Folklore of Romania

Second, for a long time learned culture was governed by official and social commands and developed around courts of princes and boyars, as well as in monasteries.

[1]: 11–12 [2] In the majority of versions, before the earth existed, a boundless ocean called Apa Sâmbetei was the abode of God and the Devil, seen as master and servant rather than equals.

Upon deciding to create the Earth, God sent the Devil to bring a handful of clay from the ground of the World Ocean in his holy name.

It has also given rise to the Romanian saying până ajungi la Dumnezeu, te mănâncă sfinții ("before you reach God, the saints will eat you").

[1]: 12 Even after Christian imagery and symbolism became part of Romanian culture, Mother Earth is identified as the consort of God, the heavenly Father.

Earthquakes are frequently attributed to the earth slipping due to the Devil's constant gnawing at these pillars, which are rebuilt by God and his angels in times of fasting.

[3] According to Christian calendar, Romanians from Banat, Transylvania, Bucovina and Maramureș counties celebrate Easter of Blajini on first Monday after St. Thomas Sunday.

This other Earth is imagined as a mirror image of the planet, and as a home to creatures called Blajini [blaˈʒinʲ] ("gentle/kind-hearted ones"), sometimes given the name Rohmani [ˈroh.manʲ] in Bucovina.

It is for this reason that Romanians eat dyed eggs and let the shells flow downstream, from there they believe they will get to the Apa Sâmbetei, and from there to the Blajini.

The ethnograph Marian Simion Florea wrote : Blajini are fictitious beings, incarnations of dead children not baptized who live at the end of Earth, nearby The Holy water (of Saturday).

Waters overflowing and mountains collapsing are both linked to these earthquakes, which are mainly caused by lack of faith, which accelerates the crumbling of the World Pillars.

Three saints (usually in the persons of Enoch, John and Elijah) are said to come to Earth to unveil the Devil's attempts to destroy the world, whereupon they shall be killed by decapitation.

[1]: 67–68 Sources form Moldova and Bucovina also speak of a great army led by the emperor Constantine, which will conquer all the world's states, and kill everyone save for a few pure ones, which will then repopulate the Earth.

Sentimental music, however, is the most valued, and Romanians consider their doina (a sad song either about one's home or about love, composed like an epic ballad) unique in the world.

Maria Tănase is considered to be one of the greatest Romanian folk singers and today Grigore Leșe and Taraful Haiducilor are two of the most famous musicians.

Romanians have had, from time immemorial, a myriad of customs, tales and poems about love, faith, kings, princesses, and witches.

Ethnologists, poets, writers and historians have tried in recent centuries to collect and to preserve tales, poems, ballads and have tried to describe as well as possible the customs and habits related to different events and times of year.