Spirite malefice şi credinţe transilvănene ilustrate în romanul Scadenţa de Horia Liman
Malingnant Spirits and Transylvanian Beliefs Illustrated in the Novel Scadenţa (The Settling Day) by Horia Liman

Summary/Abstract: The Due Term (L’échéance, 1992) is a novel belonging to Horia Liman, a rather little known writer born in Romania. It describes the country life before Second World War in a village situated in a depression of eastern Carpathians, Transylvania (Romania). Still known under this name today, the Oash county (to which this village belongs), is inhabited by the Oshans. Their existence revolves around a foundational myth involving the water fairy and a beneficial beech tree whose role is to protect the people against the evil done by humans as well as the one coming from evil spirits: at nightfall, the forest begins to "stir with borsocoïs"; the moroï is seen as "a dead walkman, a vampire" who "eats the flesh of man and drinks his blood", while the varkolak is "a large bird with human face" (p. 28) which drains the strength of arms and no longer allows the Oshan to use his knife. A very close relationship is established between the knife shedding blood at due terms as a ritual, and the presence of evil spirits. Naturally, the village community with its traditional representatives is also involved: Varlam - the priest, Moga - the teacher, Gula - the host of "The Joyous Frog", Cuha - the baker, Bologa - the water dealer, Bordac - the gypsy fiddler, Eva Cuha - the sorceress, Mara - the dreamy or possessed young girl, Joan - the boastful young man, Bene - a young man with a strange touch of madness. The present paper examines these beliefs with their symbolic value in an attempt to emphasize their implications for the community.

• Details
• Contents