Magia manei în cultura populară din Maramureș

Abstract

"The magic of manna in the folk culture of Maramureş Based on our direct field research, we have dedicated this study to a very rich chapter of magic, that of manna (abundance), as it appears in the folk culture of Maramureş. In the first part we analyzed the concept of the manna in the Romanian and the universal folk culture, but also the categories of rites through which the magic of the abundance is performed. We reserved the investigation part to the rites of defense, conservation and magical stimulation of the fields production. In this chapter we have focused on the rites that are practiced at certain times considered by people to be critical : the beginning of ploughing and sewing. We have reserved due space to the study of the rites related to the abundance of the fields in the spring customs, which represent a large category, then in the rites within the winter customs. A large of our research was dedicated to the rites related to the defense and magical stimulation of animal products abundance. In this chapter too, we focused on the rites dedicated to critical moments: taking out the sheep, climbing the sheep in the mountains, the first milking. In our research, we have dealt extensively with the categories of rites related to the defense and stimulation of cow milk production. A chapter of our study approaches the magical practices of stimulating tree fruits abundance, some preserved in traditional customs such as the threat to the barren tree. In this chapter we analyzed reminiscences of the stimulation of the manna of the trees in the old carols, such as ""White apple flowers"". Another chapter of our research is dedicated to the rites of stimulating the abundance of poultry products. A complex chapter is devoted to the rites of taking away the manna of milking animals. I have reserved an equally extensive chapter to the rites of getting back the manna of milking animals, at the end of the research. Keywords: manna, rite, animal, custom, tree "