The Passing of the Virgin Mary

The Virgin Mary is identified in the Romanian Pantheon as Santamaria Mare (15 August), Santamaria Mica (8 September) and as Maica Precesta. She has the features of the Neolithic Great Goddess and is invoked in bitter times.

In the Christian calendar, the Virgin Mary is the Mother of God. Her celebration day was attached to the celebration of a more ancient goddess. The death and birth of a pagan goddess become the "Passing" and "Birth" of the Virgin Mary.

The celebrations of the Mother of God (Santamaria Mare and Santamaria Mica) and the celebration of Simion Stalpnicul (1 September) and Ziua Crucii (Cross Day), (14 September) form a ritual scenario for the New Biblical Year, feasted near the autumn equinox: the death of the beloved goddess ad her re-birth.

In magical practices, the Mother of God is invoked by young girls who wish healthy children or to have illnesses cured. In the fairy tales she is the one who helped the heroines out of trouble but punishes them terribly when they step out of line; she gives back the sight to the blind, makes poor girls marry beautiful princes. In some traditions, she is identified with the moon.

She takes good care of the Earth, winds and waters. The Mother of God was mysteriously born after her mother smelled a flower or kissed a pear tree leaf. According to another legend, she was born out of a pain of heart because her mother was seven and her father seventy-seven.

Baby Jesus was also miraculously born because of a kiss that she gave to an icon she found in a well. He was born in the stable of Mos Craciun, a paternal god that opposed His coming into the world (he chased her away or he only let her in the barn; cuts the hands of his wife because she helped bring the Baby into the world).

Virgin Mary blessed the cows, sheep and pigs in the barn for keeping her warm and the horse was cursed because it kept munching and trotting during her labour and chewed on the hey Jesus was hidden into. She also cursed the spider because he was better than she was at weaving and the wood crafter that made the cross so heavy for her son.