Water rituals

• Caloian

•The Epiphany Day

•Rain Caller (Paparuda)

•Iordan

"Caloianul" is a figure used in Romanian village rite rainmaker. He looks like a man and it is adorned with flowers. 

On summer time, women and children from the dryness regions gather and model a "Caloian“(clay puppet). They invoke the rain and her advantages through the procession they will take part. Everybody gather then at the border of the village. They also can invite the priest of the village and together they adorn a young tree. They use fresh fruit pretzels and candies. After that all group simulate the funeral of the "Caloian". First they walk this one on the dry fields. In the end they bury the "Caloian" throwing" it into a river. The waters of the river must carry it far away, bringing thus rains.

                      

Caloian

In other Romanian regions dancing and singing accompany this ritual. For several times the invoked rain is appearing even at day or two after this ritual.

On popular belief it is said that only the "Caloian" has unfastened the rains. 

The Epiphany Day

It is celebrated every year, on the 6th of January (the Epiphany Day).The religious service aimed at sanctifying the waters is a custom which lived up to this day. Customs that remind us of the pre-Christian rites of initiation are sometimes related to the religious service.

On Epiphany Day, the carrying of the cross to the Danube or to another running water was another frequent custom. First the priest made a divine service in the church and on the river bank and then he threw the cross into the water.

The young men dive into the water to catch cross (Christian element), but the fact that they do it in order to prove that they have reached their manhood, leads on to the archaic rites.

A riding contest takes place on the same day and it has a similar meaning: the young men prove their manhood in contest. The winner is acknowledged as a true man and offers a treat to his competitors.

Date: Every year, on the 3rd Tuesday after Easter.

Paparuda, probably of pagan origin (the name is derived from the Slavic goddess Perperuna), is a Romanian rain ritual, performed in the spring and in times of severe drought.

The invocation of rain had an important role in the customs practiced during the after Easter interval.

"Paparuda" comprises three ceremonial parts, he birth of the goddess, the delight of the goddess and its death.   

Paparuda(Rain Caller)

PaparudaThe group of young girls (or old women) , adorned with flowers or with green branches, enters each household.

They sing for rain and they dance. Then, the host splashes them with water or they splash water among themselves.

Water splashing represents a magic gesture.

The archaic and traditional mentality considered that imitating rain was enough to make it fall. It was also considered that the "green mask" represented the spirit of the vegetation. People thought that wearing "green masks" (made of flowers or leaves) would influence the regeneration of the

vegetation and the richness of crops. In the past the girls who sang usually were Gypsies because they tended to sing in very low voices. A study showed their voices generated a certain vibration that somehow affected the water vapors and caused it to rain

Iordan

It is a custom from young people and it takes place on the 7th of January, on Saint John's Day. Groups of young people go from one house to another and raise up the persons they meet especially children and young girls. The chief of the group sprinkles them with wet sweet basil in holy water.

Signs that predict the rain in the folk tradition

· in the morning there are clouds on the east;

· the sun or the moon have bright haloes;

· the moon rises surrounded by clouds;

· the Milky Way (Traian’s Way) can be clearly seen;

· the morning star is dark;

· the rainbow appears in the morning ;

· the wind blows from the south;

· the clouds go in the opposite direction of the wind;·

                        

• it will rain at the wedding of those who eat directly of the bowl; the same will happen for those who don’t feed well their cats and for the maidens who talk in the porch of the house (in the last case, it will also rain at their funeral); • if someone drowns, a big rain will fall;

•it will rain if the hens are still awake when the evening comes;

•it will rain if the pig is restless, takes straws in his mouth and moves them around;

According to the folk tales, the sunny rain falls when a maiden or an old woman gets pregnant.

The rains that last for long and fall in many regions in the same times appear when someone commits suicide or when a man is killed or when a vampire-woman dies.

According to other beliefs, Saint Ilie walks in a cart which has nails on the wheels, in order not to fall from the sky. These nails drill the sky and the water flows to earth taking the form of the rain.

In order to stop the rain that has lasted for too long, the priests hold liturgy in church, they ring the bells or they throw the main icon of the church in a well .

About rain in the folk tales