de Gina S.
We often observe that texts recorded by ethnographers and historians as incantations are generally conceived in the form of rhyming verses, which makes us associate this type of creation with poetry and music. However, there are also many incantations where the words do not adhere to rhymes, so the aesthetic particularities of this practice are somewhat related to the intention of those who perform them. The words which make up an incantation are not always memorized in an exact form by the sorcerers who practice them, especially if we refer to those creations comprising hundreds of verses. What is retained in general terms is actually an intuitive model of symbolization based on repetitions, enumerations, analogies, or exorcisms.
Creation in secret
The incantation can thus be seen as a spontaneous creation preserved through the logic of secrecy. Some sorcerers describe learning the form of certain incantations through dreams, with the help of saints or supernatural entities, while others explain how these creations cannot be collected, due to superstitions that threaten those who spread the textual content of the incantations, or more precisely, the beliefs that the curative action of these practices is nullified once the means are divulged. In the Oltenia region, an incantation is recorded whose role is to “consolidate” the power of a newly learned incantation, in a ritual that required the enchanter to go near a willow tree and utter: “As this willow has taken root in the earth, so may my incantation take root.” (Candrea, 1999, 334)
Whispering an incantation, reciting a poem, or performing a song are distinct experiences that share a crucial aspect. All produce an environment which influences, in one form or another, the sensory activity of any subject. The pronunciation of certain words stirs different emotions, and the repetition of verbal formulas, which brings associations for any aspect of affective life, fixes the memory of a specific model of expression. Eugen D. Neculau, a researcher from the last century of the villages in northern Moldova, considered that it was not by chance that most incantations were created in verse. “Poetry is memorized and transmitted more easily” and, at the same time, leaves room for the enchanter to improvise the form and bring “substantive additions.” (Neculau, 2018, 144) Thus, the “musicality of verse” has more impact on a subject than the “monotony of prose” and becomes an element that strengthens confidence in the power of the ritual and thus favors the autosuggestion of healing (Ibidem). Such mental process is essential for the curative action.
Etymology and Functions
Ovidiu Bîrlea defines the incantation, unlike spell, charm, “făcătură”, “cotătură” – which in this case denote “the totality of practices performed for a magical or medical purpose (most often magic-medical)”, as being “only the literal text pertaining to it”, but also draws attention to the permeability of the terms, through the fact that the act of enchanting (“descântat”) comes to indicate the totality of certain practices and texts. Bîrlea mentions the necessity of supplementing the oral formula with the gestures and mimicry of the enchantress, insufficiently recorded in literature, and focuses on the opposition between song (“cântec”) and incantation (“descântec”). Thus, the incantation (with the proposed etymology *discanticum, an unattested term) names “the folkloric species unaccompanied by melody”, a fact supported by the incantations (“dance shouts”) specific to Bihor, but argues that this definition is complicated, first by the fact that these dance shouts themselves were sung according to a specific melody and then, that in southern Oltenia, incantations accompanied by melodies were collected. (Bîrlea, 1983, 7-8) Denisa-Maria Tout proposes a simpler variant, where the incantation is a species of versified folk literature that “is recited, not sung”. The fact is taken into account that, in origin, “descântec” meant song also, and over time, it evolved towards the uttered word, as the associated practices became less widespread. (Tout, 2018, 190)
The etymology of the term itself is unclear. Bîrlea speculates on the subject: de+ex+incantatio (“discantare”), an action contrary to “incantatio” (incantation, charm, spell) (Bîrlea, 1983, 8). The Latin terms “decantatio” and “discantis”, from which the Romanian word “descântec” formally originates, cannot however be translated as such, they designate a “repeated chant” in a specific Latin liturgical context. Accepting the unattested “discanticum”, which covers the same semantic “field” defined by “incantatio”, one can speculate about a semantic shift, in the Latin spoken within the newer Romanized Danubian provinces, “from ‘incanto’ to ‘decanto’ or ‘discanto'” (Shishmanian, 2011, 180), but it would remain in the realm of speculation.
