The three Ursitoare, in

Romanian mythology The folklore of Romania is the collection of traditions of the Romanians. A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture, determined by two factors. First, the rural character of the Romanian ...

, are supposed to appear three nights after a child's birth to determine the course of its life. They are similar to the Greek Fates or

Moirai In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Moirai (, also spelled Moirae or Mœræ; grc, Μοῖραι, "lots, destinies, apportioners"), often known in English as the Fates ( la, Fata, Fata, -orum (n)=), were the personifications of fat ...

. The Fates to baptize is part of Romanian tradition hundreds of years. Note the last few years "a physical materialization too" of this tradition through the show presented during the party name.

Names

Fieldwork in the

Oltenia Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...

region found

dialectal The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

variations of their names: ''ursătóri(le)'', ''ursitóri(le)'', ''ursătoáre(le)''.

Role

According to ethnologist Pauline Schullerus ( fr), the Ursitoari comes at night to the newborn's cradle and weaves their fate.

Parallels

Scholarship indicates that similar beings (a trio of women that allot men's fates) also exist in South Slavic folklore, among the Serbians, Macedonians, Croatians, Bulgarians and Montenegrinians.Golant, Natalia. "Reprezentări mitologice ale românilor din Oltenia (pe baza cercetărilor de teren efectuate în judeţele Vâlcea, Gorj şi Mehedinţi)" ythological Representations of Romanians of Oltenia (Based on Field Researches Undertaken in the Counties of Vâlcea, Gorj and Mehedinţi) In:
Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei
' he Yearly Review of the Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia p. 97.

Names

Role

Parallels

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading

See also