The Midsummer Night in Sirnea
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The City Hall of Fundata commune in partnership with the County Council Brasov, the County Centre for Preservation and Promotion of Traditional Culture of Brasov, the Association ?Pro Sirnea? and the All-Round School of Sirnea organized in June 23rd ? 24th the ?Midsummer Night? at the Exhibition Museum of Sirnea. This event took place simultaneously in several other towns of the county, being one of the most beloved Romanian folk holidays. On this occasion customs, traditions and good fairies remind us that flowers have healing powers.
Healing flowers
Mr. Ioan Pumnea, ethno-folklorist, said: ?The Midsummer holiday or Dragaica is celebrated on the birthday of Saint John the Baptist and it was named after the sanziene flower (ladies? bedstraw), a cross shaped yellow and white flower which blooms around the Midsummer?s Day. On this day, according to astronomers, spring which has begun in March ends and summer starts when the nature, crops and flowers thrive. This is the peak period of flowers and harvest season and it is the longest day of the year. Starting with Midsummer Day, ears are ripening especially wheat, barley and oat. On this day flowers have the greatest healing value and the strongest fragrance. Starting with the second day after the Midsummer Day, they start loosing some of their healing power and smell and dry just as harvest ears turn yellow and dry.?
On Midsummer?s day, the cuckoo stops singing
The birds, the sky and the nature are influenced by the Midsummer?s Day. For instance, the cuckoo starts singing around March 25th and it stops singing on Midsummer?s Day. The legend says that on this day the cuckoo pecked a barley seed which choked it and therefore lost its voice. Another phenomenon refers to the evening before Midnight?s Day when the constellation ?Mother hen and her chicks? can be seen for the first time that year. Lightning bugs also appear on Midsummer?s Day.
According to Prof. Radu Fruntes ?People say that on Midsummer?s Night the flowers embrace the stars, a cosmic love. They have full ethereal strength and healing powers. When I was a child I used to pick up bunches of flowers with other kids and on the Midsummer?s Night we would put them under the pillow. The next day my mother would hang them from the icon. Whenever I got sick that year she used to wash me with those flowers.?
Customs and traditions
On this day people pick up ladies? bedstraw flowers, make floral coronets, and the girls throw them on the roofs of the houses. The closer to the top of the house it falls the earlier that girl marries. On the same night girls hang floral coronets on the eaves of houses and put bunches of field flowers all over the house for good fortune, wealth and for the troubles to go away. There is also the custom to use these flowers for bathing new-born babies to keep away diseases and bad things. The girls also make flower belts. They are believed to heal back pains. In the past, on this night, the girls went out naked on the field walking on morning rain believed to have healing qualities.