By studying incantations it becomes clear that a significant part focuses on the treatment of illnesses, but they can also have various other applications – love incantations, “for fate”, for driving away entities perceived as evil, incantations against thieves, against judgment, “anti-incantations” (“de desfăcut”) meant to counteract the harmful effects of a previous spell. (Bîrlea, 1983, 11) Also, as Pamfil Bilțiu notes, following field research, he identifies incantations “for not being taken into the army”, “for not having the sheep’s milk taken”, for taking the sheep out and constituting flocks, “for carrying the lad” (“de adus feciorul pe sus”), for resolving personal disputes (“for the girl getting out of hatred”). (Bilțiu, 2024, 10)
To be effective, incantations “impose unusual conditions, circumscribing with exactitude the moment, manner, and necessary paraphernalia, alongside the literary formula which is however not obligatory in some cases.” (Bîrlea, 1983, 11) The enchanting can take place anywhere, but most often the spaces near the log on which wood is chopped, by the elder tree, the hearth, the cemetery, the threshold, the river, etc. (Bilțiu, 2024, 11) Within ethnographic literature, certain “nouminal moments” are speculated (before sunrise, midnight, fasting days, feast days, etc.), and regarding the objects used, they must have a special origin (to be stolen, found, used at a wedding, etc.) or be in a specific form or state (unused water, a new pot, dust from the eyes of saints painted in churches, etc.). Also, conditions can be imposed on the person who will enchant (regarding hygiene, fasting, etc.), as well as on the one who will be enchanted (the obligation of payment). (Bîrlea, 1983, 11-12)
According to Bilțiu, through the gestures of the person uttering the incantation, the “mytho-symbolism of the magical instruments” is associated with the “magical agents used” during the ritual. He names as examples: work tools and how they symbolize the “ritual of processed metal” (knife, pliers, axe, etc.), the magical properties of other household utensils (a dough roller, a comb, the warp beam of a loom, etc.), textile objects, branches and other plants, and food (bread, flour, honey, oil, etc.). Furthermore, natural phenomena and life forms such as the sun, the moon, water, fire, and trees are also frequently mentioned in incantations.
The role of sounds which can accompany the incantation is a less researched subject, although in other traditions the instrument and sound fulfill crucial functions, for example, the drum in shamanic practice. In the Romanian context, the discovery of ceramic rattles (objects often found in Europe) within the funeral complex at Fântânele-Dâmbu Popii (Bistrița) and at Zimnicea, could indicate an apotropaic function of them, a possible reminiscence of which may have been preserved in folk costumes like that of the Călușari, in decorations for horses, etc. (Rustoiu, 2019, 164-170)
The practice of enchanting could not remain untouched by the process of Christianization, thus the cross, incense, holy water, threads of basil from the priest’s bunch, consecrated basil, holy dew, and the sign of the cross as a gesture were introduced. Bilțiu mentions the frequent references to God, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Peter, especially in the closing formulas of the incantations, for example: “I chant the spell, / God is Holy. / Grant it, Lord, remedy and cure.”, or “The Holy and Blessed Mother, / The Queen with the instant remedy.” (Bilțiu, 2024, 11).
Curative Magic
Ion-Aurel Candrea, in his work “Folclorul medical român comparat”, drew attention to the animistic conceptions of primitive societies, where magic was integrated into the predominant ways of human thinking. According to these conceptions, the sorcerers of primitive worlds started from the fact that all life forms in their environment “acted upon one another and upon man, causing harmony or discomfort” (Candrea, 1999, 8), and their magical science, which included incantation and other practices, was meant to heal illnesses or solve various problems. Regarding the area of Romania, sorcerers, alongside “old women” and “skilled monks” (Arapu, Grădinaru, 2023, 6) represented, at least until the 18th century, the only persons specialized in healing diseases and wounds over very extensive areas.
