Moldavian Folklore: Sânziene

Sânziană is the name given in Romanian and Moldavian folkore for tender fairies and is also  used to designate the Galium verum or Cruciata laevipes flowers. Under the plural form Sânziene, the word designates an annual festival in the fairies’ honor.

 In Romania, people in the western Carpathian Mountains celebrate the Sânziene holiday annually, on June 24. The folk practices of Sânziene imply that the most beautiful maidens in the village dress in white and spend all day searching for and picking flowers, of which one should be Galium verum (Sânziană) (Lady’s bedstraw or Yellow bedstraw). Using the flowers they picked during the day, the girls braid floral crowns which they wear upon returning to the village at nightfall. There they meet with their beloved and they dance around a bonfire.

Another folk belief is that during the Sânziene Eve night, the heavens open up, making it the strongest night for magic spells, particularly for the love spells. Also it is said that the plants harvested during this night will have marvelous magical powers. According to popular beliefs, strange things, both positive and negative, may happen to a person wandering alone on Sânziene night. Strange ethereal activities are believed to happen. Mircea Eliade’s novel, Noaptea de Sânziene (The Forbidden Forest), includes references to the folk belief about skies opening at night, as well as to paranormal events happening on Sânziene Eve night.