The Good People’s Easter (Dead People’s Monday)
The Good People’s Easter is celebrated a week after the Easter, on Monday, right after Thomas’ Sunday. In the Romanian tradition, the Good People are the ancient’s spirits, which live between the two worlds, where Saturday’s water spills into the Earth. The Good People are religious people and fast each time they should, according to the traditions. However they are not aware of the day when Easter is celebrated until they see remains of the painted eggs on the water, about eight days later.
According to the legend, the Good People have a small stature, do not wear any kind of clothes and are covered by hair. The boys are taken care of by the mothers until they are able to live by themselves. After that, they live in isolation, fasting and praying along the other men. They meet with the women only one time each year, on Good People’s Easter.
According to the belief and the stories of the people in Bucovina, the good people are a Christian nation who lives in a far away country. In some villages in Bucovina it is believed that the good people live on banks of some big rivers or on isles. Other legends say that these Christians are locked up in prison for life and learn about the holy holiday only when they see out the windows of their prison floating egg shells. There are some villagers who believe that the good people live at the border line of Heaven and that in their country it is always hot.
It is said that the good people don’t live in houses, but in the shades provided by trees and feed on fruits. Their ancestor is Sift, the son of Adam and they are kind and pious. Because they pray non stop to God they are kept safe from sin and when they die they go to Heaven and spend their existence with the Saints. The villagers from Bucovina claim that the Good People’s Easter is 4 days later then ours and that the good people fast longer then we do. The women from Bocuvina have the custom to keep all the egg shells from the eggs and when they have baked the matzoth, on Saturday’s Easter throw the egg shell in a river. The egg shells reach the country on the border line with Heaven, where they turn into whole eggs and are eaten by the good people, this way letting the good people know it is time to celebrate Easter. In this fourth day after the Orthodox Easter, people go to picnics with all kinds of foods and what remains is left there so that those who were killed or have drowned could eat (those who didn’t receive a Christian funeral). Even though these customs are specific to Bucovina they can also be found in Moldova, Basarabia and Maramures.
In some regions (Bucovina, Transylvania), there is a tradition called “the wetting”. On Monday morning, the boys take a bucket of water and go to the houses of the unmarried girls. If they found them sleeping, the boys throw water on them. As it is believed that those girls will marry soon, they reward the boys who had wetted them by giving them the most beautiful decorated eggs and “pasca” or cake. In some places, the boys catch the girls when they go out from the house and take them to the fountain or to the river, where they wet them, even throwing them in the water.
According to one of the legends, once upon a time a Christian girl was heading toward the market, carrying a basket of eggs, in order to sell them. On her way she met a pagan girl who wanted to buy her eggs, but lacked the appropriate money. The girl asked her to accompany her home, thus being able to pay. On their way the Christian girl tried to convert the pagan to her religion, but she resisted. “I will believe in Christ only if these eggs here will turn red.” To their amazement, that very thing happened and the girls fainted in fear. Some nearby boys noticed them and tried to revive them, splashing the girls with water. Upon their awakening, the girls offered the red eggs to the boys, as a thank you gift.