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 most similar to the Roman Parcae, the Latin equivalent of the Greek Fates or Moirai. [1] [2]
The Fates appearing to baptize children has been part of Romanian tradition for hundreds of years. In recent years there has been a "physical materialization" too of this tradition through the show presented during the name party.
Their most common names are ursitori and ursitoare, [3] but variations appear locally, like ursători, ursoaie, ursońi, urzoaie. [4] Similarly, in the Oltenia region, they are dialectally known as ursătóri(le), ursitóri(le), ursătoáre(le). [5] The great variety in their names, according to Rolf Wilhelm Brednich, attests the "ancient popularity" of the belief. [6]
The Ursitoari come at night to the newborn's cradle, three nights after their birth, and weave their fate. [7] [8] [9] [10] They equal three beings, but are variably described as three girls, three virgins, three sisters, three women, or three apparitions. [11]
In Moldova, the ursitoare are good fairies clad in white and equal three: the ursitoarea, who holds a spindle and a loom; the soarta, who weaves the thread, and the moartea, who cuts the thread. [12]
Scholarship indicates that similar beings (a trio of women that allot men's fates) also exist in South Slavic folklore, among the Serbians, Macedonians, [13] Slovenes, [14] Croatians, Bulgarians and Montenegrinians. [15] [16]
In Bulgaria (also among Bulgarians in Moldova), there is the belief in орисници ("orisnitsi"), three women that come at night to bless the newborn child and decree their fate. They are sometimes described as elderly women wearing black, or three women of differing ages. [17]
Iuga of Moldavia was Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia from November 1399 to June 1400. According to one hypothesis, he may have been the Lithuanian prince George Koriatovich. Other hypotheses posit him as the son of Roman I of Moldavia (1391–1394) and an unknown wife, possibly of Lithuanian extraction from descendants of Karijotas, confused with the Lithuanian prince because of the similar name and background. The nickname "the Crippled" can be found only in the chronicle of Putna Monastery, drafted in the first years of the 16th century, but its origins are unknown. The reasons why he has remained in history with this nickname are not known precisely.
Io is the contraction of a title used mainly by the royalty in Moldavia and Wallachia, preceding their names and the complete list of titles. First used by the Asenid rulers of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the particle is the abbreviation of theophoric name Ioan (John), which comes from the original Hebrew Yohanan, meaning "God has favored". Io appeared in most documents, as issued by their respective chancelleries, since the countries' early history, but its frequency and relative importance among the princely attributes varied over time. Its usage probably dates back to the foundation of Wallachia, though it spread to Moldavia only in the 15th century. In more informal contexts, Romanians occasionally applied the title to benefactors or lieges from outiside the two countries, including John Hunyadi and George II Rákóczi.
Ovidiu Papadima was a Romanian literary critic, folklorist, and essayist.
The folklore of Romania is the collection of traditions of the Romanians. A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture, determined by two factors. First, the rural character of the Romanian communities resulted in an exceptionally vital and creative traditional culture. Folk creations were the main literary genre until the 18th century. They were both a source of inspiration for cultivated creators and a structural model. 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.
Ion Ustian is a Moldovan politician.
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Silviu Berejan was a Romanian philologist, lexicologist and linguist from Bessarabia, one of the titular members of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, the romance linguistic specialty and Slavic, principal scientist at the Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova.
Ștefan Ciobanu was a Moldovan historian and academician, author of some important works about ancient Romanian literature, Romanian culture in Basarabia under Russian occupation, Bessarabian demography, fervent advocate of the introduction of the Romanian language in the schools of Bessarabia, vice-president of the Romanian Academy between 1944 and 1948. He served as Minister of Education (1917–1918) of the short-lived Moldavian Democratic Republic.
Dumitru Matcovschi was a writer from Moldova who was a member of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova. He was a founder of the Popular Front of Moldova.
Ion Ciocanu was a Moldovan literary critic.
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The Ursitory are a group of three fairies or female spirits of fate in the Balkanic and Romani folklore. Two of them are good spirits, while one tries to harm people. In Romani folklore, their queen is Matuya, who makes use of gigantic birds called the Charana.
Victor Spinei is Emeritus Professor of history and archaeology at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, member and vice president of the Romanian Academy. He is a specialist on the history of Romania and the Romanian people in the Early and High Middle Ages, the history of migratory peoples in Eastern and Southeastern Europe during this period, and the production and circulation of cult objects in Eastern and Southeastern Europe during the Middle Ages.
The Paharnic was a historical Romanian rank, one of the non-hereditary positions ascribed to the boyar aristocracy in Moldavia and Wallachia. It was the local equivalent of a cup-bearer or cześnik, originally centered on pouring and obtaining wine for the court of Moldavian and Wallachian Princes. With time, it became a major administrative office and, in Wallachia, also had a lesser military function. The retinue of such boyars, usually called Păhărnicei, was in both countries also a private army.
Rozhanitsy, narecnitsy, and sudzhenitsy are invisible spirits or deities of fate in the pre-Christian religion of the Slavs. They are related to pregnancy, motherhood, marriage and female ancestors, and are often referenced together with Rod. They are usually mentioned as three together, but sometimes up to 9 together, of whom one was a "queen" or singular. They are related to Dola, but it is not known on what terms. In Poland they were worshipped as zorze (auroras).
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On 18 September 2022, protests in Moldova began in the capital city of Chișinău, demanding the resignation of the country's pro-Western government, amid an energy crisis causing rising natural gas prices and inflation, caused in part by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
... cele trei Ursitoare din mitofolclorul românesc, echivalentul autohton al Moirelor grecesti sau al Parcelor romane.[... the three Ursitoare of Romanian folklore, autochthonous equivalent to the Greek Moirai and Roman Parcae.]
... the goddesses of fate (Ursitoare) who preside over the birth of each child and assign its destiny ...
The demonic beings that designate the destiny at the birth of a child are known in Macedonia as narechnitsi, sudienitsi, urechnici or rechenitsi. A characteristic feature of the narechnitsi is their anthropomorphized appearance. They are females — three women, maidens or sisters ...
... the goddesses of fate (Ursitoare) who preside over the birth of each child and assign its destiny [are] present among the Slovenes of northern Yugoslavia. There, the Sojenice or Rojenice decide a child's fate and the time and manner of its death.
71. Greek moira, Serbian, Croatian, and Bulgarian urisnici, nerusnici, and sudnice or sudjenice, Slovenian rojenice, Romanian ursitoare, ursaie, Albanian fatite, or fatije, and others.