SUMMER

Paparuda si ritualul magic de provocare a ploii

In this magical night, the boys light fires, they juggle with lighted torches as they roam the village, orchards and fields. After which they offer wreaths of flowers to their brides. After wearing them, the girls throw them on the roof of their house, to find out if it will have a long life. If his adornment falls, we predict that his life will be a little shorter. On this sacred night of June 23/24 the heavens open and all dead spirits rub shoulders with humans. It is also claimed that one can understand the language of beasts. The Sânziene fairies dance their secret rituals, and anyone who surprises them is struck with disease and curse.

 

PAPARUDA dance – It’s the heat wave in the country, the villagers are working in the fields. The youngest stuff themselves with fruit, they bathe in the river. To bring rain they chant Paparuda, the ancient ritual. A young girl covered in grape leaves and foliage sings and dances, stopping at each house. The women spray it with water, a symbol of prosperity. The children run with Paparuda and shout the music in the streets of the village, then throw the little doll made in his image into the river. The rain will not be long.

 

https://rolandia.eu/en/blog/romanian-myths-legends/sanziene-the-summer-fairies

Each year, on the 24th of June, Romanians celebrate the pagan holiday of Sanziene. Along with the Fates, Sanzienele are gracious fairies with magical powers. Unlike the most of Iele, Sanzienele are always good and kind to humans.
Sanziene is also the Romanian name of a wild yellow flower, commonly known as the Lady’s bedstraw, frequently used in ancient healing potions. So, the 24th of June is the perfect day for collecting this flower, along with other local medicinal plants. Moreover, on Sanziene’s Eve, it is said that they bless the animals and the fountains, strengthen the marriages, heal people of different diseases and then like to dance and sing until dawn.
As expected, Sanziene’s Day has its own specific rituals, mainly focused on love spells. In some regions, especially in the countryside, it is common that the young girls to play the role of Sanziene. One of the girls is chosen to represent Dragaica, the most powerful Sanziana. After she is dressed in white and embellished with golden wheat spikes – the symbol of Sun and Summer – she must gather all the other girls into a big circle and dance. Then, they all go collecting Lady’s bedstraw flowers and create beautiful wreaths. In some regions, the girls throw their wreath in water while chanting their wishes of love. In other parts of the country, the wreaths are thrown over the house; if the wreath stays on the roof, the girl will marry soon, if not, the girl still has to wait.

Sanziene’s Day is, in short, a feast of love and happiness, quite similar to the0 famous Midsummer Night, when the skies are opening and miracles happen and the entire world becomes a magical realm.

 

The historiographer Vasile Pârvan suppose que le Daco-Romain Diane (Diana sancta, potentissima) was the same deity with Artemis-Bendis des Thraces (Herodotus, IV, 33). Eeven if this equivalent is not proven, no doubt that under the Roman name of Diana would hide, syncretized or not, an aboriginal goddess. Or the cult of this goddess survived after the Romanization of Dacia.  the name Diana is found word zâna, in the Romanian fairy. Diana Sancta from Sarmizegetusa [4] became Sânziana (<San (cta) Diana), a central figure of Romanian folklore. Religious and linguistic continuity was ensured mainly due to the fact that the transformation process took place in a popular (rural and wild) environment. [6] « 

 

2]Getica, p. 163
3]E. Lozovan, « Dacia Sacra », p. 230
4] Lozovan, « Dacia Sacra », pag. 230 și H. Daicoviciu, Diana de la Sarmizegetusa, Ulpia Traiana
5] Dianiatici, « stăpâniți de Diana », dădu în românește zănateci, « nebuni, rătăciți ». Pârvan, Contribuții epigrafice la istoria creștinismului daco-roman, (București, 1911), p. 120; E. Lozovan, « Dacia Sacra », p. 231
6] Mircea Eliade, De la Zalmoxis la Ghenghis Han, București, 1980