The Creation of the WorldThe creation of the world in Romanian folklore is most probably based on mazdeist doctrines, which entered the mythologies of many peoples including the Daci, the ancestors of the Romanian people, and which were left behind by these. As such, far from coinciding with the story in the Book of Genesis, cosmogony is largely dualist in nature, depicting the Earth as the common opus of God and the Devil, imagined as counterparts of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu rather than in the biblical way. However, different stories suggest God made the earth with the help of animals, while Satan was trying to thwart his plans.
In the majority of versions, before the earth existed, a boundless ocean called Apa Sâmbetei was the abode of God and the Devil, seen as master and servant rather than equals. Upon deciding to create the earth, God sent the Devil to bring a handful of clay from the ground of the World Ocean in his holy name. The Devil set forth and tried to bring it to the surface in his name instead, but could not succeed until he brought it up in the name of God. As this piece of clay grew into the earth, God laid himself down to sleep. The Devil tried to push him over the side, but the ever expanding earth would hinder that. After trying to throw God off the earth in every one of the four cardinal directions, he shied away from the cross he drew in the ground himself.
The Origin of Evil
Other accounts, closer to the biblical one, suggest that the Devil and his demons were once angels of God. The Devil, however, tried to rebel, and, in response, God opened up the Heavens so that he might fall to the earth. Fearing that Heaven might be voided, the archangel Michael re-sealed it, thus freezing the demons that had not yet fallen to hell in place. This is related to the concept of soul customs, where every soul is intercepted on its way to Heaven by these demons, who force it into hell. It has also given rise to the Romanian saying până ajungi la Dumnezeu, te mănâncă sfinţii (before you reach God, the saints will eat you).
The Origin of God
Another question commonly addressed is that of the origin of God, which is explained in a Russian doll type fashion. Before every God there was another God that created him. Thus explaining the many names the Bible used for God, the Oltenians believed the first God was called Sabaoth, followed by Amon, Apollo, the Creator God of the Bible, and finally, Jesus Christ.
The Origin of Race
Quite surprisingly for a Caucasian race, Romanian folklore asserts that, as God had made the humans out of clay, and clay was perceived to be black like soil, the first humans were black-skinned. It was later during the time of Cain and Abel that God did punish the murderous Cain by bleaching his skin. This is identified as the source of the expression a se îngălbeni de frică (to go yellow with fear), which can also be found in various forms in the folklore of other peoples.
Although, some sources attest that the Dacians were already familiar with dark-skinned people as evidence of the existence of an African race appears to have been found on the territory of Romania:
A new people has been discovered in prehistoric Dacia, this time of ethiopian race and of a blackish-yellow or tan colour. Its stay there has left deep marks in our ethnic, heraldic and geographical nomenclature as to how prehistoric Dacia was first called Ethiopia, then Arabia, and through a longer process, Bessarabia.
– Ionescu, G.M., Etiopienii în Dacia Preistorică / The Ethiopians in Prehistoric Dacia, 1926, Bucharest: Tipografia de Carti LUCIA, p 3.
The Earth
As in other cultures, the Earth was regarded as a giver of life even before Christianity had spread to the Romanian lands, and as such, was personified as the feminine archetype of the Great Mother. This form can be traced back to the Iranian mazdeist religion, where Spenta Armaiti is found as the personification of the Earth. This form endured even after Christian imagery and symbolism became part of Romanian culture, Mother Earth often being identified as the consort of God, the heavenly Father.
The origin of mountains is explained in a number of ways by the cultures of the different regions of Romania. One account is that mountains formed as a response to God demanding the Earth to nurture all life, to which the earth shuddered and brought forth mountains. Another version suggests the Earth was too large to fit under the firmament, and so God attempted to shrink it, thus raising mountains. Often, these accounts are accompanied by the imagery of one or several World Pillars, which sustain the earth from below and are usually placed beneath mountains. Earthquakes are frequently attributed to the earth slipping due to the Devil's constant gnawing at these pillars, which are rebuilt by God and his angels in times of fasting.
The Myth Of The Blajini
As Romanians generally perceived the earth as a disc, they were naturally creative enough to imagine what existed on the other side. This other earth is imagined as a mirror image of our own, and as a home to creatures called Blajini [bla'ʒinʲ] (rom. gentle/kind-hearted ones), sometimes given the name Rohmani ['roh.manʲ] (in Bucovina. They are described as anthropomorphic and short, sometimes having the head of a rat. They are either described as malicious or as having great respect for God and leading a sinless life. They are considered to fast the year through, and thus doing humans a great service.
The Romanian holiday Paştele Blajinilor (the Easter of the Blajini) is a way to repay them for the benefits they bring. Since they live in isolation, they have no way of knowing when Easter comes. It is for this reason that Romanians eat dyed eggs and let the shells flow downstream, from there they believe they will get to the Apa Sâmbetei, and from there to the Blajini.
Some explain them as the descendants of Adam's son Seth. Others state that they used to live alongside humans on the earth, but that Moses, seeing his people oppressed by them, parted the waters and, after he and his people had retreated to safety, poured the waters back onto them, sending them to their current abode.
The Iele ("Yehleh")
Clear characteristics are hard to assign to these fairies of the wind, but all Romanian's know their powers!
Most of the times they are described as virgin fairies ('zane' in Romanian), with great seduction power over men, with magic skills, attributes similar to the Ancient Greek Nymphs, Naiads, Dryads, etc.
