As promised, I will talk now about a very beautiful and dear Romanian celebration: Saint Andrew’s Night, 29 November. It precedes a very important religious celebration for Romania, yes, St. Andrew. The stories and the traditions related to St. Andrew’s Night date back to the times when the people inhabiting the territory that is now Romania, the Dacians, were not yet Christianized. November 30 was the day when they were celebrating the Wolf, a very important animal for the Dacians: even their flag was represented by a beast with the head of a wolf.

The Dacian Flag

It was the day when it was told that wolves started to go out hunting in packs so you had to be cautious and protect your animals. Also it was the last day before Winter came so long, cold, black nights have a symbolism of their own.

To get right into the scary part: on this night evil spirits take over the world. Blood-thirsty undead come out of the graves and fight with each other at crossroads, live-poltergeists leave their host body and join in the fight. If any of these evil spirits can’t find someone to fight with they will turn their attention towards humans and animals so beware!!! They will try to bewitch any human that is not ready for this night or didn’t take precautions against all evil, they will attack animals that aren’t protected by magic rituals, on short: until dawn they will bring Hell on Earth. That is where the women come in and try to protect themselves, their houses and animals. The most powerful tool against the spirits is garlic. So one has to use it in the best ways possible: anoint the windows, doors, the door knobs, chimneys, one owns’ body, the doors to the stables, the animals, everything. And if by any chance in the middle of the night you are called by the spirits than you must not answer, under no circumstance. Let the poltergeists, spirits and vampires fight among themselves. The undead will go back to their graves in the morning and the living ones will return to their host human bodies and live on until the next opportunity to go out and create chaos. Of course not all spirits do harm, some just go out and dance at the crossroads.

The Romanian folklore is also filled with other beautiful traditions: while women were protecting their households, young boys and girls would party all night. In a house that is well protected with the help of garlic and magic, they would bring garlic that was guarded by an old woman all night and then they would party until morning. At the crack of dawn they would dance with the garlic and then share it among them and guard it all year long near the icons and use a piece every now and then when traveling or when one was sick: it’s magic healing powers were amazing.

Last, but not least, this is the night when a young woman can dream of her soul mate. Of course, in order to do that one should do magic. Bake a really salty small bread, eat half, put half under your pillow and the man that brings you water in your dreams is the one you are meant to be with. Put 41 grains of wheat under your pillow, say a little disenchantment and the one who comes to take the wheat is, of course, your soul mate. You could also see the face of your soul mate in the water of a well. All you had to do is know what spell to say and what things to do.

And don’t forget that one of the most important things is to plant wheat. If it grows nicely by Christmas, your year will be prosperous.

Vasile Alecsandri

And there are more traditions related to this amazing celebration. A Romanian poet, Vasile Alecsandri even wrote a poem called “St. Andrew’s Night”. The poem itself is more than beautiful and it grasps together all the scary and the beautiful part of all the traditions. The poem in Romanian sends shivers down my spine. I will try to translate a small part of it:

“Up on the cross-bare tower/The evil spirit is heading/And the whole turret is trembling!/Midnight passes through the air/And, hitting the cold brass,/Twelve black hours/Are tolled by the hollow bell”.

The only thing I respect, have done since I was little and will do forever: on November 29 in the evening I always eat garlic. And after reading all these things and writing them here for you I wonder: why do we celebrate Halloween. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice celebration for the ones who actually have it in their folklore but honestly, look at all the amazing and scary things our own Halloween involves. Who needs pumpkins in October when you risk waking up with a vampire outside your window one month later? I am a bit scared now, will they find me all the way in Stockholm?