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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.^[1]^[2]

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,^[3] but variations appear locally, like ursători, ursoaie, ursońi, urzoaie.^[4] Similarly, in the Oltenia region, they are dialectally known as ursătóri(le), ursitóri(le), ursătoáre(le).^[5] The great variety in their names, according to Rolf Wilhelm Brednich, attests the "ancient popularity" of the belief.^[6]

Role

The Ursitoari come at night to the newborn's cradle, three nights after their birth, and weave their fate.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10] They equal three beings, but are variably described as three girls, three virgins, three sisters, three women, or three apparitions.^[11]

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.^[12]

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,^[13] Slovenes,^[14] Croatians, Bulgarians and Montenegrinians.^[15]^[16]

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.^[17]

References

Notes

^ Ristic 2008, pp. 44.
^ Ilie, Emanuela (2013). "Noaptea fantastică. Forme şi funcţii ale nocturnului în literatura supranaturalului" [The Fantastic Night. Forms and Functions of the Nocturne in the Supernatural’s Literature]. Journal of Humanistic and Social Studies (in Romanian). 4 (1). Editura Universității Aurel Vlaicu: 67–82 [69]. ... cele trei Ursitoare din mitofolclorul românesc, echivalentul autohton al Moirelor grecesti sau al Parcelor romane. [... the three Ursitoare of Romanian folklore, autochthonous equivalent to the Greek Moirai and Roman Parcae.]
^ Brednich 2016, p. 1398
^ Ştiucă, Narcisa (2017). "Zânele sorţii: cult, naraţiune şi spectacol" [Die Schicksalsmusen: Kult, Erzählung und Theateraufführung]. Studii Şi Comunicări de Etnologie (in Romanian). XXXI (31). ASTRA Museum: 103–110 [104].
^ Golant 2013, p. 97
^ Brednich 2016, p. 1398
^ Schullerus, Pauline [in French] (1977). Rumänische Volksmärchen aus dem mittleren Harbachtal (in German). Bukarest: Kriterion. pp. 357–362.
^ Ilie, Emanuela (2013). "Noaptea fantastică. Forme şi funcţii ale nocturnului în literatura supranaturalului" [The Fantastic Night. Forms and Functions of the Nocturne in the Supernatural’s Literature]. Journal of Humanistic and Social Studies (in Romanian). 4 (1). Editura Universității Aurel Vlaicu: 67–82 [69].
^ Pavelescu, Amalia Ludmila (2007). "Din folclorul Mărginimii Sibiului. Credinţe şi practici magice pre- şi postnatale" [The practices used after the child’s birth in Marginimea Sibiului]. Studii Şi Comunicări de Etnologie (in Romanian). XXI (21). ASTRA Museum: 7–16 [10–11].
^ Senn, Harry A. (1982). Werewolf and Vampire on Romania. East European Monographs. Vol. XCIC. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 68. ... the goddesses of fate (Ursitoare) who preside over the birth of each child and assign its destiny ...
^ Lazăr, Natalia (2018). "Considerații privind obiceiurile la naștere în Țara Oașului" [Considerations concerning birth customs in the Oaş Land]. Buletin Stiintific, Seria A, Fascicula Filologie (in Romanian). XXVII (1). Editura U. T. Press: 389–397 [393].
^ Bancova, Emilia (2017). "Ritualul de naştere la bulgarii din Moldova" [The childbirth rites among the Bulgarians of Moldova]. Revista de Etnologie şi Culturologie (in Romanian). XXII (2). Institutul Patrimoniului Cultural al Academiei de Științe a Moldovei: 36–39 [38].
^ Petreska, Vesna (2006). "Demons of Fate in Macedonian Folk Beliefs". In Gábor Klaniczay; Éva Pócs (eds.). Christian Demonology and Popular Mythology. Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press. pp. 221–236 [221–222]. doi:10.1515/9786155211010-017. ISBN 978-615-5211-01-0. 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 ...
^ Senn, Harry A. (1982). Werewolf and Vampire on Romania. East European Monographs. Vol. XCIC. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 68. ... 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.
^ Golant 2013, p. 97
^ Pócs, Éva (1998). "The Belief Figure of the Witch". Between the Living and the Dead: A Perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern Age. Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press. p. 37-58 [56n71]. doi:10.1515/9786155225307-004. 71. Greek moira, Serbian, Croatian, and Bulgarian urisnici, nerusnici, and sudnice or sudjenice, Slovenian rojenice, Romanian ursitoare, ursaie, Albanian fatite, or fatije, and others.
^ Bancova, Emilia (2017). "Ritualul de naştere la bulgarii din Moldova" [The childbirth rites among the Bulgarians of Moldova]. Revista de Etnologie şi Culturologie (in Romanian). XXII (2). Institutul Patrimoniului Cultural al Academiei de Științe a Moldovei: 36–39 [37–38].

Bibliography

Brednich, Rolf Wilhelm [in German] (2016) [2004]. "Schicksalsfrauen" [Fates]. In Rolf Wilhelm Brednich; Heidrun Alzheimer; Hermann Bausinger; Wolfgang Brückner; Daniel Drascek; Helge Gerndt; Ines Köhler-Zülch; Klaus Roth; Hans-Jörg Uther (eds.). Enzyklopädie des Märchens Online. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. p. 1398. doi:10.1515/emo.11.244.
Golant, Natalia (2013). "Reprezentări mitologice ale românilor din Oltenia (pe baza cercetărilor de teren efectuate în judeţele Vâlcea, Gorj şi Mehedinţi)" [Mythological Representations of Romanians of Oltenia (Based on Field Researches Undertaken in the Counties of Vâlcea, Gorj and Mehedinţi)]. Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei [The Yearly Review of the Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia] (in Romanian). XIII: 91–100.
Ristic, Radomir (2008), "The great spirits of fate", The Crooked Path (2), Pendraig Publishing, ISBN 9780979616891