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 most similar to the Roman Parcae, the Latin equivalent of the Greek Fates or Moirai.{{sfn|Ristic|2008|pp=44}}{{cite journal |title=Noaptea fantastică. Forme şi funcţii ale nocturnului în literatura supranaturalului |trans-title=The Fantastic Night. Forms and Functions of the Nocturne in the Supernatural’s Literature |first=Emanuela |last=Ilie |publisher=Editura Universității Aurel Vlaicu |journal=Journal of Humanistic and Social Studies |volume=4 |date=2013 |issue=1 |pages=67–82 [69] |lang=RO |quote=... cele trei Ursitoare din mitofolclorul românesc, echivalentul autohton al Moirelor grecesti sau al Parcelor romane. |trans-quote=... the three Ursitoare of Romanian folklore, autochthonous equivalent to the Greek Moirai and Roman Parcae.}}

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.

Names

Their most common names are ursitori and ursitoare,{{harvnb|Brednich|2016|p=1398}} but variations appear locally, like ursători, ursoaie, ursońi, urzoaie,{{cite journal |title=Zânele sorţii: cult, naraţiune şi spectacol |trans-title=Die Schicksalsmusen: Kult, Erzählung und Theateraufführung |first=Narcisa |last=Ştiucă |publisher=ASTRA Museum |journal=Studii Şi Comunicări de Etnologie |volume=XXXI |date=2017 |issue=31 |pages=103–110 [104] |lang=RO}} ursite.{{Cite journal |first=Cristina |last=LUNG (POPESCU) |title=Roluri feminine în riturile asociate naşterii şi botezului în societatea tradiţională românească |trans-title=Feminin Roles in Birth – and Baptism – Associated Rites in the Romanian Traditional Society |journal=Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei |volume=8 |date=2008 |pages=137–151 [145] |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=707891 |lang=Romanian}} Similarly, in the Oltenia region, they are dialectally known as ursătóri(le), ursitóri(le), ursătoáre(le).{{harvnb|Golant|2013|p=97}} They are also euphemisticaly called albe, fecioare, babe,{{Cite journal |first=Cristina |last=LUNG (POPESCU) |title=Roluri feminine în riturile asociate naşterii şi botezului în societatea tradiţională românească |trans-title=Feminin Roles in Birth – and Baptism – Associated Rites in the Romanian Traditional Society |journal=Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei |volume=8 |date=2008 |pages=137–151 [145] |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=707891 |lang=Romanian}} Albe Caşmete, and Hărăzite.{{cite journal |trans-title=Die Schicksalsmusen: Kult, Erzählung und Theateraufführung |issue=31 |date=2017 |first=Narcisa |last=Ştiucă |title=Zânele sorţii: cult, naraţiune şi spectacol |journal=Studii Şi Comunicări de Etnologie |pages=103–110 [104] |lang=RO |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=715670}}

The great variety in their names, according to Rolf Wilhelm Brednich, attests the "ancient popularity" of the belief.{{harvnb|Brednich|2016|p=1398}}

= Etymology =

According to {{ill|Romulus Vulcănescu|ro}}, the term originates from the expression a ursi, from Latin ordior 'predeterminate, weave', also found in Modern Greek orizo and Bulgarian urisram.{{cite book |title=Mitologie română |first=Romulus |last=Vulcănescu |publisher=Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România |date=1985 |page=163 |lang=RO}}

Role

The Ursitoari equal three beings, but are variably described as three girls, three virgins, three sisters, three women, or three apparitions.{{Cite journal |first=Cristina |last=LUNG (POPESCU) |title=Roluri feminine în riturile asociate naşterii şi botezului în societatea tradiţională românească |trans-title=Feminin Roles in Birth – and Baptism – Associated Rites in the Romanian Traditional Society |journal=Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei |volume=8 |date=2008 |pages=137–151 [145] |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=707891 |lang=Romanian}}{{cite journal |title=Considerații privind obiceiurile la naștere în Țara Oașului |trans-title=Considerations concerning birth customs in the Oaş Land |first=Natalia |last=Lazăr |publisher=Editura U. T. Press |journal=Buletin Stiintific, Seria A, Fascicula Filologie |volume=XXVII |date=2018 |issue=1 |pages=389–397 [393] |lang=RO}}{{cite book |first=Ion |last=Ghinoiu |title=Dictionar De Mitologie Romana |publisher=univers enciclopedic gold |date=2013 |page=294 |lang=RO}}{{cite book |title=Mitologie română |first=Romulus |last=Vulcănescu |publisher=Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România |date=1985 |page=164 |lang=RO}}

