MĂRGEAUA ȘERPILOR
THE SERPENTS` BEAD

Summary/Abstract: Confronting the present with the past, in order to be able to propel it to the future, we find that the bead of the snakes, regardless of generation, was and will remain a unique stone shrouded in mystery.This bead, associated with the myth of the Draconian, is a magical object secreted by several snakes found in the same place. The round stone, striped and holed in the middle has miraculous effects. For example, the hero from fairy tales, taking it into possession, instantaneously knows the language of the animals and acquires what he wants; he uses the disenchantment to regain the manna of the milk; the snake that swallows this miraculous stone becomes firedrake. The fabulous stone, found in different folkloric categories (ballads, fairy tales, incantations, legends, stories), inserting a plurality of offices (apotropaic, magical, symbolic, utilitarian etc.), certain prohibitions and predictions underline the superhuman side of the ophidians and highlight a magical universe that reveals the fragile boundary between real-unreal. The initiated hero from fairy tales and legends; the peasant living in the world of the village, getting in contact with the stone secreted by the snakes possesses miraculous power. The osmosis snake ‒ bead of the snakes [„mărjea d'e zierme”, Land of Maramures], arousing the curiosity, places the human being in timelessness, in a fascinating universe under the tutelage of the Miraculous.

• Details
• Contents