Considerații privind obiceiurile la naștere în Țara Oașului
Considerations concerning birth customs in the Oaş Land

Summary/Abstract: Birth is considered to be the first step in a lifecycle. The transition between pre-existence and existence is marked by a series of consecrated customs, rites and rituals, that have the scope of integrating one into the life of the community, but also separating one from the chaos, from the pre-existential unknown. Following a universal pattern, birth is part of a generally valid ritological scheme. On this mythological substrate lay cultural, religious and ethnic values. However, as society evolved, so did the mentalities, life perceptions and the systems of customs. All of these aspects can be recognised in the current cultural space of the Oas Land. The set of practices that are associated with birth are connected not only to this phenomenon, but also to the gestation period and the confinement after birth. If during the pregnancy one can speak about the existence of the biome pregnant female-foetus, birth can lead to the segregation of the rites, some being centred on the mother and others on the child. The child’s integration into the family, the nation and the community must be marked by the natural and the normal, fact accomplished through magical and protective poems. Thus, this ritual implies the existence of specific instruments and the participation of multiple actors, all of them having an assumed role and responsibility for the success of the custom.The current image that birth ritual has in the Oas Land, and other areas of the country, is no longer the archetypal one. However, it still carries elements of the old rites and rituals.

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