Page 54 - World of Art magazine (2000)

OviDiu PeTCA
RoMaNia
DieS iRAe
1997 SilKScReeN
20 x 15 cM /
8 x 6 iN
paRTicipaTioN
kATALin heRvAi WoRK oN THe
RoMaNia SMALL gRAPhiC ART
TOuCh iNTeRNaTioNal
1998 c3,4,7 exHiBiTioN
11 x 9,5 cM / aRT aDDicTioN
4¼ x 3¾ iN SRocKHolM
SWeDeN 1997
paRTicipaTioN
WoRK oN THe
2ND AuTuMn AnnuAL
in veniCe
iNTeRNaTioNal
exHiBiTioN
oRGaNiZeD BY
aRT aDDicTioN
palaZZo coRReR
VeNice iTalY 1998

«
those be the above mentioned Interval or the antique, transformed, divinities or spirits of anyone who would spy for their council,
Afterworld; we share, more or less, the same the wilderness. In a book concerning the except for the midwives, who are held to
immense amount of stories about meetings birth of the fairies in the Middle Ages, remain silent on what they found out. There
with these entities, while being here or there L.Harf-Lancner (1989) tries to demonstrate even is a legend about the disappearing of
or in between. Earthly beings who only tem- the filiations of the fairies - the specific fairies these Ursitoare, while midwives and other lis-
porary assume behaviors of beyond, ghosts of of the period, as found in the literature of teners would have unraveled in time all their
abnormal-dead, demons or genii, or whatever all kinds of the time - from the Parcae and secrets to the common people (S.Fl.Marian,
we got used to call fairies, our mythologies Tria Fata, as well as from the nymphs of the 1892, p.150/151).
abound in unidirectional or double-sensed Greek-Roman patrimony; beside them, some However, their coming into our world is a
“visits”. They do a lot of deeds and who could ancient strata of the European Great Moth- socially admitted - and even invoked - neces-
tell if these are to matter only for the human ers, superposed by Celtic isomorphous divini- sity: a child does born and his life needs a
part, or whether they might have some conse- ties. As for us, we do believe that fairies rep- succession of causes and effects to support
quences for the “others” also? What we do resent some other dimension of our human his earthly voyage, that only the so called
know is that they magically steal the manna - common mental structure, impossible to trace “weaving deity” of the history of religions
that is the milk from the cow or the harvest in the history of humanity by means of can provide. In extension, the principle pas-
from the field, the love from the lovers or the origin, filiations and effects, as it does rep- sage periods in his life will be endangered,
man from his wife and children; in this case resent one of the most general constant in but obliged to some reaction, from the part
we deal with living ghosts (in Romanian: stri- our lives. Such affirmation can be sustained of other entities from the rich mythological
goi - strigoaice, bosorcai, bosarci, etc), with exactly with that non-aulic traditional Roma- patrimony, not only Romanian; for example,
sorcerers (vrajitoare, farmecatoare), or with nian material, that abounds in semi divinities the concept of Fate madrine, implicated at
dead ghosts (strigoi, moroi ) which generally with extremely wide attributions, faces, com- first to early medieval texts (v. L.Harf-Lanc-
trouble their families in extent of their petences, relationships with the mortals and ner, 1989, p.20-28), helps us generalize, with
household. They command over the powers resulting interaction with these last ones. the help of universal mythology, the whole
of nature: so we have the technicians of Analyzing the totality of entities that can symptomatology of the godmother fairy, from
weather-changing, having the appearance of be recalled with the name of fairies into the legend to the fairy-tale and then back
beggars for ordinary people, but in reality Romanian mythology, we find an impressive to the personal-experience tales. Further on,
testers of these last ones’ harmony as parts number of life-situations that cannot pass we find passage rites on puberty described
of the universe (solomonari, solomani, zgrim- without the supposition of some external, as magical encounters with odd personages;
intesi, zgribuntesi), the patron of the forest other than human, implication. From the very for the western imagery, these ones follow
(Muma Padurii, Mama Padurii), the patron birth of the child, we find him visited by the dichotomy Fata Melusiniana Fata Morga-
- sheperd - of wolves (valva lupilor, pastorul the Fates, the three (?) Weird / Fatal Sisters niana (L.Harf-Lancner, op.cit.), abundantly
lupilor), the patrons of the wilderness of (in Romanian: Ursitoare, Ursoane, Ursatori, exemplified by the Italian fairy-tales collected
waters (valva apelor, stima apelor), of the Ursite, Ursoaice, Ursoni, etc); they are said to by Italo Calvino (1975). Also characteristic
beasts (valvu iepurilor, e.g.), of the mine come in the first nights after the birth of the for the western fairy-tale is the effort to point
(valva baii) and of the deserted, harvested, child and, very careful to seize the attention out the origin and the homeland of fairies -
field (iepurele, duhul holdei). And last, but that the parents and the midwife have shown with evident bookish cult literature influences
not least, we have the fairies. toward them - in the form of adequate food - whereas Romanian stories point onto the
The discussion surrounding fairies in gen- and drink and service - began to weave the subject not in order to describe the “fairy-
eral could last for books and years. They were linen of his life with every significant detail. saga” but in order to describe and motivate
subsequently considered heiress of antique Their showing in is highly prized, but usually human behavior. Let’s take an example:
divinities of the destiny or nevertheless there is a terrible interdiction hanging above there are also some Italian fairy-tales which

52 WORLD of ART Special iSSue 2000