The three Ursitoare, in Romanian mythology, are supposed to appear three nights after a child's birth to determine the course of its life. They are similar to the Greek Fates or Moirai. [1]
The Fates appearing to baptize children has been part of Romanian tradition for hundreds of years. In recent years there has been a "physical materialization" too of this tradition through the show presented during the name party.
Fieldwork in the Oltenia region found dialectal variations of their names: ursătóri(le), ursitóri(le), ursătoáre(le). [2]
According to ethnologist Pauline Schullerus ( fr), the Ursitoari comes at night to the newborn's cradle and weaves their fate. [3]
Scholarship indicates that similar beings (a trio of women that allot men's fates) also exist in South Slavic folklore, among the Serbians, Macedonians, Croatians, Bulgarians and Montenegrinians. [4]
Ristic, Radomir (2008), "The great spirits of fate", The Crooked Path (2), Pendraig Publishing, ISBN 9780979616891
The three Ursitoare, in Romanian mythology, are supposed to appear three nights after a child's birth to determine the course of its life. They are similar to the Greek Fates or Moirai. [1]
The Fates appearing to baptize children has been part of Romanian tradition for hundreds of years. In recent years there has been a "physical materialization" too of this tradition through the show presented during the name party.
Fieldwork in the Oltenia region found dialectal variations of their names: ursătóri(le), ursitóri(le), ursătoáre(le). [2]
According to ethnologist Pauline Schullerus ( fr), the Ursitoari comes at night to the newborn's cradle and weaves their fate. [3]
Scholarship indicates that similar beings (a trio of women that allot men's fates) also exist in South Slavic folklore, among the Serbians, Macedonians, Croatians, Bulgarians and Montenegrinians. [4]
Ristic, Radomir (2008), "The great spirits of fate", The Crooked Path (2), Pendraig Publishing, ISBN 9780979616891