The psychological factor was also taken into account in folk medicine, and evident examples are found in the “seizing” incantation (“descântec de apucat”), where some versions begin with formulas like: “do not be afraid”, “you have come to me, the enchantress and I will enchant you” (Idem, 8), expressions meant to control the fear of the subject confronted with the illness and to reduce other mental processes that burden them. Incantations generally aim to establish the mental comfort of those who resort to these practices, regardless of the cause, and the utilized narrativizations have the role of increasing the courage and the very power of the subject, as in the fear-dispelling incantation (“descântec de speriat”), which is uttered while extinguishing coals in “unused water”:
“They came to us, wolves / To eat sheep. / But they did not eat sheep / But our fears / From the tip of the nose / From the skin of the cheek / And from the marrow of the bone. / With the broom I will sweep them / With the knife I will cut them / With the brush I will brush them / And into water I will throw them, / Like salt to melt / The 99 fates / The 99 makings / The 99 ‘tunchinături’.” In connection with those “tunchinături”, “întunchinătură” incantations are also recorded, this being an old term that has fallen out of use, equivalent to “întâmpinătură” from “întâmpinare” (encounter), thus naming the dangers encountered by people. Like the evil eye incantation, the “întunchinătură” incantation aimed to heal a sick person who described dizziness and states of drowsiness. The enchantress/enchanter would touch the head of the sick person and make signs of the cross while uttering three times: “If enchanted from above / May the stars fall. / If enchanted from the sun / May its rays fall. / If enchanted from a grown girl / May her thighs fall / May her blood flow. / If enchanted from a woman / May her breasts crack / May her milk flow. / If enchanted from a man / May his eyes crack” (Neculau, 2018, 142)
There are many words that have fallen out of use or without an assigned meaning in the Romanian language, that compose the texts of incantations. Candrea stated that, besides those incantations created in ancient times by the inhabitants of the territories of Romania, priests and monks translated numerous incantations from Greek or Slavic, where the incomprehensible words were either simply copied and inserted into the text, or rendered in an incorrect form. (Candrea, 1999, 339) The incantations recorded in the Sălaj area gain more interest precisely due to their linguistic peculiarities. Here, the Latin base blends with the Hungarian and Slavic ones, and thus many words are used that are not widely recognized in other regions and that cover varied domains, from food and house to agriculture and clothing. (Tout, 2018, 198)
The evil eye incantation can be understood, without much difficulty, as a folk practice of a psychological nature, as it seeks to resolve aspects that, although having an obvious physical manifestation, start from a mental process, such as the thought of being looked at by a person with supposed negative intentions. Some accounts in ethnographic studies are remarkable for the way they present the mentalities of the researched populations, which can be discussed through psychoanalytic notions, taking into account how childhood experiences are correlated with adult behavior. There was a widespread belief regarding the person who could give the evil eye, that when they were a weaning child, they cried so hard that they impressed their mother, who decided to return to breastfeeding. “These, when they grow up, are evil-eyed and cast the evil eye on everything. [The villagers know them] and avoid them. That is why it is said that it is better to let a child die than to return it to the breast, because it is a curse for the village.” (Ibidem) This way of describing the gaze is not only found in old societies, and it would not seem an exaggeration to associate it with more recent currents that generate a multitude of humanistic theories starting from the same aspect, the gaze and the manner in which it delights or disturbs. Jacques Lacan insisted repeatedly on the anxiety produced by someone’s unanticipated gaze, an “unrealistic anxiety” in Freudian terms, in the sense that the passive gaze of a person becomes a gaze directed at someone only at the level of imagination. Thus, in circumstances where it does not produce pleasure, the gaze remains a “strange, symbolic contingency” that overwhelms the person being looked at, “disturbs them and reduces them to a feeling of shame” (Krips, 2010, 93).
