Mother' s Dear Babies - Baptism at Ukrainians

 Versiune în Limba Română AICI.

In the Ukrainian community from Tulcea County, before going to church for baptism, the baby sit on a beautiful pillow, on the doorstep on which were sprinkled sugar and flowers (to be nice and smooth to people). On return, the child was given to mother who was sitting on the bed. Mother received a bitten slice of bread, sprinkled with salt, a cup of water or wine and a little flower. Godparents were gifted with a pair of round breads and bouquets of flowers. Soaking them in water, grandmother sprinkled each compere, saying: Sunday by Sunday you must be in a single work. Young women were also wished: This is the flower, receives it, to have a child and call us at baptism.

Sequence from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Sequence from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

For Ukrainians, as other Orthodox Christians, the main event connected with the customs of birth is Holy Baptism in church. Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which the human, through triple immersion in holy water realized by the priest, in the name of the Holy Trinity, obtains forgiveness of original sin; he is born again spiritually and became a member of the Church of Christ. Baptism is called and the ''door of mysteries'', because only through baptism we become children of God by gift, and we can receive the other Sacraments. Baptism is founded by the Savior in these words: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…" (Matthew 28, 19).

Sequence from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Detail from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Mother' s Dear Babies - Baptism at Russian-Lippovans

Versiune în Limba Română AICI. 

Russian - Lippovans (Starovery) protected the baby from evil spirits baptizing him almost immediately after birth. At eight days godmother took the child and went to church with a small suite.

Baptism is officiating in the morning, before the religious service, at five o'clock, when the priest not eaten yet.

An important moment in the ceremony is the bounding of the child with a belt (pois). It is considered the insignia of Christianization, establishing the connection between body and soul.

Sequence from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Sequence from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Detail from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Detail from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Mother' s Dear Babies - Visit of women at Aromanians

 Versiune în Limba Română AICI.

A special event with an immense joy in the Aromanian family was and is the birth of a boy, a future shepherd (picurar). It considers that the boy is the one who carry on the name of the family. At Aromanians exists the custom that the person who brings the news (sîhîrichea) is honored (miscut) by ​​relatives. When sîhîrichea announces the birth of a boy is obviously better rewarded. Today the news usually is brought by children who compete to be best rewarded. After a few days of birth, relatives (only women) come to congratulate the mother and child, and those who live in the house, bringing their different gifts (are said to go cu tigănile – with donuts). To protect mother and child, the bed is surrounded with a red thread. The baptism in church could take place and at three years depending on the material possibilities of family or godparents.

Sequence from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Sequence from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Sequence from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Mother' s Dear Babies - Fates

Versiunea în Limba Română AICI.

It is believed that in the third night after birth come the Fates. The biggest is Fate, which spins the thread of life; the middle is Destiny, who tells the adventures of newborn; the third is Death, who cuts the thread of life. 

Table for Fates was placed in front of the window, for feasting the Fates.  In that night they consult witch gift will endow the child. Around the table are three chairs to rest the fairies that spun the thread of life, to placate them.  

On the table people put water or wine, bread or round breads, the cake of Fates (unleavened bread with a little salt on it), and flour, grains, three coins, sugar, honey, garlic, salt, a bundle of wool, scissors, pliers, hammer, beads, candle.

Sequence from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Sequence from the temporary exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies  (Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum Tulcea)

Aromanian dances at Researchers' Night

A choreographic suite performed by the Aromanian Folkloric Ensemble Dor from Sarighiol de Deal Village, Dobrogea region, Romania. Spectacle is a contemporaneous way to preserve the costume (even stylized), musical and choreographic repertory (dance steps, gestures, movement chronology etc.). In this act you can see Aromanian circle and semicircle  dances and some objects  used in the time of dance (hlambura - the cross with tricolor and flowers, câmbâloghi - the beads).

Lullaby and maternity

The exhibition Mother' s Dear Babies is a challenge for you to remember what  yours grandparents, great-grandparents, maybe parents did... when this great miracle of the world and of life - birth - put them in the situation. Sure beyond diversity, beyond the idea that we are each unique, and in these moments, when each is the universe and the center of the earth also, this exhibition brings  memories, something, one object, one element that can help you to continue, to knot the thread  of continuity of generations. This exhibition actually wants to be a stop on the oblivion' s way  ...

Just listen this lullaby and you' ll understand the maternity.

The sequences of exhibition  are: the Fates at Romanians, bringing of gifts and the ritual meal at Aromanians, baptism at Russian-Lippovans, Ukrainians and Catholics groups from Tulcea County, first bath after baptism at Greeks, wedding at boy’s baptism at Turks and Tatars, the Day of Midwife.

Witch vs. Charmer

Witches, the performers of black magic, are persons who have the stigma of evil that they invoke in their practices.

Therefore witches have physical defects (humpbacked, cripple, blind, disfigured) or have jobs that come into contact with elements that obviate the normal (grave digger).

Instruments used by witches consist in: knife, sickle, ax, scythe, plow, horseshoe, skewer left, sieve, arrow made by 9 iron needles stolen from 9 houses, dust from an ancient and new tomb, a hanging rope, the little finger of the dead, rabbit feet,  weasel skins, skulls.

