The Old Bear in Romanian Mythology and Folklore #Im4Ro

The good, old bear, or the grizzly ursine, populated Romanian mythology since the times of the Thracians, and tales of its powers and wisdom have left their paw-prints on the Romanian folklore too.

The bear as a totem, as a symbol of one’s ancestry, was an animal revered by ancient Thracian religion, alongside the wolf. Why, it is even whispered in legends that the great Zalmoxix, the god worshiped by Geto-Dacians, was wrapped in a bear’s skin right after his birth. To soak up the power and the strength of the great beast, and perhaps even its endurance.

20/07/202111/04/2023

Enchanting Solomonars, Romanian Cloud-Chaser Sorcerers #Im4Ro

Enchanting Solomonars, these Romanian cloud-chaser sorcerers, are also called eagles or hail-gatherers, by their skills; cloud-walkers by their powers; dragon-riders to the welkin and back, by their means of transport.

The Solomonars were revered, yet feared, called upon, yet shunned for their innate understanding of nature’s forces; for their instinctive ability to read the weather, even in its wildest exhibitions; for their solid grasping of what was there, yet not seen, felt, yet intangible, life-threatening towards everyone else, but themselves.

15/07/202129/04/2022

Dreamy Blues, Authentic 1885 Tulcea House by the Black Sea #Im4Ro

Window shutters painted in dreamy blues adorn an authentic house from 1885 Tulcea, a Romanian county spreading between Danube and the Black Sea.

Window shutters painted in dreamy blues adorn an authentic house from 1885 Tulcea, that dips its shores in both the Danube and the Black Sea. You can visit it now, on my blog, or at the Village Museum in Bucharest, Romania.

We have a Romanian saying, Omul sfinţeşte locul, in English it carries the same meaning as “a good farmer makes a good farm.”

24/06/202114/04/2025

Bran Castle, Time Tunnel Explained, All You Need to Know #Im4Ro

Bran Castle, Romania, inaugurated an unique Time Tunnel, a museum that comes to life, but unless you’re obsessed with the history of Romania it will help to know beforehand what is each exhibit’s connection with Bran Castle. So here’s all you need to know before visiting the Time Tunnel at Bran – or a virtual one.

21/06/202114/04/2025

A Midsummer’s Night, from Magic Sânzienele to Machiavelli’s Dream

It is said that during the midsummer’s night of 1527, a night when Romanians celebrate Sânzienele, the magic Gentle Fairies, Niccolò Machiavelli had his last dream, and a telling dream it was.

It must have been the summer’s giddy energy firing between the Sun and the Earth at exactly ninety degrees during the Summer Solstice that caused this coincidence…