LE SYMPOSIUM INTERNATIONAL LE LIVRE. LA ROUMANIE. L ...

298 GaBriela ruSu-PĂSĂrin
and explicit message. In all three instances one can sight symbolic objects
which form the ritual props. through them and through the scenes of the
funeral ritual the romanian cultural and identity background in communities
beyond the current frontiers of the country are established.
a. The cross in the community ritual space
over time, the conceptual boundaries over the cross and the roadside
crucifix have failed to clear up the confusion (especially at thelevel
informants, not specialists). the roadside crucifix in the romanian space
can be spotted outside the cemetery as well (as the vital or funeral), and
in the cemetery (burial only). the roadside crucifix are sacred religious
shrines and boundary profain signs (Vulcănescu, 1972, p. 118). in the
romanian communities of Vojvodina and the Bulgarian timoc, roadside
crucifixes are just boundary profain signs (pocraina, rabova – Bulgaria,
Serbia – uzdin) or legendary monuments of the historical figures, symbols
of the cultural microregion.
At Albotina (Bulgaria) there is a romanian monastery carved in soft
stone, “lime”, so the locals say, who had a supporting column in the main
“church” (room). the church was brought down from the mountain 30
years ago and the monastery was deliberately smoked, because the words
on the walls were written in romanian. this was an attempt to hide the
truth about the monastery and on this holy place.
on the second day of easter, down the hill, in the Albotina clearing,
alms dances have been performed since the beginning of the twentieth
century. It is a holy romanian place with healing powers. here came
the sick to be healed. In the1970s excavations were made and graves of
children, men and women were found. legend was that if the ill sleept at
the foot of the monastery on the night of passover, on the second day of
easter they would be cured. those who could not heal, remained there to
die and were buried at the foot of the church. here grew dittany, a plant
with healing powers. Who found and wore it on easter would be healed
of all illness. It is interesting that we find the same custom of the dittany
in oltenia, mentioned in a watermarked document dating from 1840, a
custom usually practiced on the day of Ispas (document from the personal
archive of Professor ion Pătraşcu). The sick was laid a ritual meal, as that
of the Fates, to soften them up for a second time, in a gesture of regaining
health, normality in order to continue the life cycle. the patient was placed
on the ground near the ritual table and the duttany flowers. If they resisted
the night, the patient was cured, if not he returned home convinced that “it
is as was to be” (rusu-Păsărin, 2004, p. 112).