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

Media and Social communication, The Roadside Crucifix... 303
sequences and of final formulas of the lamentations in oltenia and uzdin
prove that they are identical, that they belong to the same manner of
treatmenting death, that they have the same poetic image: “scoală, tată, de
pră masă!”, “scoală, Măria mea!”, “ieşi afară pân la cruce!”, etc.
Details of actual life are included, reminiscent of the current social and
economic context:
De când tu ai pierit,
Puii tei s-or despărţit,
de noi s-or înstrăinat
Şi-n America-or plecat! (lifa:1995, 63)
the symbolic message of the triad is illustrative in the romanian
funeral traditions. the crossroad crucifix, its versions and alternatives,
stand for the symbolic reduction of the cross as funeral mark and charm.
the obvious intention of making space sacred determines the frame of
the triads. As the comemoration cannot be held without light, wheat (in the
forms of ring bread and coliva) and wine, so does the funeral ritual require
the above mentioned triads.
the crossroad crucifix (cross) is the cuarantee for the practice of the rites
and ceremonies within the community in order to ensure the reception of
traditions on behalf of the ancestors. It is a sign of personal identity and a sign
of romanian identity. Vital and funeral, they are symbolic ritual passages,
bridges between the world of compassion and a world without mercy.
through time, the sacred significance disappears, leaving room for
other meanings in the following situations:
• if signs and ritual practice are preserved, crossroad crucifixes no longer
show the personal history, but are treated as property of the community
(emotional-affective involvement is lost, he festive remains);
• if not preserved, they will be forgotten history of the community (“the
old cemetery”, “the cemetery up the hill”);
• if their iconographic value is recognized, they will transcend into a
space of aesthetic suggestion.
the reception will determine open-mindness, a viable new form of the
burial mark reworded in a new space. emotion when faced with the sacred
will be replaced with the excitement of art. the famous school of naïve
painting in uzdin is an example to this effect. Anurica Marun, a naive
painter, is the founder of this school well-known all around the world. the
melting of the mental identification in the framework of creation generates
a compensatory experience of forgotten history, the desire of finding a
sense of identity, of belonging to common time and space – the family.