MIORIȚA BY VALERIU ANANIA: DRAMATIZATION AND RE-SYMBOLIZATION OF A NATIONAL MYTH
MIORIȚA BY VALERIU ANANIA: DRAMATIZATION AND RE-SYMBOLIZATION OF A NATIONAL MYTH

Summary/Abstract: A rewritten myth can be an original creation updated to resemble the spiritual evolution of a certain culture, one that re-states and re-interprets the centrul generator (Todoran 1983: 13). Taking into consideration the concept which enforces the idea that the individuality of a nation is also defined by its attitude towards existence, we can admit that Mioriţa expresses the cultural Romanian archetype. Folkloric ballads could be perceived as a thesaurus of myths that hand down to future generation the core of history that is usually encapsulated in each of them, while their rewriting – in this case, the dramatization of a ballad about pastoral life. To some extent, we might consider the refurbished ballad as being a renewed instrument supporting the spiritual needs of the contemporary culture. Although there are numerous versions of the original ballad, Mioriţa (The Ewe Lamb), within the Romanian folklore they all express the unaltered essence in a poetic manner: the Moldavian shepherd’s sacrificial attitude, his peaceful view on death. The shepherd dies calmly, ascending into his cosmic wedding, as narrated by the ballad, while Anania’s shepherd leaves an heir, implying that death is but a new life. Mioriţa, the dramatic poem, retraces the essential element of the archaic ballad, preserving the original conception regarding life and death, death being a serene integration into nature, resembling the ending and beginning of the natural cycle (Anania 2007: 230), a trespass into illo tempore.

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