On Romanian Mythology
All people have their inherited myths and the collective subconscious of humanity represents people to a certain extent. Know more about Romanian mythology from this article.
Carl Gustav Jung suggested that myths are the expression of the humanity's collective subconscious. The subconscious, much like human body, is supposed to have more or less the same structure for all people. According to Jung, this could explain the exceptional resemblances between myths and mythical motives from various cultures. The Romanian writer and ethnologist Romulus Vulcănescu used to see in the myth "an episodic or complex response to an exciting question". Thus, the mythical system of a people actually renders its concept of living and the world around. There are many such exciting questions which people try to give answers to in all cultures and mythologies. These questions refer to the beginning and the end.
Where did the planet Earth come from? How did man appear into this world? How did society develop up to this stage? What is there beyond death? When will it all end? We could say that such questions that can be found in all cultures have given rise to a series of universal myths. These refer to the creation of the world, to the creation of mankind, to the gods' mania and the attempt to destroy the human race, the myth of the civilizing hero, the myth of eternal return also eschatology, etc. This latter-mentioned term, eschatology, represents a part of philosophy, futurology and theology that specializes in the study of the final events in the history of mankind, the final destiny of humanity, also referred to as the end of the world. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, eschatology is defined as "concerned with 'the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell'.
There is a huge variety of myths; myth genesis being a permanent spiritual phenomenon. Each people, each cultural epoch has imposed its very own myths. The Romanian spirituality also showed itself in several myths. Such myths inscribed in the category of "Romanian essential myths", out of which there are four which have been permanently and effervescently fed, and which have been the starting points for many national writers. According to the literary critic of Romania named George Calinescu, these myths include: "Traian and Dochia", "Miorita" (a sheep), "The Monastery of Arges" and the "Sburator" (which is a kind of demon that takes the shape of a handsome young man and visits young girls in their sleep; a sort of "incubus"). These myths portray fundamental issues of the birth of the Romanian people, man's cosmic situation, the issue of creation and as we may say in modern terms, of culture, and the issue of sexuality.
The Romanian fairy tales, customs and superstitions abound in mythical characters and situations, both good and evil. Perhaps it couldn't be otherwise, because duality seems to be the base of existence itself. Romanian mythology, although syncretic, is a coherent and unitary mythology by its superposition on a sacred and very own space, which could be said to be the Romanian language. The sacred geography of Romanian mythology comprises two realms:"This Realm", which is the known space, and the "Other Realm", these two worlds being delimited by a magical border. This metaphorically named space is populated by a great number of metaphorical characters. Here are a few of them, following a classification made by Victor Kernbach: syncretic deities (God, Christ); half-gods (Sburatorul/The Incubus, Christmas, Mrs. Christmas, The Seal); archetypal ancestors (The Giants, The Old Men, Old Adam, Old Iova, Youth without Old Age); calendar characters (Paparuda, Dochia Hag, The Old Frost, etc.); good fairies as well as evil fairies; archetypal heroes (Făt-Frumos, the story personage the handsome young man which represents the Romanian version of Prince Charming); demons (The Hound of the Ground, The Evil Hag of the Forest); the initiated ones; sanctified souls, monsters, animals endowed with supernatural powers (the magical sheep, the master bird, the hedgehog, the bee).
These are but a few of the mythical creatures that can be found in the Romanian folklore. They have aroused people's imagination for centuries, being part of their stories, fears and superstitions. Many of them can also be found in other people's cultures, which may be said to confirm Jung's perspective on the collective subconscious. They were also a means through which people tried to explain to themselves and others certain strange behavior or phenomena.
Where did the planet Earth come from? How did man appear into this world? How did society develop up to this stage? What is there beyond death? When will it all end? We could say that such questions that can be found in all cultures have given rise to a series of universal myths. These refer to the creation of the world, to the creation of mankind, to the gods' mania and the attempt to destroy the human race, the myth of the civilizing hero, the myth of eternal return also eschatology, etc. This latter-mentioned term, eschatology, represents a part of philosophy, futurology and theology that specializes in the study of the final events in the history of mankind, the final destiny of humanity, also referred to as the end of the world. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, eschatology is defined as "concerned with 'the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell'.
There is a huge variety of myths; myth genesis being a permanent spiritual phenomenon. Each people, each cultural epoch has imposed its very own myths. The Romanian spirituality also showed itself in several myths. Such myths inscribed in the category of "Romanian essential myths", out of which there are four which have been permanently and effervescently fed, and which have been the starting points for many national writers. According to the literary critic of Romania named George Calinescu, these myths include: "Traian and Dochia", "Miorita" (a sheep), "The Monastery of Arges" and the "Sburator" (which is a kind of demon that takes the shape of a handsome young man and visits young girls in their sleep; a sort of "incubus"). These myths portray fundamental issues of the birth of the Romanian people, man's cosmic situation, the issue of creation and as we may say in modern terms, of culture, and the issue of sexuality.
The Romanian fairy tales, customs and superstitions abound in mythical characters and situations, both good and evil. Perhaps it couldn't be otherwise, because duality seems to be the base of existence itself. Romanian mythology, although syncretic, is a coherent and unitary mythology by its superposition on a sacred and very own space, which could be said to be the Romanian language. The sacred geography of Romanian mythology comprises two realms:"This Realm", which is the known space, and the "Other Realm", these two worlds being delimited by a magical border. This metaphorically named space is populated by a great number of metaphorical characters. Here are a few of them, following a classification made by Victor Kernbach: syncretic deities (God, Christ); half-gods (Sburatorul/The Incubus, Christmas, Mrs. Christmas, The Seal); archetypal ancestors (The Giants, The Old Men, Old Adam, Old Iova, Youth without Old Age); calendar characters (Paparuda, Dochia Hag, The Old Frost, etc.); good fairies as well as evil fairies; archetypal heroes (Făt-Frumos, the story personage the handsome young man which represents the Romanian version of Prince Charming); demons (The Hound of the Ground, The Evil Hag of the Forest); the initiated ones; sanctified souls, monsters, animals endowed with supernatural powers (the magical sheep, the master bird, the hedgehog, the bee).
These are but a few of the mythical creatures that can be found in the Romanian folklore. They have aroused people's imagination for centuries, being part of their stories, fears and superstitions. Many of them can also be found in other people's cultures, which may be said to confirm Jung's perspective on the collective subconscious. They were also a means through which people tried to explain to themselves and others certain strange behavior or phenomena.
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