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The 40 Martyrs (Mucenici)
Photo: Wikipedia |
The celebration of spring in Romania starts on March 9
through April 23. It coincides with the Orthodox tradition honoring the forty
martyred Saints (Mucenici) at Lake Sevastia. The forty Saints were Christian
soldiers employed by the pagan Roman Emperor Licinius around 320 A.D. The governor
of Armenia, Agricola, who found out about their faith, forced them to pray to
his pagan gods. Because they refused and did not give up their Christian faith,
the forty soldiers were jailed for eight days, stoned, and finally sentenced to
death by freezing in Lake Sevastia.
During the night, the lake warmed miraculously, the ice melted, and forty
crowns of light descended from Heaven above the soldiers. Taken alive from the lake
in the morning, the emperor crushed their feet and left them to die. Their remains were burned and their ashes were
thrown into the lake. http://www.romaniajournal.ro/march-9-the-romanian-tradition-of-the-40-martyrs/
The folklorist Simion Florea Marian described the legend
from Fratautul Vechi, Moldova, which actually mentions forty-four Saints, the
exact number of days between March 9 and April 23.
In honor of their sacrifice, the Orthodox Church celebrates the
forty Saints with special sermons across the country and the tradition of a
special food called “mucenici.” March 9 coincides with the beginning of spring
when all rural communities bring the plow out which is repaired by the village
blacksmith, cleaned and purified by fire, while the farmers decide when and how
they are going to start breaking ground for seeding the soil. Plows are then
placed in front of each house, declaring the beginning of the agricultural
season open.
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"Macinici" as Mom prepared them
Photo: Wikipedia |
In southern Romania named Muntenia, where I was born and
raised, women cook dough dumplings cut into shapes of eight and boiled in syrup
with nuts, sugar, and cinnamon. Mom gave away “mucenici” or “macinici” for the
souls of the dead while others did it as prayers for an abundant harvest. Women
from the regions of Moldova, Dobrogea, and Banat bake “mucenici” pastries in
the shape of eight in the oven and serve them with honey and ground nuts. According
to Ramona Ciortescu, the regions of Maramures and Crisana do not celebrate “mucenici.”
Why the shape of eight? Perhaps it is a reminder of the eight days of jail and
a stylized shape of the human form of those forty martyrs who died for their Christian
faith.
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Baked "mucenici"
Photo: Wikipedia |
Rural secular superstitions intertwine with Christianity, celebrating
the end of “old ladies” capricious and cold winter days and welcoming the
warmer and fertile spring days of “old men.” Around the country rituals of
chasing winter and frigid days away abound -- striking the ground with sticks, repeating
incantation verses, and a peculiar children’s game of jumping over fires, a
symbol of purification. To this day, my Mom has a scar on her right leg with
snow-white hair, when she burned herself as a child jumping over such a superstitious
fire ritual.
Copyright: Ileana Johnson 2015
Scandinavian countries, and their immigrants to North America, celebrate May 1st by hanging little baskets of posies on neighbors's doors. I never thought of the origins of this custom until reading about the Romanian Macenici tradition. The Macenici is particularly interesting with its origins in Roman history and the legend of the miracle of the warmed lake water. Thanks for sharing, Ileana.
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting to know, Carol. Thanks for sharing the Scandinavian tradition.
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