The Iele live in the sky, in the forests, in caves, on isolated mountain cliffs, in marshes, often bathing in the springs, or at crossroads. From this point of view, the Iele are similar with the Ancient Greek Hecate, a three headed goddess of Thracian origin, which guards the crossroads.
They mostly appear at night, under the moonlight, as dancing Horas, in seclusive areas like glades, the tops of certain trees (maples, walnut trees), ponds, river sides, crossroads or abandoned fireplaces, dancing naked, with their breast almost covered by their disheveled hair, with bells to their ankles, and carrying candles. In almost all of these instances, the Iele appear acorporal.
Rarely, they are dressed in chain mail coats. The effect of their specific dance, the Hora, has similar characteristics with the dances of the Bacchants. The place where they had danced would after remain carbonized, with the grass incapable of growing on the trodden ground, and with the leafs of the surrounding trees scorched. Later, when grass would finally grow, it would have a red or dark-green color, the animals would not eat it, but instead mushrooms would thrive on it. The Iele don’t live a solitary life.
They gather in groups in the air, they can fly with or without wings; they can travel with incredible speeds, either on their own, or with chariots made of fire.
The Iele appear sometimes with bodies, other times only as immaterial spirits. They are young and beautiful, voluptuous, immortals, their frenzy causing delirium to the watchers, with bad tempers, but not being necessarily evil.
They come in a group of unknown numbers, either in a group of seven, and sometimes in groups of three. This version is mostly found in Oltenia, were these three Iele are considered the daughters of Alexander the Great, and are called Catrina, Zalina and Marina.
They are not generally considered evil genies: they resort to revenge only when they are provoked, offended, seen while they dance, when people step on the trodden ground left behind by their dance, sleep under a tree which the Iele consider as their property, drink from the springs or wells used by them. Terrible punishes are inflicted upon the ones who refuse their invitation to dance, or the ones who mimic their movements. The one who randomly hears their songs, becomes instantly mute. A main characteristic is their beautiful voices which are used to spell their listeners, just like the Mermaids from ancient Greek mythology. Invisible to humans, there are however certain moments when they can be seen by mortals, like during night, when they dance. When this happens, they abduct the victim, punishing the “guilty” one with magical spells, after they previously caused him to fall into sleep with the sounds and the vertigo of the frenetic Hora, which they dance around their victim. The ones abducted, and which had the unfortunate inspiration to learn the songs of the Iele, disappear forever without a trace.
The Iele are also believed to be agents of revenge, of God or of the Devil, having the right to avenge in the name of their “employers.
When they were called upon to act, they hounded their victims into the middle of their dance, until they died in a furor of madness or torment. In this hypostasis, the Iele are similar to the Ancient Greek Erinyes and the Roman Furies.
In the "Description Moldaviae" (1726), Dimitrie Cantemir describes the Iele as ‘’Nymphs of the air, inloved especially with young men’’. The origin of these beliefs is unknown. The name iele, is the Romanian popular word for "them" (feminine). Their real names are secret and inaccessible, and are commonly replaced with symbols based on their characteristics. There names based on epithets are: Iele, Dinse, Dragaice, Vilve, Iezme, Irodite, Rusalii, Nagode, Vântoase, Domnite, Maiestre, Frumoase, Musate, Fetele Codrului, Imparatesele Vazduhului, Zânioare, Sfinte de noapte, Soimane, Dânse, Mândre, Izme, Fecioare, Maiestre, Albe, Hale, etc. But there are also personal names which appear: Ana, Bugiana, Dumernica, Foiofia, Lacargia, Magdalina, Ruxanda, Tiranda, Trandafira, Rudeana, Ruja, Trandafira, Pascuta, Cosânzeana, Orgisceana, Lemnica, Rosia, Todosia, Sandalina, Ruxanda, Margalina, Savatina, Rujalina, etc. These names must not be used randomly, as they may be the base for dangerous enchantments. It is believed that every witch knows nine of these pseudonyms, from which she makes combinations, and who are the bases for spells.
To please the Iele, the people had dedicated to them festival days: the Rusaliile, the Stratul, the Sfredelul or Bulciul Rusaliilor, the nine days after the Easter, the Marina, the Foca, etc.
Whoever doesn’t respect these holidays, will suffer the revenge of the Iele: men and women who work during these days would be lifted in spinning vertigos, people and cattle would suffer mysterious deaths or become paralyzed and crippled, hail would fall, flooding would happen, the trees would wither, the houses would catch fire.
But the people also invented cures against the Iele, either preventive: garlic and mugwort wore around the waist, in their bosom, or hanged to their hats, the hanging the skull of a horse in a pole in front of the house, either exorcistic customs. In this category, the most important cure is the dance of Căluşari. This customs was the subject of episode of the popular TV series, The X-Files (see The X-Files (season 2))
The same common Indo-European mythology base is also suggested by the close resemblance with the Nordic Elves, youthful feminine humanoid spirits of great beauty living in forests and other natural places, underground, or in wells and springs, having as sacred tree the same maple tree, and with magical powers, having the ability to cast spells with their circle dances. The elves too leave a kind of circle were they had danced the älvdanser (elf dances) or älvringar (elf circles). Typically, this circle also consisted of a ring of small mushrooms. Arguably, Iele are the Romanian equivalent of the fays of other cultures, like of the nymphs of Greek and Roman mythology, of the vili from Slavic mythology, and of the Irish sídhe.
