16 June 2019, Sunday
Lastly, let me talk about the Romanian folklore about the living dead, known as the ‘Strigoi’. In Romanian mythology, ‘Strigoi’ are the evil souls of the dead. The word is derived from the Romanian striga, cognate with Italian, which means ‘witch’. The strigoiis born as any child, but they have a distinctive sign: a bonnet, a veil on the head or a nightgown. Such a child is given birth by a woman, who drank accursed water when she was pregnant, or when she went outside with nothing on her head. Then, Satan comes and puts a red bonnet on her head, just like the one he has.
To prevent the child from turning into a strigoi, the bonnet must be removed off the child’s head as soon as possible, or else the child takes the bonnet and swallows, thus undergoing the transformation. A strigoiis said to be bald on top of his head. He does not eat onions or garlic, fears frankincense, and during St Andrew’s night, sleeps outside. His spinal chord is prolonged in a tail, covered in hair.
If there is drought in a village, it means a strigoilives there and hinders rain; if it is raining hail then God is punishing the strigoiand if it rains while the sun is shining it is believed that a strigoiis getting married. Infants who die not baptised, the dead who did nothing but bad deeds while they were alive, those who die of sudden death (hung, shot, drowned), the sick who are not watched and walk over a cat, or the dead who have been walked over by cats, dogs, chickens or any other birds risk turning into one. At full moon, they come out of their graves or leave their bodies and start dancing or doing all kinds of bad things. Their night is St Andrew’s night.
The strigoialso steals cow’s milk, wheat, people’s strength, hinders rain, brings about hail and death among people and animals. On St George’s day, young men sprinkle water on young women so as not to be affected by the strigoior turn into one. To kill them, the grave of the one suspected to be a strigoineeds to be found and priests hold a religious service (though they are often powerless) and a stake, made of oak or ash tree, is driven through its heart, and then the creature is nailed to the coffin to prevent it from getting out and harming people. There are also some spells or incantations that one can recite to ward off a strigoi.
There is another short legend here: if you ring a bell, an angel gets its wings. And that’s it for the legends, rumours, stories, suppositions and beliefs surrounding Bran Castle @ Dracula Castle.
Outside the Castle there is a stone cross carved with vegetal motifs and the united coat of arms of Moldavia and Wallachia, and bears an inscription in Romanian, written using Romanian Cyrillic alphabet. It was erected in 1751 by the same person who built the St Pantelimon Monastery in praise of the Great Martyr Saint Pantelimon. It was brought to Bran Castle in 1922 from the St Pantelimon Monastery, following the wish of Queen Marie of Romania. When the communist regime was established, the cross was covered in soil in the green house of Bran Castle, for protection. In 2006, it was unearthed and positioned in the spot that Queen Mary had chosen.
The Castle itself is very unassuming, almost bare. There were various bedrooms belonging to the various members of the royal family, an antechamber, an armoury, a courtyard with well. The only thing scary here were the narrow, spiralling, claustrophobic inducing staircases.
Whereas Peleș Castle was meant to impress, this was just a dwelling place for the royalties. Nothing really special. Quite disappointing, really. I’m not sure what I was expecting. Blood and gore and impaled bodies everywhere, and perhaps Dracula sleeping in a coffin surrounded by bats and black cats and wolves. Oh dear. Here I go again with my imagination.
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