The motif of Death in Romanian folklore.

In Transylvania(Central Romania)Death symbolises transition. The ancient Dacians (the ancient inhabitants of Trasylvania) used to cry when a baby was born and laugh when a person die, because they acknowledged the pain in which that person needed to adjust in this world. Plato wrote extensively on this.

In more modern times, death remains a symbol of transition, the day of the dead being celebrated in the same day the western civilizations are celebrating Halloween. There is an old Transylvanian saying spoken in the old dialect: "Ai jucat destul pe lume, hai de-o joacă și cu mine", which means "You dances enough through the world, now come and dance with me".

At Săpânța, in Maramureș county - Northern Transylvania, there is a place called "The Merry Cemetery", where all the crosses are in bright blue engraved with folk motifs, where all the people that died are given a funny story about their life or a funny story about how they died, in order to preserve that very same ancient concept. The interesting part is that the people living there are basically Hutsuls, like my ancestors, which should be a more ancient and very different culture, but in this way we can bare witness at how those cultures influenced one another.

"Death is the sole motivation upon life, upon its will to power. What I love about older, ethnic cultures is that this motivation is never veiled. That it is always openly acknowledged. It has an integrity that modern culture has lost, and as a consequence is deprived and depraved." - Debbie Cartwright

*Picture: Depiction of Death in Romanian folklore.