Sanzienele
The Encyclopedic Dictionary defines Sanziene or Dragaica as being either a traditional holiday which is part of the agrarian cycle, that celebrates the ripening of the grain and which is in turn celebrated every year on the 24th of June, or an old traditional dance interpreted monomial by a group of girls and the tune on which it is danced; the name of each of the girls involved in this dance or evil fairies that maim people; pixies. The last of these definitions is rather controversial because in some areas these Sanziene are considered evil fairies while in other areas they are thought of as being good fairies, the opposite of pixies.
Sanziana is also a flower, a substitute of the agrarian goddess who bears the same name that plays an important part in the magic rituals and customs that take place on the 24th of June. Wearing a coronet made of Sanziene, a virgin plays the role of the goddess of crops during the agrarian dance called Dragaica’s dance. A coronet of Sanziene hung up from windows, gate pillars, land marks and cemetery crosses protects people, tombs and cornfields from evil forces; thrown on the roofs of houses and barns it predicts what will happen to the person who made it during the following year. On the other side, a girl that puts a blossomed Sanziana on the Sanziene night under her pillow will dream her predestined husband. If a woman wears it on her waist she will not have a backache during harvest. If it will be worn by young girls or wives on their hair or bosom it will make them more attractive and loving. Sanziana has also become an important agricultural reference point due to its unique ability to blossom during the longest of the year. This amazing flower is also supposed to have powerful healing abilities.
Another meaning to the word Sanziene would be that of fantastic beings that form Dragaica’ s procession (Dragaica = agrarian goddess who is celebrated on the day of summer solstice when the flower that bears her name blossoms; probably taken from Greek mythology where she is called Demeter), while in other regions they represent young virgins that have been kidnapped by dragons and taken to their palaces, places where no man has ever stepped foot. During the night of Sanziene (23rd / 24th of June) while they float trough the air or walk on earth, they sing and dance, make married women more fertile, help animals breed, spray cures and smell on flowers, heal diseases, they end suffering and protect the fields from hail and storms. It is said that if anyone sees their dance, he/she will go crazy.
Along with other traditional holidays, Sanziene day represents more than a simple agrarian holiday, it is one of the few days with a true mystical meaning, depending on the area in which it is celebrated. We must not forget that Sanziene day is one of the few Romanian holidays left untouched.