They come at night to the newborn's cradle, three nights after their birth, and weave their fate.{{cite book |last=Schullerus |first=Pauline |author-link=:fr:Pauline Schullerus |title=Rumänische Volksmärchen aus dem mittleren Harbachtal |location=Bukarest |publisher=Kriterion |date=1977 |pages=357–362 |lang=DE}}{{cite journal |title=Noaptea fantastică. Forme şi funcţii ale nocturnului în literatura supranaturalului |trans-title=The Fantastic Night. Forms and Functions of the Nocturne in the Supernatural’s Literature |first=Emanuela |last=Ilie |publisher=Editura Universității Aurel Vlaicu |journal=Journal of Humanistic and Social Studies |volume=4 |date=2013 |issue=1 |pages=67–82 [69] |lang=RO}}{{cite journal |title=Din folclorul Mărginimii Sibiului. Credinţe şi practici magice pre- şi postnatale |trans-title=The practices used after the child’s birth in Marginimea Sibiului |first=Amalia Ludmila |last=Pavelescu |publisher=ASTRA Museum |journal=Studii Şi Comunicări de Etnologie |volume=XXI |date=2007 |issue=21 |pages=7–16 [10–11] |lang=RO}}{{cite book |last=Senn |first=Harry A. |title=Werewolf and Vampire on Romania |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |date=1982 |page=68 |series=East European Monographs |volume=XCIC |quote= ... the goddesses of fate (Ursitoare) who preside over the birth of each child and assign its destiny ...}} During the same period, the child's mother and the midwife work to propitiate the Ursiotare in order to earn their goodwill.{{cite book |last=Golopentia |first=S. |date=2004 |chapter=Towards a Typology of Romanian Love Charms |editor-last=Roper |editor-first=J. |title=Charms and Charming in Europe |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |page=154 |doi=10.1057/9780230524316_9|isbn=978-1-349-51972-9 }}{{Cite journal |first=Cristina |last=LUNG (POPESCU) |title=Roluri feminine în riturile asociate naşterii şi botezului în societatea tradiţională românească |trans-title=Feminin Roles in Birth – and Baptism – Associated Rites in the Romanian Traditional Society |journal=Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei |volume=8 |date=2008 |pages=137–151 [144–145] |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=707891 |lang=Romanian}} These beings also assign a fated partner to a person.{{cite book |last=Golopentia |first=S. |date=2004 |chapter=Towards a Typology of Romanian Love Charms |editor-last=Roper |editor-first=J. |title=Charms and Charming in Europe |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |pages=153–154 |doi=10.1057/9780230524316_9|isbn=978-1-349-51972-9 }}{{cite book |first=Ion |last=Ghinoiu |title=Dictionar De Mitologie Romana |publisher=univers enciclopedic gold |date=2013 |page=294 |lang=RO}}

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.{{cite journal |title=Ritualul de naştere la bulgarii din Moldova |trans-title=The childbirth rites among the Bulgarians of Moldova |first=Emilia |last=Bancova |publisher=Institutul Patrimoniului Cultural al Academiei de Științe a Moldovei |journal=Revista de Etnologie şi Culturologie |volume=XXII |date=2017 |issue=2 |pages=36–39 [38] |lang=RO}} Likewise, in Romanian popular belief, the Ursitoare are three beings that come to weave the child's fate, each of them having separate functions: Torcătoarea, who furnishes the life thread; Depănătoarea, who spins it into the spindle, and Curmătoarea, who cuts it with scissors, representing the allotted time for the person.{{Cite journal |first=Cristina |last=LUNG (POPESCU) |title=Roluri feminine în riturile asociate naşterii şi botezului în societatea tradiţională românească |trans-title=Feminin Roles in Birth – and Baptism – Associated Rites in the Romanian Traditional Society |journal=Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei |volume=8 |date=2008 |pages=137–151 [145] |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=707891 |lang=Romanian}}{{cite book |title=Mitologie română |first=Romulus |last=Vulcănescu |publisher=Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România |date=1985 |page=165 |lang=RO}}

