BELIEFS, RITUALS AND SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING PREGNANCY, BIRTH AND BAPTISM IN CAJVANA (BUKOVINA)
BELIEFS, RITUALS AND SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING PREGNANCY, BIRTH AND BAPTISM IN CAJVANA (BUKOVINA)

Summary/Abstract: Cajvana is a place of Bukovina where the ritual of birth represents a complex process with multiple cultural, psychological and social implications. The study presents rituals, superstitions and magical practices performed during pregnancy, birth, the postpartum period, baptism or the first anniversary of child, when the first lock of hair is symbolically cut, all specific of the Cajvana, the department of Suceava. The present thesis focuses on the prohibitions that a woman should obey during her pregnancy or postpartum period, and also on the ritual acts of mother and child protection facing the negative forces exerted in the community of the Cajvana. The roles of the mother, of the midwife and of the godparents are enhanced. At the same time, the present paper catches a glimpse at changes that have occurred within this ceremony during the past decades, that is the passage from traditional to modern. The importance of the ritual feast held on the occasion of the baby’s baptism is stressed on, since it plays the part of integrating the new-born into the community and also establishes new social relations. The baby’s first bath after the baptism, had in the presence of their godparents, and their anointing with myrrh are the symbolic events of another ceremony that has profound ritual implications for the baby and the mother. In fact, the whole birth ritual is centered around female people. The birth ritual, as well as other passage rituals represent a formation tool of the social behaviour, being the peak of the main events in a man’s life.

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