Ursitoare

The three Ursitoare, in Romanian mythology, are supposed to appear three nights after a child's birth to determine the course of its life. They are similar to the Greek Fates or Moirai.^[1]

The Fates to baptize is part of Romanian tradition hundreds of years. Note the last few years "a physical materialization too" of this tradition through the show presented during the party name.

Names[]

Fieldwork in the Oltenia region found dialectal variations of their names: ursătóri(le), ursitóri(le), ursătoáre(le).^[2]

Role[]

According to ethnologist Pauline Schullerus (fr), the Ursitoari comes at night to the newborn's cradle and weaves their fate.^[3]

Parallels[]

Scholarship indicates that similar beings (a trio of women that allot men's fates) also exist in South Slavic folklore, among the Serbians, Macedonians, Croatians, Bulgarians and Montenegrinians.^[4]

References[]

Notes[]

^ Ristic 2008, pp. 44.
^ Golant, Natalia. "Reprezentări mitologice ale românilor din Oltenia (pe baza cercetărilor de teren efectuate în judeţele Vâlcea, Gorj şi Mehedinţi)" [Mythological Representations of Romanians of Oltenia (Based on Field Researches Undertaken in the Counties of Vâlcea, Gorj and Mehedinţi)]. In: Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei [The Yearly Review of the Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia]. p. 97.
^ Schullerus, Pauline. Rumänische Volksmärchen aus dem mittleren Harbachtal. Bukarest: Kriterion, 1977. pp. 357-362.
^ Golant, Natalia. "Reprezentări mitologice ale românilor din Oltenia (pe baza cercetărilor de teren efectuate în judeţele Vâlcea, Gorj şi Mehedinţi)" [Mythological Representations of Romanians of Oltenia (Based on Field Researches Undertaken in the Counties of Vâlcea, Gorj and Mehedinţi)]. In: Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei [The Yearly Review of the Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia]. p. 97.

Bibliography[]

Ristic, Radomir (2008), "The great spirits of fate", The Crooked Path, Pendraig Publishing (2), ISBN 9780979616891