Religiozitate populară şi rituri ale apei. O abordare socio-antropologică
Folk Religiosity and Water Rites. A Socio-Anthropological Approach

Summary/Abstract: The research of water rites identified in the calendar and family cycle of Romanian folklore implies the compared interpretation of various ethnographic information discussed in a broad interdisciplinary perspective (ethnological, anthropological, sociological, historical, theological, archaeological). Therefore, a series of concepts and conceptual oppositions forged within the social anthropology of religion and of the religious and social history are critically assessed and adapted to the analysis of Romanian ritual customs. Next to discussing the symbolic and religious virtues of the water element, it is emphasized the social, collective nature of the religious topography of aquatic sources, according to the pagan and Christian imaginary. The water rites are considered to function within the frame of a very important concept originating in the social anthropology of religion, which is folk religion (or vernacular, traditional, peasant). In this context are to be discussed primitive rites of water, the faith in water spirits, therapeutic ablutions or initiatory immersions, as well as Biblical elements like the purifying rites of the old Jews, or the important episode of the Baptism in the New Testament. Furthermore, Romanian water rites are an evidence of the direct connection of the Romanian peasants with their life environment, and a proof of the symbolical and empirical importance of the rural water sources.

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