Romanian mythology

thumb|Obverse and reverse|Reverse of a commemorative 50 [[Moldovan lei coin dedicated to Miorița|alt=A coin face featuring a shepherd sitting on the ground playing a flute. A sheep looks up to a round astral object in the sky. A curved line on the background suggests a mountain range. The word MIORIȚA in an archaic print type follows the curve of the coin edge.]] "Miorița" (ad. mioriță, lit. 'The Little Ewe Lamb'), also transliterated as "Mioritza", is an old Romanian pastoral ballad considered to be one of the most important pieces of Romanian folklore. It has numerous versions with quite dif

Romanian mythical figure

thumb|Romanian stamp depicting Făt-Frumos slaying zmeu

mythological figure

Romanian fairy tale

mythological figure

A moroi (sometimes moroii in modern fiction; pl. moroi) is a type of vampire or ghost in Romanian folklore. A female moroi is called a moroaică (pl. moroaice). In some versions, a moroi is a phantom of a dead person which leaves the grave to draw energy from the living.

Păcală (Romanian, from a păcăli, "to dupe"; Romanian Cyrillic: Пъкалъ; sometimes rendered Pâcală or Pîcală) is a fictional character in Romanian folklore, literature and humor. Primarily associated with Transylvania and Oltenia, he is depicted as a native of Vaideeni, located in an area of contact between those two regions. An irreverent young man, seemingly a peasant, he reserves contempt and irony for the village authorities (whether Orthodox priest, boyar or judge), but often plays the fool, or displays an erratic and criminal behavior that scholars attribute to the eclecticism of sources w

Romanian Christmas folkloric character

Romanian fairy tale

Zână (plural zâne; zînă and zîne, d̦ână and d̦âne in old spellings) is the Romanian equivalent of the Greek Charites or the fairy godmother. They are the opposite of monsters such as Muma Pădurii. These characters make positive appearances in fairy tales and mostly reside in the woods. They can also be considered the Romanian equivalent of fairies and the Germanic elf. They vary in size and appearance and can transform to blend into their surroundings for protection and cover. They can appear openly in the woods and coax travelers to follow them in order to help them find their way. They can a

Zburător or sburător (Romanian word meaning 'flyer') is a supernatural being in Romanian folklore, described as a "roving spirit who makes love to maidens by night".

Caloian (also Calian(i), Caloiță, Scaloian, Gherman, or Iene) was a rainmaking and fertility rite in Romania, similar in some ways to Dodola. Its namesake is a clay effigy, whose sculpting, funeral, exhumation, and eventual destruction are centerpieces of the display. The source of this ritual, as is the case with those of many other local popular beliefs and practices, precedes the introduction of Christianity, although it came in time to be associated with Orthodox Easter or with the Feast of the Ascension. In some variants it was performed on a precisely calculated day two to three weeks af

A spiriduș in Romanian mythology is said to be a "demon incarnate", or a domestic spirit, oftentimes taking the form of an avian familiar, such as hens, crows, or hunting birds. The purpose of these familiars once they're summoned, is to act as messengers or intermediaries between the master of the home in which the spiriduș was born, and the devil. The master can use the spiriduș to request from the devil any mortal desire, in return for their soul in the afterlife.

The iele are feminine mythical creatures in Romanian mythology. There are several differing descriptions of their characteristics. Often they are described as faeries (zâne in Romanian), with great seductive power over men, with magic skills and attributes similar to nymphs, naiads and dryads found in Greek mythology.