Related to Mihaela’s post, “Epiphany and Saint John Day“, I want to tell you about some ancient traditions, banned by the communist authorities, traditions that have rebirth and know today a new life.
“The baptism of the horses” – this practice is spread in many rural communities in the Southern part of Romania (Wallachia and Dobrudja) and happens in Epiphany Day.
The peasants who come to the Epiphany religious service bring their horses, rich decorated, to the churchyard and the priest blesses the horses with a bunch of basil and the holy water. The legend says that the one who “baptizes” his horse will have a good health and a rich harvest in the year to come, and the horse will be healthy, too.
After the religious service, all the horses participates to a race where is not allowed the use of whip or spurs, and the fastest and the nicest horses are awarded. I’ve heard about a similar custom (the blessing of domestic animals) in Sweden, but I don’t know details.
“The ice cross” – another interesting custom is the rise of ice crosses, 2-3 m high, in the churchyard, crosses who stand until they melt.
In Northern Moldavia the crosses are built by the volunteer firefighters brigade, wearing their specific uniforms and leading their flag; after that, the priest, the church choir and the fire brigade go to every village institution, the priest blesses them and the others say three times “Kyrie Eleison” (an expression in Greek meaning “Lord, have mercy”).
“The baptism of all young John” – in Talmacel, near Sibiu, I saw a very interesting custom: after the religious service for Saint John’s Day, the participants dance “hora” (a dance in circle specific to all Romanian regions) and then go to the village’s river, the young boys by foot, the young girls in chariots, following an allegoric chariot; all have rich decorated folk costumes.
At river’s banks, all the young named John are symbolically “baptized” in the river’s waters, a ritual for purification and prosperity. In the villages where this custom is kept, most of the people are named “Ion” or “Ioana”. The locals told me that this tradition is unique in Romania and every Ion or Ioana swear to continue it.
Thanks for this interesting post. I must ask my friend, Ion, in Bucharest, if he has ever been baptised on St. John Day. I bet that water was cold!
It’s a nice custom, I think, to bless the animals. Especially those animals that do ‘work’ in some way, like for a farmer. I think they deserve a blessing!
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