PART 1 - Ch.VI.3
(The white Monastery with nine altars)
VI. 3. Romanian traditions about the
Apart from the holiness of the White
Monastery from the mouths of the
In prehistoric antiquity,
In a remote historic epoch,
At the centre of this island rose
the mountain, or the hill, called Cynthos,
not covered with trees (Strabo, Geogr. Lib. X.c.5.2), at the foot of which
Latona gave birth to Lord Apollo (Homer, Hymn. in Apoll. v. 17). And on
the plain, at the foot of the hill, there was the town of
Apollo had a colossal statue here,
at
Apollo, the great divinity of the
Pelasgian race from the islands of the Archipelagos, was celebrated here with a
long series of feasts, parties, games, concerts and spectacles [1].
[1. The cult of Apollo and Diana in Delos had an archaic Pelasgian character.
These two divinities were venerated here exactly as they were at north
of the Lower Danube, and in Latium, as personifications of the two great
celestial bodies, the Sun and the Moon (Strabo, Geogr. XIV.1.6)].
The island of Delos, seen
from a short distance from the port. At the front are seen
the ruins of the temple of Apollo; in the background, on the left, the
acropolis,
or Mount Cynthos; on the right, the ruins of the theatre.
(After “Expedition scientifique de Moree”. T. III. pl,
2, at Duruy, Hist. d. Grecs, II.
159)
At the great festivities celebrated
here, all the cities of the Cyclades sent delegations, bearing gifts, and
choirs of virgins (Strabo, Geogr.
Lib. X.5.2).
And the daughters of the Delens,
after firstly celebrating Apollo, sung then praises to Latona and Diana, and
finally sang hymns about the ancient men and women (Homer, Hymn. in Apoll. v.157.160).
Here took place the solemn meetings
of the Confederation of the maritime Pelasgians (the Ionians), who attended
these feast days together with their chaste and "beautifully girdled”
women (Homer, Hymn in Apoll. v. 147,
154). Here, according to Pliny, was the great fair of the whole
world (H.N.XXXIV, 4.1).
Nobody dared in the old times to
attack the rich and magnificent city of Delos, not even the Persians at the
time of Darius, although it was open and not strengthened with defending walls
(Herodotus, lib. VI.c.97). This
city, according to what Pausanias tells
us, defended its inhabitants only with its religion (lib.III.23.3).
In the old traditions of Romanian
folk poetry, the island of Delos appears under the name “Del” or “the great Del from
the great sea”. Here the Mother of God had a “Church of gold” (for which it was also famous during the Greek
epoch), here was a “high monastery”,
in which 9 priests, 9 deacons and 9 patriarchs said prayers, and to this much
praying, the Mother of God listened with her son in her arms [2].
[2. The archaic temple of Apollo from Delos was on the mountain Cynthos,
as results from Homer (Hymn. in
Apollo v. 141 seqq), and from Virgil’s
The Aeneid (III. 85 seqq), and the later marble temple was built on the plain,
at a short distance from the mountain.
In the Romanian songs we find also a memory of the beautiful lake near
the temple, also mentioned by Herodotus.
From behind the big hill (Del) And as many patriarchs,
Holy sun has risen Who sat and
prayed,
Lighting the
whole world, And
to God sang.
Manna pouring down; But this much prayer,
And on the hill, in a clearing Who
listened to it?
There’s a high monastery; - God’s little mother
But in it who is
sitting? Her son
in her arms …
- Nine priests, nine deacons
(Sbiera,
Colinde, p.9)
From behind that big hill (Del), With the walls of frankincense,
Holy sun has risen With
the doorposts for torches
That is not the holy sun With thresholds of lemon tree…
But a holy monastery,
(Marian,
Sarbatorile la romani, I.p.15)
On the big, big hill (Del) Who
sits in the monastery?
There’s a strong
monastery, - The mother
with her son …
(Sbiera,
Colinde, p.11)
Towards the sunrise There’s a golden chair …
There’s a big hill (Del) Who is seen there?
Behind the big del -
She sits and she’s seen
There’s a golden apple …. Great Saint Mary …
Under the golden apple
(Marian, Descantece, p.188)
Behind the biggest hill (Del),
There on the hill (Del)
Where the sun rises Behind the del,
There’s a fine pond White flowers,
And God is bathing … There’s
a pond
And
God is bathing ….
(Marian, Sarbatorile la romani, I. p.17) (Ibid. p.19)]
The Hyperboreans, Herodotus tells
us (lib. IV.c.33), had sent in the beginning two virgins, accompanied by five
citizens, to take the gifts of their first crops to the temple of Apollo at
Delos. But as these girls failed to return, the Hyperboreans took offence, and
introduced the custom of bringing the gifts only to their border, and from here,
they asked their neighbours to send them, from people to people, until they
reached their destination at Delos.
The memory of these girls being sent
to Delos, as well as their sadness for maybe not coming back, remained until
today in our traditions. Here are some elegiac verses from a folk song from
Transilvania:
How am I not
to cry, sister,
When mother
has decided,
To separate
us,
One to the
hill (Del), towards the sunrise,
Because
there’s a holy place,
And one
towards the sundown,
Because
there’s a hidden place …
(First published in “Osszehasonlito iradalomtortenelmi
lapok” , 1881 (Vol. VI), historical-literary magazine which appeared at Cluj).
These are precious memories about
two famous places of the prehistoric antiquity.
One is about the “Far away hill (Del) from sunrise, where was
a holy place”, or the holy island of Delos, so renowned in antiquity; and
the other historical memory is about a far away place, from sundown, called “the hidden place” - Italy or Latium -
region where the Pelasgian tribes emigrated during many centuries of political
calamities (Virgil,
Aen.VIII.322-323).
Delos Island had its great fame
during the heroic or ante-Homeric times.
The Romanian historical traditions
about the