickedness of a cruel season that needs to end ; but rather she suffers from the deep gap between the human world and the "otherworld". Otherworld that Baba Dochia represents: she is a witch-like old woman with obscure powers and a shadowy domain, living all alone in a little cabin at the top of the mountain, isolated from all civilization. One day, she adopts a young orphan girl and she raises her with love - but away from all other human presence. The young girl, who is a plain human unlike the otherwordly Baba Dochia, cannot resist her roots, and demands to be allowed to return into humans, in the light-filled world of the valley. Baba Dochia agrees to let her go there to see the humans - but in the valley, the girl falls in love with the titular Martisor and forgets to return to her adoptive mother. The old woman, alone and heartbroken, ends up freezing to death in the coldness of her little dark cabin.

This was all I could get from the article. To this I will add info from a little brief Internet research:

An alternate name of Baba Dochia in Bulgaria and Macedonia is Baba Marta, in reference to the spring celebrations of the first of March, Martenitsi, Bulgarian name of the Romanian Martisoare, from which the "prince" Martisor gets his name. Baba Dochia can also be found under this name in Moldavia on top of Romania. In English a translation is "Old Dokia".

A variation of the "babele" name described above: the fifteen first days of March can be called the "zilele babei" (the days of the old woman) (babei/baba refering to the old woman, the herb-healer and the female witch)

There are actually many versions of the fairytale I described above:

First version: Baba Dochia had a son, Dragobete in Romanian, Dragomir in Bulgarian, who married a young girl against his mother's will. Dochia abuses her daughter-in-law and at the end of February sends her to fetch berries in the woods. She is helped by an old man, who is actually God in disguise and produces the berries by a miracle. When Baba Dochia/Marta sees the berries, she believes spring is here, puts on twelve sheep-skins as coats and goes to the mountain with her son and sheep. But due to the rain her coats get soaked and heavy - so she removes them, but the frost suddenly arrives and freezes her to death, with her ship, and her son who was playing the flute.

Second variation: Pretty similar to the first, with a few details changed. There are only nine coats instead of twelve, and the Baba removes them due to the hot weather before the frost suddenly arrives. Her son doesn't go with her to the mountain. The girl isn't elped by God but by the Virgin Mary or a female saint. The girl is precisely asked to go fetch strawberries. And here the Baba and her sheep don't just freeze to death, they are petrified into the "babele" stones found in the mountains.

Third version: The baba sends her daughter-in-law to the river in winter to clean a very dirty coat until it gets white and shining, but the girl fails to do so and cries. A mysterious man arrives and gives her a snowdrop flower which makes the coat white by magic. When the girl returns with the white coat and the flower in her hair, baba Dochia believes spring is here - and she ends up like in the previous tales, frozen/petrified on the mountain.

Fourth version: Again, Dragobete marries a woman against his mother's will, so the baba Dochia abuses her, and notably sends her wash black wool in a stream until it becomes white (an impossible task). The baba specifically forbids her from returning until the wool is white, and since the girl can only freeze her hands in the cold water she cries about losing her husband (that she loves very much). Jesus then appears and offers her a red flower which makes the wool white. When the girl returns Baba Dochia believes springtime came since a man could pick up a flower - and you know the rest, she goes to the mountain with her nine coats, due to the weather she drops them one by one, and when she gets rid of the last everything suddenly turns cold and she freezes to death. (There's a fifth version which is just this story but with twelve coats instead of nine)

Outside of pure fairytales, if we go more into the folklore and myths, scholars debate the possible origins of the Baba Dochia/Baba Marta. Some believe she might be a character born of the old name of Dacia (Dakia in Latin and medieval Greek, close to "Dochia/Dokia"). Others believe she might have evolved from a Byzantine celebration Eudoxia/Eudokia's martyr on the 1st of March. A third theory is that she is the leftover of an ancient Thracian goddess common to the Romanian and Bulgarian territories, a deity of agriculture, fertility, renewal... But all in all the Baba Dochia/Marta was seen as a weather spirit with a quickly-changing mind and unstable temper, and as a result needed to be appeased with offerings. Only by these gifts will she make sure winter doesn't last too long and spring returns (while in fairytales it turned into the Dochia's death causing the triumph of spring). A folkloric ritual consists of leaving the offerings by fruit-trees or under rocks, and if they are left under rocks, people then look which kind of insect live or takes refuge there. Depending on whether it is a millipede, a spider, a cockroach or any other thing, it will form an omen about how the year to come will unfold, turning the Dochia offering into a divination ritual.

