This time I won’t write about a nice place in Romania, I will tell u a bit about Romanian traditions.
Saint Andrew is a bit like Halloween, except there are no candies involved, but we have garlic:).
Saint Andrew traditions
Saint Andrew is on 30 November. It is an old Dacic holiday, like I said, a Romanian Halloween.
It is also called the day of the wolf. This night, it is said that Saint Andrew shares food with the wolves.
On this day, the wolf can also move his stiff neck and move even more agile than usual, and no pray will escape.
On the day of Saint Andrew, people should not work or do anything around the house as they could bring wolf attacks to themselves or to their homes if they did.
People on this day grease their doors and their fences with garlic to protect themselves from wolves or evil spirits.
On Saint Andrew night, it is said that animals start to talk, but those who will hear them will soon die.
On 29 November, the sky opens in the night before Saint Andrew, and all the spirits are free. On this night, the spirits start to fight or dance at crossroads.
They are the ghosts of the spirits that died. For some reason, they didn’t cross to the dead world.
There are also the alive ghosts. People that are still alive that in the night before Saint Andrew they leave their bodies and go fighting with the ghosts of the dead ones
The ghosts are very dangerous if they don t have with whom to fight, then they come to their closer relatives and start to call them out. They can take their relatives’ lives and bring sickness and hail.
The ghosts are traveling on land and on the water on broomsticks, on a barrel, or in a barrel.
If they find in people gardens, gardens tools, they get them to go to the crossroads and use them in fights. That’s why women always take care that all the garden tools are not left outside this night.
Saint Andrew’s Night is the perfect night for witchcraft. It is also the perfect night for finding the future or for young women to find the chosen one.
One of the rituals is to make a cake, and the young woman brings water for the cake with her mouth. They make the cake just from salt, flour, and water. The salt and flour are measured in a nutshell.
After the cake is baked, they will eat it, and they will wait that while they are sleeping, they will dream of their chosen one.
Also, on the night of Saint Andrew, people put wheat on a plate with soil and some water. If the grain grows beautiful until the new year, the following year will be a very good one full of luck.
On this night also people can predict how the weather will be:
If there is a full moon and a clear sky, the winter will be with the thaw.
If there is a full moon and the sky is dark or snowing or raining, the winter will be long and harsh.
So now that u know a bit about the traditions, u can pick a clove of garlic and grease your doors and windows so no ghost will come to say hello to you. I guess wolfs would also stay away even more in the city 🙂
If u want to know your future, u know what u have to do.