Caloian
deity sky Romanian single tradition · 1
Caloian is 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 Caloian litany usually refers to the figure being sent off to the skies to unlock rain, and buried so that it may be reborn.
When
- First attested
- 1000 BCE
- Attested period
- 0 – 1990
- Historical notes
- May have originated with Dacian strands of Paleo-Balkan mythology.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Iene, Dodola, Yarilo, Gherman, Tatăl Soarelui, Păpărugă, Attis, Morena, Baldr, Adonis, Dumuzid, Xipe-Totec
- consort of
- Caloiță
- has aspect
- zâne, Muma ploii, Ploița, Păpușa, Mama secetei
Mentioned by
Sources
wikipedia (1)
Source passages
“Săulescu was the first to record the Caloian as he witnessed it in Western Moldavia. In 1915, Burada was aware of it existing only in "certain villages" of Muntenia—split between Brăila, Buzău and Ialomița counties—and in only one locality of Western Moldavia—namely Hermeziu, Iași County.”
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