Zână (plural zâne; zînă and zîne, d̦ână and d̦âne in old spellings) is the Romanian equivalent of the Greek Charites or the fairy godmother.
These characters make positive appearances in fairy tales and mostly reside in the woods.
They give life to fetuses in utero and bestow upon them great gifts like the art of dancing, beauty, kindness, and luck.
In folk tales, it is told not to upset them because they also have the power to do bad things or put a curse on the wrongdoer.
[citation needed] The word zână comes from the Roman goddess Diana (as does Astur-Leonese xana).