Etymology
Muma Pădurii literally means "mother of the forest", though "mumă" is an archaic version of "mamă" (mother), which has a fairy tale overtone for the Romanian reader (somewhat analogous to using the archaic pronouns like "thou" and "thy" in English). A few other words, typically protagonists of folktales, have this effect.Characteristics
Muma Pădurii is a spirit of the forest in a very ugly and old woman's body. Sometimes she has the ability to change her shape. She lives in a dark, dreadful, hidden little house. She is thought to attack children and because of this a large variety of spells (''descântece'' in Romanian) are used against her. This (step-) mother of the forest kidnaps little children and enslaves them. In one popular story, at some point, she tries to boil a little girl alive in a soup. However the little girl's brother outsmarts Muma Pădurii and pushes the woman-monster in the oven instead, similar to the story of Hansel and Gretel. The story ends on a happy note when all kids are free to go back to their parents.In modern culture
Instead of saying "She's ugly", Romanians sometimes say "She looks like Muma Pădurii".See also
* Baba Yaga * Black Annis * Boo Hag * Crone * Culture of Romania * Hag * Mother Nature * Nocnitsa * Onibaba (folklore) * Religion in Romania * The Witch (fairy tale)References
*Lăzărescu, George, Dicţionar de mitologie. Dicţionarele Editurii Ion Creangă, București, 1979.External links