PREHISTORIC
PART
6 –
Ch.XXXVIII
The
Great Pelasgian empire
The
memory of Saturn in Romanian historical traditions.
XXXVIII.
1. The Golden Age of Saturn in religious carols of the Romanian people.
In the religious carols
and legends of the Romanian people, Saturn
figures under the names Craciun, old
Craciun, Mos Craciun and Mos Craciun
the old.
Mos Craciun had
been, as a folk tradition from the mountainous regions of Tera Romanesca tells
us, the God of the people, who had dwelt here before the Romanians….and whose
feast day was at the same time of the year in which the Christians celebrate
the Nativity (Galesesci commune, Arges district). According to other folk
traditions, Mos Craciun had been a shepherd king: a very rich shepherd, leader
of the shepherds, master of the masters.
According to
ancient traditions, in the times of Saturn was the blessed epoch of humankind,
the Golden Age on earth, when the
power of production of the soil was characterized by an exuberant fertility,
the climate was sweet and the springs longer (ver aeternum, antiquum ver), when
the fields produced by themselves all sorts of fruit, many, and in abundance,
and the people lived without worries, without troubles, without misery, and
with a contented soul (Hesiodus, Op.
v. 109 seqq; Ovid, Metam. I. 89
seqq; Diodorus, I. V. 66).
In the times of
Saturn, writes Plato, the mode of
governing and the mode of life of human society were the happiest, and the fame
of this blessed epoch of the humankind has reached even to us. At that time the
nature offered in abundance everything necessary to life. The true cause of
this state of things was, as it is told, the following: Saturn, understanding
that human nature, left arbitrarily to administer itself, will become insolent
and unjust, decided, after pondering this problem, to place kings and governors
over our states, not common people, but people from a more superior and more
divine genus, as we also do today with our domestic flocks: we do not get oxen to
lead oxen, nor goats to lead goats, but we reign over these species of animals,
we, a more superior animal genus. In this way, Saturn, in his love for the good
of humankind, placed a genus of people, more excellent than us, to govern us,
and these, bearing a great concern for our good, introduced peace, shame, law
obedience, and a widespread rule of justice. In this way they managed to keep
the human genus happy, and in no need to revolt…. That’s why we must imitate in
everything this way of life, which it is said that existed at the time of the
reign of Saturn, and because an immortal spirit exists in us, to follow in
public and in private life the promptings of this spirit, and to manage in the
same way our houses, cities and states (Plato,
Leges, IV. Ed. Didot. II. 324; ibid. Politicus, I. 585-6).
The memory of these
remote and happy times called the “Golden Age of Saturn” echoes even today in traditional carols of the Romanian
people, sung with the occasion of Christmas celebrations.
In these religious popular
hymns are celebrated the perfection and holiness of the ancient customs and the
domestic and public happiness of humanity, in those times of legendary
prosperity called the “good age”.
In regard to the
etymology of the word “Craciun”, some of the modern authors have believed that
this term derives from the Latin adjective crastinus
(dies), the day of tomorrow, or from the words Christi – jejunium, the eve of Christ (Hasdeu, Etym. m. Romaniae, I. 615). These are simple literary
derivations, lacking any historical base. We have here in reality a historical
personality, who represents one of the most illustrious forefathers of the
peoples of Latin origin, considered as the beginner and spreader of human
happiness [1].
[1. Craciun as a proper name seems to have also existed in prehistoric
antiquity. One of the Giants who fought at Phlegra is called Gration
by Apollodorus (Bibl. I.6.2), or
more correctly, according to Pyl and Wieseler, Kration (Stark, Gigantomachie, 14). We find in
the Roman inscriptions of
In Italic
traditions, this glorious figure of the ancient Pelasgian times appears under
the name Saturnus, a word whose
meaning and geographical origin have remained obscure to this day.
Varro, one of the most distinguished Roman
literati, reckoned that the name of Saturn derives from satus, sown field (L. L. V. 64), a simple resemblance of forms, but
not at all a historical derivation. Another etymology is advanced by
Under the influence
of Greek theological ideas,
In the upper parts
of Moldova, as well as in the regions near the Danube delta, the legendary
personality of Saturn is called even today “Craciun satulul” and “Craciun
satul” (TN – satiated), because, as these traditions tell us, Mos Craciun
comes laden with all sorts of good things; he brings abundance and joy to the
people (Cotusca and Suharau communes, Dorohoi district; Dobreni, Nemtu
district; Turcoia, Tulcea district; Teodorescu,
P. p. 31).
It results
therefore that the geographical and historical origin of the name “Saturn” is reduced to the ancient
country of the divine dynasty, the region of the Carpathians.