Ursitoarele
The Weavers
This is part of a yearlong series on the second edition of Colière, the Euclidian Non-Isochronous Rhythms card deck. Each card is a pretext to gloss over one item of Romanian mythology, anthropomorphize it, all aimed at easier visualizing and audiating one particular rhythm.
Today it’s about “Ursitoarele”.
I always thought their name has something to do with Urs (Bear). But no. It comes from the Latin for “premeditate” and also “weave”. Bulgarians have their орисници (orisnitsy), Greeks have their orizo something. So they are the ones that weave. The Fates, Moirai, Parcae. Slavs have their Rodzanice, Suđenice. Up north they have their Norns, Matres, or three Laima. More often then not they are three. Three girls, virgins, old women, apparitions.
Torcătoarea, who furnishes the life thread; Depănătoarea, who spins it into the spindle, and Curmătoarea, who cuts it with scissors, representing the allotted time for the person.[24][25] — wikipedia
It’s a team effort. They know their roles, they keep doing it relentlessly. Witia describes what it takes to insure that they will spin a good Dola for the newborn child in the Slavic folklore traditions. It very much is the same over here, offerings of milk and bread as well as other goodies.
Clearly and thoughtfully express what kind of Dola you hope they spin for your child. Remember that Dola is not about predetermined events such as lifespan, spouse, or number of children. It concerns the child’s innate share of human traits, temperament, talents, and abilities — the inner blueprint that shapes how they will engage with life and find fulfillment in their chosen paths. Choose your words with care: the Rodzanice are not obligated to heed your requests, but if they feel respected and inclined, they may take your hopes into account when spinning the thread. —
The main concern when waiting for them is for them not to be too angry or mad. The midwife is arranging some things on the table for them, but if for example they come “bitten by the dogs”, nothing can appease them.
On the table could be extra yarn for them to weave a longer thread of life. Also there could be the usual bread, salt, wine or water. Besides these essentials, they place some items that will supposedly nudge Ursitoarele towards a particular outcome. A flute for a wannabe shepherd, a pen and paper for a learning career, other item related to common life careers or situations. These days the display is still used for the child to pick something on his first birthday, bypassing or symbolizing Ursitoarele. From a ritual aimed at pacifying them in the hope of a good life for the little one, it became just a fun thing to do at a party. It used to be a somber moment, people waited in silence for the first cock crow on midnight. More on the Cock Rooster here:
Cocoșul
It got replaced by the alarm clock many years ago, but you know he ain’t gonna die! Apparently, the first crow marks midnight, the second is three hours before sunrise, when many crows can be heard again, and you can say it’s the third one. Three times, three crows in the dark and then comes the day. Or so they say.
When they finally come, they scream or sing near the window, or the cradle, things that will come up later in the mother’s dreams and had to be translated or interpreted by the midwife. Alternatively she can interpret what only she can see happened with the things laid out on the table.
Good advice to follow is not to disgust them when they come to your house, so try not being sad and disgusting at least for the first eight days after the child’s birth. Otherwise the child’s life will be quite disgusting.
The story goes that they are feeding on stolen meat. So once in a while one lamb went missing and people said it was taken by Ursitoare. In one instance a shepherd caught one woman in the act and tried to shoot her. But she pleaded that she can give him longer life so he let her live and followed her to a castle full of candles deep in the forest. A candle for each soul. His candle was running low and she fed her more oil. He left content that he will have a longer life.
They go by many other names. Sometimes they are known as Zodiile (as in the zodiac signs). A story involving them follows three of the emperor’s sons being given each a third of the empire, for the big guy to see how they manage and to decide who will be the next in line. The third son is hardworking and good, but things just don’t work out for him. So he leaves into the world to find his luck. He sees an old man tending to his vines, he offers to help, he works alongside this stranger, and he finds out that this is actually God and he is having nightly meetings with Zodiile to decide about the newborns and the dying. The dying are usually forgiven their sins, but the newborns get to live theirs life according to the conditions this old man has each particular day. Sometimes he crashes in a palace, sometimes in a shed. So the young prince figures out he was born in one of the days God had a bad day. So there is nothing to do about it, he goes back to his father, the emperor understands this very well, and assigns him to tend to the cattle or some job around his palace. Then the prince marries some country girl and they both work hard but when asked he says that he is just minding his business, his wife is in charge. Because you see, his wife was born in one such day that her luck was always on the up and up. The moment he took ownership of something it turned to dust. So they just lived happily ever after.
A funny account from Cartea Vâlvelor by Maria Ioniță goes on and tells how some people had Ursitoarele coming for the birth of their daughter and they said she will marry their 9 year old house-elf servant. The boy heard of this and thought she is too young for him, took her and threw her out into a tree piercing her chin on a branch. And he went away. After many years he came back and seeing the girl with the scar on her chin made the connection, told her he did this to her and she poked his eye out on the spot. And they end up marrying each other after all.
In other variations, Ursitoarele are left out completely and the mother should mind her words about the newborn. If she curses or disparages the child, that’s exactly how it’s gonna work out for him. “Mother’s words stick like glue”. Don’t even joke about your bandit of a son, or your little bitch of a daughter. Words matter.
Returning to the basic Ursitoare stories it seems to me they were usually bad tempered, a bit like Maleficent, and not at all like those other three good happy go lucky fat women with wings. So there were three Maleficents to appease each time a kid was born. And this was the default. Not because she was not invited. Just because chances were they are like that. Crazy mad spiteful women. Life was hard.
And in the Christianized stories involving God, he is always helpless when asked to change something they fated. They came before his time. He has no power over them or over their weaving. Some legends of actual saints trying to change outcomes go nowhere because nobody messes with Ursitoarele.
In the old Coliere deck, this is Зодиак (Zodiac), E(12,13). Twelve punches plus a hidden thirteen. Still related to fate and predestination. Relentless like all those other almost-full-blast rhythms.
Ur-si-toa-re-ur-si-toa-re-ur-si-toa-re!
Rod-zan-i-ce-rod-zan-i-ce-rod-zan-i-ce!
1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4!