Astrology, horoscopes, tarot, divination, archaic beliefs and even witchcraft continue to fascinate many Romanians. A debate on social media shows why such practices are still embraced by much of the population and how they are viewed in today’s society.
A message published on social networks by a Romanian woman, intrigued by the popularity of certain beliefs such as astrology, healing crystals, numerology or conspiracy theories, caused numerous reactions.
The author of the post on the Reddit platform reported that she encountered such beliefs in urban women with higher education and corporate jobs.
He asked the Romanians if it was about culturally inherited superstitions, about the influence of online groups or about people’s need to find explanations and control in uncertain situations.
“I’ve heard horror stories from girlfriends about accusations of witchcraft against unwanted brides, I’ve seen examples online of various women’s groups dominated by conspiracy theories, from the idea that vitamin K should not be injected into newborns to the current against C-sections. I’ve had relatives try to read the future in other women’s coffee grounds.” the woman wrote.
She added that she doesn’t want to generalize, knowing that not all women believe in such things, but has frequently observed practices without scientific evidence or ideas that contradict medicine.
“I don’t understand if it’s something cultural here, to be more superstitious, or what could explain so many supernatural, non-ironic currents of thought among women. I don’t want to judge and I don’t want to bring up the topic of religion either, I just want to better understand what’s going on around me. Is something also true for men and maybe I don’t see it so clearly?”, concluded this.
Many Internet users tried to answer the Romanian woman’s dilemma. Some have argued that such beliefs arise from people’s need to find simple explanations and a sense of control in an unpredictable life, and others have shown that the phenomenon is not specific only to women or only to Romanians.
“It’s easier to place responsibility for your life and what happens to you on an external force you can’t control, than to accept your role as the ‘driver’ of your own life and go to therapy, eventually,” another woman commented on Reddit.
One panelist argued that the difference might be more about perception and how women and men talk about such topics. She pointed out that many women use horoscopes, tarot or crystals as a form of entertainment without making important decisions based on them.
“I don’t have any women around who believe in tarot, zodiacs, witches, but I know a couple who use horoscopes for small talk or have a deck of tarot cards that they bring out for wine with the girls. I have, however, had male colleagues who genuinely believed in magic, one even claimed he didn’t know who cast spells on him and went to a priest to break them, and others explained their bad working relationships with certain colleagues through horoscopes. Programmers all, theoretically rational people”she wrote.
Daily rituals for relaxation
A young woman who described herself as a corporatist stated that, for her, crystals and horoscopes do not have a deep meaning, but are small rituals that make her routine more pleasant.
“I don’t have any logical reason, I just like to read my horoscope with coffee and look at my sparkling stones when I come home. It’s simple things that make my life a little more “magical” and take me out of the monotony.” she said.
Another commenter explained that she uses tarot as a reflection exercise, not to find out her future.
“Objectively, tarot isn’t a tool for reading the future; it’s something that makes you think a little harder about a situation that affects you. What you tend to ‘read’ is simply a conclusion you’d probably come to anyway if you meditated for 30 minutes. Like the zodiac, the cards are pretty general, and the thing you hang on to from the interpretation is the thing that pushes you.” showed this.
Other commentators, however, have distinguished between such practices viewed as entertainment or personal ritual and beliefs that may have direct effects on the health or lives of other people.
“Zodiacs and crystals are from the ‘everyone believes what they want’ series. You don’t have to agree with it or believe it yourself, but it doesn’t affect you in any way. Some people also like the placebo effect. But the fact that they start refusing vaccines and think they are smarter than any doctor is another story”transmitted another Romanian.
Superstitions, a cultural heritage of the Romanians
For centuries, Romanians were regarded as a superstitious people, whose spiritual life was dominated by religious beliefs often mixed with rituals, incantations, popular interpretations of the Bible and supernatural explanations for the happenings of everyday life. These were the means by which people tried to understand trouble, luck, disease and death, looking for answers where knowledge and rational explanations were beyond their reach.
The “devilish” image of Romanian priests, in the past centuries: “They absolve sins for a few parals, but forgive from the heart the one who shares with them a stolen sheep”
Some foreign publicists reported with amazement about the practices and beliefs found in Romanian villages in past centuries.
