Articole din mai multe domenii, digitizate la solicitarea autorilor și a utilizatorilor, în scop didactic și de cercetare. http://digital-library.ulbsibiu.ro:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/3540 2026-04-16T23:59:01Z 2026-04-16T23:59:01Z Cosma, Valer Simion http://digital-library.ulbsibiu.ro:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/3991 2025-01-30T21:21:36Z 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Curses, Incantations, and the Undoing of Spells. The Romanian Priest as Enchanter (Transylvania, 19th Century) Authors: Cosma, Valer Simion Abstract: In this study, I propose an analysis of a small piece of this complex topic, probably one of the most delicate subjects, namely how the Romanian priest might be considered as an enchanter in some specific situations, and the connection between charms and church benedictions, rituals and healing and apotropaic prayers. I intend to approach mainly the Orthodox priest and the Orthodox doctrine and liturgical literature, taking into consideration the church view on charms, charming and witchcraft. Also, I present some cases involving Greek-Catholic priests, to reflect similitudes that exist at the level of “practiced religion”. Description: Cosma, Valer Simion. Curses, Incantations, and the Undoing of Spells. The Romanian Priest as Enchanter (Transylvania, 19th Century). In: Charms and Charming. Studies on Magic in Everyday Life (pp.45-69). Publisher: Inštitut za slovensko narodopisje, Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU

2019-01-01T00:00:00Z Cosma, Valer Simion http://digital-library.ulbsibiu.ro:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/3990 2025-01-30T20:54:03Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Usage of the St Basil Prayers in Transylvania by the end of the 19th century Authors: Cosma, Valer Simion Abstract: The Christian Churches provide their ministers and believers with a complex set of prayers, rituals, and practices, intended to solve the various problems that an individual, family, or community may encounter in everyday life. An analysis of these services in their social and cultural contexts reveals fundamental aspects of religious life, as well as their role in explaining and dealing with issues such as diseases, marriage, thefts, and other woes. This paper aims to discuss the use of the Prayers of Saint Basil the Great in dealing with a wide range of problems that can be encountered by a believer. I will focus on the case of a Greek Catholic priest from Blaj (Transylvania) Monastery, who kept a diary about his liturgical activity in the final decades of the 19th century. In the first part of my paper, I intend to examine his records, in order to reveal which were the most required and recommended prayers and rituals, which were the most frequent situations and problems that required the Prayers of Saint Basil the Great, and which were the most frequent combinations of rituals, prayers, and practices either required by the believers, or recommended by the priest himself. Based on the conclusions drawn in the first part, I will discuss the relation between the Prayers of Saint Basil the Great and the complex set of charms and maledictions that, according to folk beliefs and Church tradition, could harm people in various ways and degrees – from a simple disease, or misfortune, to demonic possession and death. Description: Cosma, Valer Simion. Usage of the St Basil Prayers in Transylvania by the end of the 19th century. În: Revista de Etnografie și Folclor, nr. 1-2, 2021, p. 67-83.

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Cosma, Valer Simion http://digital-library.ulbsibiu.ro:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/3989 2025-01-30T20:37:25Z 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Ioan Halmaghi and the “wondrous craft” of the Păscălie. Bibliomancy and the calculation systems of eastern chronology at the end of the eighteenth century Authors: Cosma, Valer Simion Abstract: Along with 19th-century folklore material, church documents from the 18th and 19th centuries emphasize the Păscălia as a book used in bibliomancy. In this study, I aim to explore the originally allowed and designated functions of this writing, and to provide an explanation for why this book was associated with the world of bibliomancy in both folklore and in the offi cially sanctioned culture of the Uniate clergy from Transylvania. Furthermore, by focusing on the specifi c case of the Uniate vicar Ioan Halmaghi, who was educated in Roman-Catholic institutions, I set out to explore the attitude of the elite clergy toward this text, and to highlight how a corpus of pre-modern and un-Western knowledge was simply ejected into the sphere of magic and superstition. Description: Cosma, Valer Simion. Ioan Halmaghi and the “wondrous craft” of the Păscălie. Bibliomancy and the calculation systems of eastern chronology at the end of the eighteenth century. In: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 63(1), 129–148 (2018).

2018-01-01T00:00:00Z Cosma, Valer Simion Constantiniu, Theodor http://digital-library.ulbsibiu.ro:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/3987 2025-01-30T20:18:41Z 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: “It Was All that I Could Think of.” Migration, Youth, and Folkloric Entertainment in Rural Romania Authors: Cosma, Valer Simion; Constantiniu, Theodor Abstract: A hybrid that originated in the traditional peasant music, Romanian popular music (muzică populară), as it is known from radio broadcasts, TV shows or live performances from all around the country, was developed by mixing the village music of the twentieth century with techniques and principles borrowed from the classical repertoire and other light genres. Muzica populară emerged in the interwar years, but was perfected and regulated by the communist regime, becoming one of the favorite genres of the rural and urban working class and, nowadays, it continues to have a great appeal among all age categories. Our aim was to discover the motivations that lead the village youth of Romania to involve themselves in activities dealing with muzica populară, in particular, or with folklore and traditions, in general. To accomplish this, we conducted several interviews with young people from Sălaj county, from which a few patterns emerged: the rapid familiarization with the genre due to specific TV channels; the acquired taste due to grandparents raising their grandchildren in the absence of the parents who migrated in the 2000s; the expressed devotion to the local culture and their willingness and duty to preserve and promote it. We can also explain the success of muzică populară among young people by structural factors that are at work in the whole society, namely the lack of interest of post-communist authorities in building and/or maintaining a cultural and educational infrastructure in the rural areas. Thus, this paper aims to explore contemporary rural pop culture by considering the connection between the deterioration of the cultural infrastructure in rural areas, transnational migration and the exponential development of an industry devoted to the recent muzică populară. Description: Cosma Valer Simion; Constantiniu Theodor. “It Was All that I Could Think of.” Migration, Youth, and Folkloric Entertainment in Rural Romania. In: STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXVII, 1, March, 2022, p. 55 - 80 DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2022.1.03

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