Another popular superstition regarding the gaze that can cast the evil eye attributes this capacity to people with blue eyes, a belief that seems to have been acquired as a result of ethnic antagonisms. In the native magical repertoire, almost anyone can cast the evil eye, regardless of gender and physical traits, an exception being non-Roma persons who were breastfed by mothers belonging to the Roma ethnicity, according to beliefs from the southern area of Romania. The rule of not spreading the textual content of the incantation seems not to apply in the case of evil eye incantations, as it is often mentioned that mothers and grandmothers taught their daughters to chant against the evil eye when they started attending village dances, to protect themselves against the potential dangerous gazes of boys. (Candrea, 1999, 334) In the Maramureș area, the evil eye incantation is also known as “dry sun incantation” (“descântec de soare sec”) and is applied in the same cases, but the origin of this name lies in a particular type of physical discomfort, namely those headaches that people feel after falling asleep before sunset, “because man is not free to go to bed with the chickens, but only after the sun sets, because that’s why God left the long day on earth and to work until late evening. And if not, a headache seizes you, which they call ‘of the dry sun’.” (Tout, 2018, 192)
Studies on the history of folk medicine investigate the texts of incantations from a terminological point of view according to the particularities of the extracted data, since enchanting remained recognized as the main remedy in the entire tradition of folk therapies. (Tout, 2021, 116) Tout observes that infectious and contagious diseases like measles or smallpox, chickenpox, and scarlet fever are named in popular language and, implicitly in incantation texts, with a series of alternative terms such as “bubă”, “vărsat”, “fapt”, “mărin”, occasionally also “joluniță” in the north of Sălaj county, a term composed by crossing the words “joludă” (slight inflammation) and “aluniță” (mole). (Idem, 117) The researcher brings back into attention on this occasion the statements of V. Bologa in the work “Despre vrăji, doftoroaie și leacuri băbești” (“About Spells, Folk Healers and Old Wives’ Remedies”), published in 1961, in which he showed the significant contributions of folk medicine and magic to the development of scientific medicine, where the experience of simple people proved to be essential. (Idem, 122).
Emphasizing the effect and not the cause, the word “bubă” designates within incantations different problems derived largely from inflammations, thus it can be translated as toothache, or headache and wound, among others. In Oltenia and Banat, texts are recorded where “buba” designates both smallpox and chickenpox, while scarlet fever is distinguished as “the evil buba” (“buba rea”). Gabriela-Violeta Adam stated that in southeastern Transylvania scarlet fever was called “bubat”, in the center and northeast of the region it was “fapt”, and in central Muntenia, southern Crișana, eastern Transylvania, Bucovina, northern, central and southwestern Basarabia, the form “vărsat” circulated for the same disease. (Idem, 121) Alternatively, scarlet fever is also called in popular language: angina, severe pestilence, from making, ember, rash, great rash, wind rash, fire, living fire, fire-affliction, throat swelling, peeling, inflammation, rash, seals, pimples, smallpox, death, şcarlát (from “şcarlatină”/ scarlet fever, and vărsat), typhus or swelling. A “bubă” incantation that was practiced at night, “by the moon”, when the sick person was undressed and the sorcerer or sorceress blew over the affected parts of the body and made signs of the cross, sounded like this:
“Wandering bubă, / Filthy bubă, / Do not lengthen like the road, / Do not widen like the pond, / If you have settled until now, / Do not develop, / Do not fester, / But turn back.” (Idem, 119–120) “The evil bube” (“Bubele rele”) can designate, besides scarlet fever, diseases of the liver and stomach, and these can also be called “fapt”, or “fapți” in plural, which “come out on the mouth and nose and gnaw the entrails and the livers”. But the “fapt” can be “bound”, or “unbound”, thus it coincides with “făcătură”, with those afflictions that would have been caused by black magic and for which medical science would have had no remedies. Here is an example of an incantation for the “bound fapt”:
