OBICEIURI CARE LEAGĂ: LEGĂMÂNTUL ȘI JURĂMÂNTUL
CUSTOMS THAT BIND TOGETHER: THE OATH AND THE PLEDGE

Summary/Abstract: The traditional culture is pre-eminently an oral one. Within its system, the word had sacred meanings, as the main sign of significances that were communicated and perceived. The tradition sanctioned a handful of texts that are bound to the ritual fund, to a greater or lesser degree. Such is the prayer, the nuptial poem, the fairy tales, the magic charm, the blessing, the oath, the pledge, etc. Using semantic relationships, they are connected to sacredness. Mostly from the second half of the 20th century, many of them lost their functions, significance, and cultural consistency. The author of the paper analyses two of them – the oath and the pledge. These customs develop more than others do purposes and meanings of socio-normative bonds, very important to maintain the proper functioning of the society. The author examines closely customs from various structures of the traditional culture, such as those about human age, stages of the year, the manifestation of social and economic activities, to determine the importance of the oath and of the pledge in the process of articulating and accommodation of communal life. As their names suggest, these forms of cultural practice aim to bind and legalize certain human relationships within the groups and the community, to validate and perpetuate their durability over time. However, after a closer examination, they prove much more complex links on the social, divine, and cosmic levels. It is, in fact, also the case of other cultural forms belonging to the same structures of the traditional culture.

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