''Sânziană'' is the

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

name for gentle

fairies A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...

who play an important part in

local folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...

, also used to designate the ''

Galium verum ''Galium verum'' (lady's bedstraw or yellow bedstraw) is a herbaceous perennial plant of the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread across most of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia from Israel, Lebanon and Turkey to Japan and Kamchatka. It is ...

'' or ''

Cruciata laevipes ''Cruciata laevipes'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is commonly known as crosswort, smooth bedstraw or Luc na croise in Gaelic. The Latin epithet ''laevipes'' refers to the smooth stalk. The common name crosswort ...

'' flowers. Under the plural form ''Sânziene'', the word designates an annual

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

in the fairies' honor. Etymologically, the name comes from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''Sancta Diana'', the

Roman goddess Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representat ...

of the

hunt Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, et ...

and

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

, also celebrated in

Roman Dacia Roman Dacia ( ; also known as Dacia Traiana, ; or Dacia Felix, 'Fertile/Happy Dacia') was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat (today ...

(ancient Romania). Diana was known to be the virgin goddess and looked after virgins and women. She was one of the three maiden goddesses, Diana,

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Roma ...

and Vesta, who swore never to marry. People in the western

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

celebrate the ''Sânziene'' holiday annually, on June 24. This is similar to the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Midsummer holiday, and is believed to be a

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

celebration of the summer

solstice A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countr ...

in June. According to the official position of the Romanian Orthodox Church, the customs actually relate to the celebration of Saint John the Baptist's Nativity, which also happens on June 24.

''Sânziene'' rituals

The folk practices of ''Sânziene'' imply that the most beautiful maidens in the village dress in white and spend all day searching for and picking flowers, of which one MUST be ''Galium verum'' (Lady's bedstraw or Yellow bedstraw) which in Romanian is also named "Sânziànă". Using the flowers they picked during the day, the girls braid floral crowns which they wear upon returning to the village at nightfall. There they meet with their beloved and they dance around a bonfire. The crowns are thrown over the houses, and whenever the crown falls, it is said that someone will die in that house; if the crown stays on the roof of the house, then good harvest and wealth will be bestowed upon the owners. As with other bonfire celebrations, jumping over the embers after the bonfire is not raging anymore is done to purify the person and also to bring health. Another folk belief is that during the ''Sânziene'' Eve night, the heavens open up, making it the strongest night for magic spells, especially for the love spells. Also it is said that the plants harvested during this night will have tremendous magical powers. It is not a good thing though to be a male and walk at night during Sanziene Eve night, as that is the time when the fairies dance in the air, blessing the crops and bestowing health on people - they do not like to be seen by males, and whoever sees them will be maimed, or the fairies will take their hearing/speech or make them mad. In some areas of the Carpathians, the villagers then light a big wheel of

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

from the ceremonial bonfire and push it down a hill. This has been interpreted as a symbol for the setting sun (from the solstice to come and until the

midwinter solstice The winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winte ...

, the days will be getting shorter).

In cultural references

The consequences of heavens opening on ''Sânziene'' are connected by some to paranormal events reported during that period of each year. According to popular beliefs, strange things, both positive and negative, may happen to a person wandering alone on ''Sânziene'' night. Strange ethereal activities are believed to happen especially in places such as the

Băneasa Băneasa () is a borough () in the north side of Bucharest, in Sector 1, near the Băneasa Lake (). Like all north-side districts of Bucharest, it is relatively sparsely populated, with large areas of parkland. Bordering on Băneasa Forest, ...

forest (near the capital of

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

) or the Baciu forest (near the city of

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanians, Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who establ ...

's novel, ''

Noaptea de Sânziene ''The Forbidden Forest'' ( ro, Noaptea de Sânziene; french: Forêt interdite) is a 1955 novel by the Romanian writer Mircea Eliade. The story takes place between 1936 and 1948 in Bucharest and several other European cities, and follows a Romanian ...

'' (translated as ''The Forbidden Forest''), includes references to the folk belief about skies opening at night, as well as to paranormal events happening in the Băneasa Forest. In the form ''Sânziana'' ("the sânziană"), the word has also come to be used as a female name. It is notably used as such in Vasile Alecsandri's comedy '' Sânziana şi Pepelea'' (later an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

by George Stephănescu). The fairy Sânziene, "the fairy of the summer solstice", is described in a '' colinda'' (Romanian folk song) as the "sister of the Sun".Pócs, Éva (2018). “Shirts, Cloaks and Nudity: Data on the Symbolic Aspects of Clothing" rajce, Ogrinjala in Golota: simbolični Vidiki oblačil In: ''

Studia Mythologica Slavica ''Studia mythologica Slavica'' is a Slovene academic journal dedicated to ethnology, history, archaeology, linguistics, religious studies, literary history and philosophy in the context of Slavic mythology. Published since 1998 by the Instit ...

'' 21 (October). Ljubljana, Slovenija: 72. https://doi.org/10.3986/sms.v21i0.7067. Moldovan band Zdob şi Zdub recorded a song called Sânziene, which tells the story of a search for one's soulmate over the course of a midsummer night festival.

Notes

http://www.romania-insider.com/sanzienedragaica-celebration-in-romania/3003/ http://terradacicaaeterna.blogspot.com/2012/02/sanziene-or-summer-solstice.html

References

Ancient

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Modern

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External links

Sânziene picture and description

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanziana Fairies Festivals in Romania John the Baptist June observances Romanian legendary creatures Romanian words and phrases Female legendary creatures Nature spirits