The descântec (from the Latin incantare — «to sing over») is a rhythmic formula spoken to heal an affliction: the evil eye, pain, fear, shame or a burn. It is the «spoken medicine» of the Romanian village, a direct inheritance from the Dacian world — the Dacian priests, described by the Romans as «mortali inter immortales», were, according to many hypotheses, precisely incantation healers.
What an incantation looks like
The structure is almost always the same: an invocation («It is not I who speak the incantation, but Holy Mary»), a symbolic «movement» (water clearing, pain «departing into the forest, into the sea») and a firm ending («where it came from, there it shall go — and never return»). The formulas are whispered three or nine times, «with the soul» — and never «for the sake of being heard».
Who speaks the incantations
The incantation healer is usually an elderly woman who inherited the «gift» — from another incantation healer, at a precise moment (often on her deathbed or «behind locked doors»). The classic rule: the incantation is not sold, shown to the curious or spoken «as a joke». Whoever reveals it needlessly loses it.
The best-known incantations
- The incantation against the evil eye — with water and matches (see the article about the evil eye);
- The incantation for washing away shame — for children who have «taken fright»;
- The blood incantation — spoken over a wound: «may it neither be seen nor bleed»;
- The burn incantation — with the palm above the burn;
- The fir-tree incantation — for toothache and headache;
- The love incantation — the most dangerous; here tradition approaches witchcraft and the Church firmly rejects it.
Incantation and prayer — conflict or continuity?
Most Romanian folk incantations invoke God, the Mother of God and the saints — evidence of the Christianisation of pagan layers. The Church tolerates the incantation «that asks God for healing» and rejects formulas «that call spirits». In practice, the village kept both: the priest for the soul, the incantation healer for the body — and, in winter, both for the animals.
Frequently asked questions
Are there written incantations? Yes — the collections of Simion Florea Marian («Descântece poporane române», 1886) and Artur Gorovei published thousands of texts as ethnographic documents. They are read as a living museum of a world, not as a recipe book.
Can I speak incantations on my own? Tradition says that an incantation «learned from a book» does not work — only one received directly from someone who in turn received it themselves.
