Every place on Earth has a story of its own, but you have to listen

carefully in order to hear it and you need to own an ounce of love to

understand it.
Nicolae Iorga, Romanian historian
Romanians had from ancient times a multitude of customs, tales
and poems about love, faith, kings, princesses, and witches.
Probably the greatest collector of folk tales was
the storyteller Ion Creang, who, in very picturesque
language, gave life to stories now classics such as The
White Moor or Old womans daughter and Old mans
daughter.
The poet Vasile Alecsandri published the most
successful variant of Mioria, a sad, philosophical ballad
poem centered around a simple intrigue: the plot of the
two shepherds to kill the third because of the envy that
carries on the material.
Another prolific editor of Tales from folklore was Petre Ispirescu, who in the
19th century published an impressive number of volumes containing a large number of
short novels and tales of Mythology. They are centered around some popular characters
like Prince Charming, Princess Ileana Cosnzeana, Zmeul or Cpcunul(monsters), the
Dragon(Balaur) or fantastic creatures like the Good Fairy and the evil Muma Pdurii.
Cpcunul is in Romanian mythology a supernatural character,
which sometimes occur with two heads, sometimes with a dog's head and
the body of a man. It is said that these creatures can turn into many
different animals (from a bear into a stag and so on).
Cpcunul is presented as that one who steals the Princess and a
reward is given to get him but it is hard to defeat him. And more often than
not, the heroes fail miserably.
Muma Pdurii (Mother of the Woods) is, perhaps, the most famous
creature in Romanian mythology. You can find her in folk and fairy tales
playing the role of a forest guardian.
Muma Pdurii is one of the most
dangerous natural spirits. She appears as
a very ugly, old woman, with long hair, who
is always weeping in the woods.
Sometimes, she takes the form of a nun
with loose hair. She lives in the darkest
parts of forests or tree hollows. She
takes care of all trees and seeks to kill or
scare people, causing them mental illness.
Celul Pmntului (The Dog of the Earth) is a creature living deep
underground that likes to feed on the dead. It sometimes comes to the
surface looking to scare lost travelers.
Snziene or Iele is the Romanian name for fairies.
During the Snziene Eve Night, the heavens open up, making it the
strongest night for magic spells, especially for the love spells. Also it is said
that the plants harvested during this night will have tremendous magical
powers.
It is not a good thing though to be a male and walk at night during
Sanziene Eve Night, as that is the time when the fairies dance in the air,
blessing the crops and bestowing health on people - they do not like to be
seen by males, and whomever sees them will be maimed, or the fairies will
take their hearing/speech or make them mad.
Some legends say
varcolacul is a ghost or vampire
(Strigoi) while others say it is
a werewolf (in some versions, a
werewolf that emerges from
the corpses of babies).
The pricolici is
another form of varcolac,
also resembling a werewolf.
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