Favorite places for witchcraft are cemeteries, carrefours located in the woods, swamps, abandoned churches, the places haunted by demons and undead.

Witch -  White Magic vs. Black Magic (2009 - Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum of Tulcea)

Witch -  White Magic vs. Black Magic (2009 - Museum of Romanian Literature, Iași)

Charmers use in their practices pure objects (holy water, fragrant and medicine plants) or sacred (incense, icon, cross, Easter candles), invoking the power of God and the Virgin Mary. They utilize prayers and apocryphal texts  (Dream of Virgin Mary, Virgin’ s trip to Hell, Epistle our Lord Jesus Christ).

Generally, charmers  restore the equilibrium broken  by "the work" of witches.

The specific places are sacred (the church - objects should be blessed for 9 times or in 9 churches to have full power) or clean (home, clearing/glade).

Charmer -  White Magic vs. Black Magic (2009 -  Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum of Tulcea ) 

Charmer -  White Magic vs. Black Magic (2009 - Museum of Romanian Literature, Iași) 

Divination represents the magical practices to guess and predict the future. In a variety of forms, divination is prevalent in all traditional cultures of the world.

Some forms of divination are:

• Chirognomy - guessing by the hand form

• Palmistry - palm reading of lines

• Shell scrying 

• Pessomancy - using 41 beans

This is an incantation (in Romanian) used in pessomancy:

Patruzeci şi unul de bobi număraţi,/ Patruzeci şi unul de fraţi,/ Să alergaţi,/ Sa căutaţi,/ Pe unde ştiţi/ Şi să-mi ghiciţi,/ Aşa cum a ştiut plugarul să vă semene/ Şi voi aţi ştiut să încolţiţi,/ Să creşteţi şi să vă-nmulţiţi,/ Aşa să-mi arătaţi/ Voi patruzeci şi unul de bobi descântaţi,/ Totul drept şi adevărat/ Cum Dumnezeu v-a binecuvântat,/ De drum, de gând, de bucurie,/ De vesti bune ce-o sa fie,/ De bine să iasă, bobi sositori şi bucurie-n prag,/ Iar de nu, să vă risipiţi câte unul şi doi, să nu se aleagă nimic din voi.”/ În numele Tatălui, al Fiului, al Sfântului Duh, Amin!

White magic vs. Black Magic

Do you believe in magic, witches and charmers, Evil Eye or the Foretold One? In the traditional village, people believed that everything is the result of the fight between Good and Evil. A disease was considered an evil spirit, the objects could have powers to cure, to kill or to change the destiny. Even today, in some villages you can find an old woman who knows the incantation for cure the cancer (descântecul de rac) and in St. Andrew' s Night girls still can dream the future husband, after they eat a very salt bread.  

White magic, as a positive form, uses in the rituals objects considered pure or sacred,  counteracting generally the black magic effects. Normal practices have divination purposes (guess of future or fate), prophylactic (incantations for hex /the evil eye, disease) or try to relent nature and destiny, to assure the harvest).

The most important functions of the white magic are: the protective function (prevention or removal of hazards, diseases) and productive function (success in the event of creative or productive activities).

Black or dark magic, as a evil form, uses impure objects, focusing in symbolic manner the negative energies. The evil generated can take various forms: misfortune, diseases, reducing of harvest, theft of manna, death.

The main practices are: spell, charm, hex (by power of evil look) and curse (by the word and magic formula), directed either individual or community.

Although in black magic exists the erotic component, it is negative (chasing rivals into death, a magical binding of the lover against this will) and most often fatal.

Talismans and amulets are those objects with apotropaic functions, being endowed with a magical or sacral force, able to overcome evil, to prevent aggression of negative forces. 

Magic functions have a range of household objects (ax, scythe, knife, harrow, horseshoe, bell), sacred objects of the Christian religion (cross, holy water, incense, candles, icon), plants (hazel,  garlic, holy willow three, basil, wormwood), musical instruments (whistle/pipe, horn).

Aspect from the exhibition White Magic vs. Black Magic (2009 - Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum of Tulcea)

I am innocent

A se uita ca viţelul la poartă nouă (literal translation To look like the calf at the new gate) is a Romanian expression similar to the English expression - To look queer at the sun - or the French one - Être comme une poule qui a trouvé un couteau. 

The patterns of popular expressiveness allow recombination and substitutions, funny and spectacular innovations, contextualized in comic scenarios, mainly with animal characters, as indicative of ignorance or incompetence. For instance: To look like turkey hen on woods, like frog on barrier, like cat on calendar etc.

...& Sky

The most beautiful sky that you have seen in your life is where you feel like home. Blue, cloudy or clear, dark or sunny...

Mostly sky is identified with Heaven, place of Divinity or Hope. Far and near at the same time, sky was a limit, a question and an ideal.

 

Stable & Sky

Stable detail & Sky

Apotropaic skull & Sky

Hay & Sky

Hay & Sky

Rush & Sky

Old roof detail & Sky

Roof detail & Sky

Reed roof detail & Sky

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