Mana şi sterilitatea – un antagonism feminin
Manna and Sterility – A Feminine Antagonism

Summary/Abstract: The paper highlights the relation of antinomy between two exclusively feminine states: pregnancy and confinement. The former invests the woman with fertility powers, while the latter determines the opposite effect on nature. The nubile girl is also endowed with the capacity to stimulate vegetation in the ritual texts recited to her on Christmas, but consequently she will be socially marginalized unless she has children. These are the two ruling poles for the archaic Romanian woman and the analysis uses numerous ethnographical data to sustain them.

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