“Superstitious and fanatical, regardless of their quality, position and age, Romanians, men and women, still believe in apparitions, in good or evil spirits, in mysterious revelations, in visions, in a word in charlatanism. They believe and fear and remain in their beliefs and fears without wanting to find the principle and combat it. Darkness suits them better than daylight”reported Eugène Stanislas Bélanger (1814–1859), French writer and author of one of the most picturesque descriptions of Romanian society in the mid-19th century, published in the work “Trois ans de promenade en Europe et Asie”, published in Paris in 1842.
The author mentioned Romanians’ beliefs in ghosts and undead, in wandering souls and how they tried to get rid of them, calling on priests.
“Do we want to get rid of these guests, so inconvenient to many people, especially at night, when we like to sleep undisturbed? The priest undertakes this. He consecrates before you a vial of oil, no matter the quality, in which he dips a mysteriously folded paper, and hangs this paper on your head, with seven hairs taken from the forehead. In less than three weeks, thanks the remedy, the nightmare, even the most obstinate, ceases entirely. The oil and the paper had the effect of arsenic.”the author wrote.
Bélanger, however, appreciated the Romanians, whom he claimed were endowed with a remarkable intelligence, with a fine, seductive and picturesque spirit, but also with an uncommon flexibility of character.
Biblical Teachings, Reinterpreted
Bartolomeo Geymet, Sardinian consul in the Romanian Principalities, published his impressions of Romanian realities in a work from 1838, shortly after his installation in Galați.
“The people are very superstitious, the priests are, in general, ignorant, very few are educated. These populations have religious practices that are related to ancient paganism. On the days of commemoration of the dead, they place different foods on the graves of their relatives, which the priests pick up, of course, at the right time and place”wrote the consul.
Joseph Caillat, a well-known French physician in the mid-19th century, spent several years traveling in the Romanian Principalities. He reported on the way Romanians tried to treat each other.
“The people believe in all kinds of sorcerers, spirits, undead, etc. They have a lot of superstitious practices. In order to feel reconciled, people end up making signs of the cross, prostrating themselves in front of images, kissing them, lighting candles in front of the favorite saint”the doctor reported.
Author of several collections of traditions and myths of the Romanian people, Tudor Pamfile observed, at the beginning of the 20th century, that the Romanians attributed unusual attributes to the saints and added numerous fantastic stories and superstitions to their celebrations.
“These popular creations overwhelm the texts and teachings of the Christian religion, which remain almost drowned, with all the officiality they enjoy. The Romanian people, like all Christian peoples, are Christians almost only in name, by practicing a few signs, which they often don’t even realize”. says the ethnologist.
The strange place where the shepherds are afraid to stay at night. Beliefs about undead still give Romanians chills
The Romanian people, captive to superstitions
One of the oldest collections of superstitions and popular beliefs of the Romanians, published in 1888 by the folklorist George Ioneanu, also offered testimonies about such customs. Here are some of the superstitions reproduced in “Small collection. Superstitions of the Romanian people, collected by George S. Ioneanu”:
“The pregnant woman shall not eat two apples grown in a tree stuck together, for she will give birth to twins.”
“Pregnant women should read the Dream of the Mother of God every day, because they will give birth easily and the babies will live.”
“The woman who knows she is pregnant and does not tell when asked will give birth to a mute child.”
“If a child cries continuously for a week after its birth, it is a sign that it is haunted by unclean spirits.”
“Children who are not baptized and cry a lot, through that cry they ask for baptism.”
“The little child should not look in the mirror until he is a year old, because he blinds himself.”
“On the wedding day, the bride and groom should not eat meat, so that their bodies will be light, they will have good luck and live many years.”
“When a wedding goes to the church for the wedding, they try not to meet another on the way, to see the brides. Because one of them dies or the marriages break up.”
“When a person is about to die, the windows and the door are left open, so that the soul can escape.”
“A dead person is guarded so that no cat passes over him, otherwise he becomes an undead and everyone in the house dies.”
“Whoever sleeps on Saint George’s Day will take the sleep of the lambs.”
“At Christmas, when the pig is slaughtered, its head is first put into the house, snout first, so that the work goes well and there are pigs.”
“When any dog howls, either he or his master will perish.”
“It is not good to photograph someone, because this takes away the strength of the body”
