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

300 GaBriela ruSu-PĂSĂrin
put “peşchir” on the cross in an act holdin off evil spirits, by presenting
them this gift which should soften them up. And also as funeral props, we
can find “gurelerul” which is placed in the coffin. At uzdin (Vojvodina,
Serbia), Mariana Sîrbu described the ritual sequence of separating the
colars and placing them in the protected space of the coffin. the image
appears in the cloşani funeral song, “on the road”:
scoală, cutare, scoală / Şi mergând pe cale înaince / Ei ţi-o cere
ochii tăi / Tu ochii să nu-i dai./ Mâna să ţi-o bagi / Să scoţi un
gurelaş / Cu un bănuţ în el./ Vamă să plăceşci (s.n.)/ Înainte să
mergi.
In the area in which a crevise will occur in normality, the passage to
another world, the protal between the seen and the unseen (the hole) will be
only worked on at daylight, on the very day of the burial. Field data confirms
this practice both in oltenia and in Vojvodina. At ecica (Vojvodina, Serbia)
Mioara Sîrbu (65) describes the same sequence performed by generations
of romanians in the villages of Vojvodina and she reasons: “Do not leave
the hole empty over night, uncovered, and if the family had a death recently,
unbuy the pit: you take money to the grave.”
Another funeral ritual object is “boata de salcie” (willow stick) (sn). In
the Corpus of ethnographic documents. Holidays and customs. Oltenia (pp.
173-174) it is reported that the pit is measured with a “stick, with a pole”.
We have obtained the same information through the recent field research
at polovragi (Gorj), from nicolae Georgescu, cross maker, who wanted to
clarify: “the willow stick is broken and put in the coffin, not elsewhere,
to take it with him.” these are just a few objects of funerary props which
accompany the cross, the roadside crucifix.
b. The cross and the ritual time
there are three symbolic moments when the cross generates temporal
meanings:
1. At the same time as the procurement of all necessary ritual objects
for funerals. the forms are: the stake, the mast, the pole, the cross;
2. Within a deadline – in oltenia the forms are: the crossroad
crucifix, tomb (after 6 weeks), the well crucifix (after 40 days or on
holidays throughout the year);
3. timeless – in oltenia and in the Bulgarian timoc and Vojvodina the
forms are: the memorial crossroad crucifix for the heroes, turning crosses,
border crosses, as magical feints of the sky column.