St Andrew’s
Night is for sure the most mysterious and magic filled Christian holiday. He is the patron Saint of Romania. According to ethnologists, St. Andrew’s Night has ancient origins. It was the period when Dacians celebrated the New Year, known as The Dionysian Pastorals. The end of November was the holiday of Romans Saturnalia. too.
Many say that the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is
at its thinnest on this night. This allows the spirits of that dark unknown place to
more freely walk among us
It’s
also known as the sleepless night, the night when nobody goes out, the wolves’ night, of the zombies, of skies
opening, the night of the spells or the night of the living dead. Zombies and
vampires kidnap people so nobody takes the risk to go out.
It’s the
moment when at midnight the animals’ tongues are unlocked and all talk one with
the other, but you need courage to listen to them. If you brace up and keep
quiet you can find out where treasures are hidden, the names of still free
criminals and many other secret things.
But you can’t tell such secrets to other people, otherwise you turn into a
living dead. Old people say that
daylight appears nine blinks sooner so that all evil should crawl back
to their places in the other world. During these 9 blinks the skies open and
the angels come down on earth to put the ghosts, vampires and ghouls on the
run.
We have no
Halloween where I live, I mean Romania, even if it’s Dracula’s country. However,
St. Andrew’s Night, due to its beliefs and traditions, may be called a Romanian Halloween.
30th
November is St Andrew’s Day in Romania,
a day full of symbolism as St Andrew, one of the 12 Apostles is considered the
one who made the Romanians Christians. But more powerful in traditions and superstitions is the
preceding night.
St. Andrew’s
Night is a magic night when people have to do certain things to keep the evil
away from them. St. Andrew’s Night is in some way the equivalent of Halloween. It has a lot of traditions and superstitions.
Ghosts come out in the human world, wolves speak the human language and predict horrible things. People who are
attacked this night by evil spirits will
turn into werewolves. To protect
themselves against evil, people can use garlic and spells.
Here are several customs, typical to rural communities, on this special night:
To get rid of evil spirits, and prevent them entering the house, villagers grease
the doors and threshold with crushed garlic. They also use garlic to protect
the stables, too.
Mothers draw
small crosses on the palms of their small children to protect them.
The young
maidens who want to get married put several leaves of basil under their
pillows. Or, another custom if they want
to see their fated husband – the girls should stay naked between two mirrors,
at midnight, holding two burning candles in their hands. They will see in the
mirror behind them scenes of their future life, including the face of their
future groom.
Housewives
turn all the glasses and cups with the mouth down to prevent evil settling
inside them.
The weather this
night predicts how the coming winter will be. If the sky is clear, the winter
will be mild with less snow and warmer
days.
On St. Andrew’s Night, (29th to 30th November), when the sky opens and
the witches recharge their powers, is the best moment to find the answers of
past mysterious and unsolved enigmas. It implies people taking part in an odd
ritual in a graveyard. Then, in a basin with water, over which
an incantation was uttered, they will see everything that happened.
