The "custom" label is given to the arcan by the fact that it has a rite of passage character: like the căluşari, it is to be danced only by boys old enough to marry (dressed in traditional Romanian costumes).
Taking part in the dance is sometimes also called "a lua cu forţa" ("to forcefully summon" or "to grab"), or a arcăni ("to lasso") - it has an etymological parallel in the favored method of conscription in the defense forces of Early Modern Wallachia and Moldavia, a lua cu arcanul ("to lasso with the arkan"), whereby boys were selectively kiddnapped by the authorities.
The reason for this apparent "violent" character of the dance is its initiating value, of entering into the next step of the social pyramid, by which boys become marriageable young men.
All of these requirements and means of organising the groups of young men are related to the so-called Lex Antiqua Valachorum (the ancient Vlach law).
At Humor Monastery (see Painted churches of northern Moldavia) built in 1530, there is a fresco which shows arcan dancers accompanied by a lăutar.