Parallels

= Among Slavic peoples =

Scholarship indicates that similar beings (a trio of women that allot men's fates) also exist in South Slavic folklore, among the Serbians, Macedonians,{{cite book |last=Petreska |first=Vesna |chapter=Demons of Fate in Macedonian Folk Beliefs |title=Christian Demonology and Popular Mythology |editor1=Gábor Klaniczay |editor2=Éva Pócs |location=Budapest, Hungary |publisher=Central European University Press |date=2006 |pages=221–236 [221–222] |doi=10.1515/9786155211010-017 |isbn=978-615-5211-01-0 |quote=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 ...}} Slovenes,{{cite book |last=Senn |first=Harry A. |title=Werewolf and Vampire on Romania |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |date=1982 |page=68 |series=East European Monographs |volume=XCIC |quote= ... 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.}} Croatians, Bulgarians and Montenegrinians.{{harvnb|Golant|2013|p=97}}{{cite book |last=Pócs |first=Éva |author-link=Éva Pócs |chapter=The Belief Figure of the Witch |title=Between the Living and the Dead: A Perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern Age |page=37-58 [56n71] |location=Budapest, Hungary |publisher=Central European University Press |date=1998 |doi=10.1515/9786155225307-004 |quote=71. Greek moira, Serbian, Croatian, and Bulgarian urisnici, nerusnici, and sudnice or sudjenice, Slovenian rojenice, Romanian ursitoare, ursaie, Albanian fatite, or fatije, and others.}}

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.{{cite journal |title=Ritualul de naştere la bulgarii din Moldova |trans-title=The childbirth rites among the Bulgarians of Moldova |first=Emilia |last=Bancova |publisher=Institutul Patrimoniului Cultural al Academiei de Științe a Moldovei |journal=Revista de Etnologie şi Culturologie |volume=XXII |date=2017 |issue=2 |pages=36–39 [37–38] |lang=RO}}

References

=Notes=

=Bibliography=

{{cite book |last=Brednich |first=Rolf Wilhelm |author-link=:de:Rolf Wilhelm Brednich |chapter=Schicksalsfrauen |trans-chapter=Fates |title=Enzyklopädie des Märchens Online |editor1=Rolf Wilhelm Brednich |editor2=Heidrun Alzheimer |editor3=Hermann Bausinger |editor4=Wolfgang Brückner |editor5=Daniel Drascek |editor6=Helge Gerndt |editor7=Ines Köhler-Zülch |editor8=Klaus Roth |editor9=Hans-Jörg Uther |location=Berlin, Boston |publisher=De Gruyter |date=2016 |orig-year=2004 |page=1398 |doi=10.1515/emo.11.244}}
{{cite book |first=Ion |last=Ghinoiu |title=Dictionar De Mitologie Romana |publisher=univers enciclopedic gold |date=2013 |chapter=Ursitoare |pages=294–295 |lang=RO}}
{{cite journal |last=Golant |first=Natalia |title=Reprezentări mitologice ale românilor din Oltenia (pe baza cercetărilor de teren efectuate în judeţele Vâlcea, Gorj şi Mehedinţi) |trans-title=Mythological Representations of Romanians of Oltenia (Based on Field Researches Undertaken in the Counties of Vâlcea, Gorj and Mehedinţi) |url=https://biblioteca-digitala.ro/?volum=5095-anuarul-muzeului-etnografic-al-moldovei--xiii-2013 |journal=Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei |trans-journal=The Yearly Review of the Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia |volume=XIII |date=2013 |pages=91–100 |lang=RO}}
{{Cite journal |first=Cristina |last=LUNG (POPESCU) |title=Roluri feminine în riturile asociate naşterii şi botezului în societatea tradiţională românească |trans-title=Feminin Roles in Birth – and Baptism – Associated Rites in the Romanian Traditional Society |journal=Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei |volume=8 |date=2008 |pages=137–151 |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=707891 |lang=Romanian}}
{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lia-21GUc4sC|title=The great spirits of fate|last=Ristic|first=Radomir|journal=The Crooked Path|issue=2|year=2008|isbn=9780979616891|publisher=Pendraig Publishing}}
{{cite book |title=Mitologie română |first=Romulus |last=Vulcănescu |publisher=Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România |date=1985 |pages=163–165 |lang=RO}}
{{cite journal |trans-title=Die Schicksalsmusen: Kult, Erzählung und Theateraufführung |issue=31 |date=2017 |first=Narcisa |last=Ştiucă |title=Zânele sorţii: cult, naraţiune şi spectacol |journal=Studii Şi Comunicări de Etnologie |pages=103–110 |lang=RO |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=715670}}