“Good evening, Great Lady, / Passing health, / Sit with us since you have come. / I have not come to linger, / But I have come for Maria / To cleanse her of the fapt. / Of the bound fapt, / Of the pierced fapt, / Of the fapt with redness, / Of the fapt with blackness, / Of the fapt with burning, / Of the fapt with itching, / Of the fapt that festers, / Of the fapt that bursts. / (…) May Maria remain clean / Enlightened / And healed of the fapt.” (Idem, 121)
The word “vărsat” is used as a general term in folk medicine and can also indicate smallpox, this being its predominant meaning with which it is recorded in Muntenia, Dobrogea, Moldova, Basarabia, Maramureș, Crișana and Transylvania, but it can indicate, besides scarlet fever, as we saw above, also measles, or chickenpox. (Idem, 118) The term “mărin” was used for similar afflictions; it appears somewhat more rarely in incantations, compared to “bubele” and “vărsatul”, and the linguist Cosmin Căprioară considers that the origin of the word would be the feast of Saint Marina, celebrated by the Orthodox Churches on July 17, because popular superstitions spread the idea that disrespecting this feast attracted such diseases. Mărin names either “the bube or inflammations, usually purulent, that appear on people and animals”, or stomach cramps, but also negative spirits. An example of a “mărin” incantation recorded in Valea Hranei involves anointing the sick person with lovage and the following incantations:
“Mărin is counted, / (…) / Mărin turn back. / Mărin is of nine, / Mărin is of eight, / Mărin is of seven, / Mărin is of six, / Mărin is of five, / Mărin is of four, / Mărin is of three, / Mărin is of two, / Mărin is of one, / Mărin is of none. / May Mărin perish, / Like dew from the sun”. (Idem, 121–122)
A comprehensive repertoire composed of incantations for healing animal diseases is recorded in all regions of the country, considering the main concerns of populations in past centuries for agricultural activities and animal husbandry. The most popular are incantations for cows, sheep and goats, usually long incantations, with a predominantly narrative content, uttered with the intention that the animals give milk. The incantations were put into practice simultaneously with the administration of plant-based lactogenic remedies, or bran, since the latter were also used to stimulate milk production in animals. (Tout, 2018, 195–196) Below, we reproduce fragments of such an incantation:
“So-and-so cow went / To the lush mountain / To the vigorous mountain, / For pasture, for her food. / She met the bonbon and bonboane, / The male enchanters, the female enchantresses / And they took her milk, / And they took her yield, / And the cream […] / Do not bewail yourself, / Do not lament yourself, / For those have no business with you, / For I have business with you, / For I will command / The bonboni and the bonboane / To bring your milk, / Your lush milk, / Your beautiful milk, / Your milk to come, / To come, not to remain / If it is bound in the pen with oxen, / Or if your milk is bound / In the pen with the cows, / Or in the pen with the sheep, / Or in the pen with the goats, / May they bring it to you / If it is bound, I will unbound it, / Your milk to come, / Not to remain.” (Pavelescu, 1998, 165)
The synthetic structure of the incantation is based on procedures in which notions from scientific medicine, words with magical associations, and religious manifestations are combined concomitantly. (Tout, 2018, 198) Researchers interested in ethnography at present have varied views regarding the continuity of these practices. Tout mentioned in an article published in 2021 regarding her investigations in Maramureș, concentrated in the Sălaj county area, that incantations like the ones exemplified are still recited by some locals. On the other hand, in the same period, on the occasion of ethnographic research in the Republic of Moldova, Valentin Arapu acknowledged the difficulties of identifying persons from whom to record incantations and stated that such practices have not survived extensively once the older generations passed away, since their descendants understand them as customs that would cause them shame. (Arapu, Grădinaru, 2023, 9) It is true that this stigma, determined by modern cultures that have rejected healing traditions, may cause some to pay even more attention to protecting these practices and keeping them secret.
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