But as I said before, the baba Dochia was mostly seen as a negative entity - it was said she was a spirit of the bad weather who during the nine "babele" (the nine first days of March during which she removes her nine coats) brought snowstorms and cold winds. Another divination ritual had a woman pick up randomly one of the nine babele-days: if the day turns out to be good weather, they are promised to stay fair and nice in their old days ; if the day has bad weather, it means they will age into a bitter hag. There's a lot of proverbs and sayings tied to the weather and Dochia - which makes her similar to the German Frau Holle. Of course when people say "Baba Dochia removes one of her coats", it means the weather is very warm ; but when it snows people also say "Baba Dochia is shaking her coat".

The Baba Dochia also appears in a little story that is told all the way across Europe (I know this because just a few days ago I read a variation of it among fairytales of Bretagne). The story always goes the same: there is an arrogant or wicked old woman/shepherdess who for a reason or another mocks or threatens the month of March (here a sentient entity), who in revenge steals some days from February to come earlier punish the old lady. In Romanian this old lady is Baba Dochia.

There is also a very WEIRD pseudo-historical legend which tries to explain Baba Dochia as having been a person from the Antique history of the land... According to this tale, Dochia was related to the last Dacian king, Decebalus (she was his sister for some, his daughter for others). When the Roman emperor Trajan conquered the Dacians, Dochia fled into the Carpathian mountains because Trajan wanted to marry her. She disguised herself as a shepherd, and all her servants and followers disguised themselves as sheep. But Trajan kept pursuing her and sending his forces after her, so in despair she prayed to the Dacian god Zalmoxis, who turned her and her fake-sheep into the Babele stones we can still see today. Quite a strange story, heh?

There's also a Christianized, benevolent version of the Baba Dochia - because of course, Christianity is VERY strong in Romania and gets its hands onto every folkloric character it can (this is why in the Baba Dochia fairytales the Martisor-Prince Spring figure gets so often replaced by Jesus). In this sanitized, Christianized version, baba Dochia was a pious old woman whose prayers for winter to end brought spring... Quite a far move from the wicked stepmother.

As a last note: Baba Dochia's son, Dragobete, also plays a part in the "weather symbolism/calendar meaning" of the fairytale. Because while Martisor is the beginning of spring and Baba Dochia the end of winter, Dragobete is actually an old Romanian god of love (often called the Romanian Eros/Cupid) who is celebrated during the "Dragobetele" celebrations on the 14th of February... The Romanian Saint Valentine's day. Dragobete was called in old pagan traditions "he who bets on love" and "the godfather of animals", because he protected and blessed all couples upon his day - as such, you had a sort of human "Saint Valentine" celebration on his feast-day, but you also had an homage to what was believed to be the "engagement of birds". There's a whole set of traditions and legends surrounding this which I will not expand upon here, but it makes sense than that this spirit of the love-day of February is symbolized as the loving husband of the heroine and the son of the hag of the end of February...

#romanian witches #romanian folklore #romanian fairytales #baba dochia #frau holle #fairytale villains #romanian mythology

[ryelys-mikeilo-blog]

3 designs of totemic-like figures often used in the Romanian folk dances and traditions at Christmas but they have nothing to do with the Birth of Christ as these traditions are much older and of pagan origins. I tried to depict them in a more humanized version, as embodiments of spiritual forces of the forest: the Goat, the Deer and the Bear. These animals are of a great symbolic importance in my country (or they were in the past). They are also part of a larger project of mine (along with Muma Padurii, Pacalici and other characters). I call them "Calusari"

#freestyle #character design #romanian. #romanian folklore #my art