Caloian
- For the king, see: king golopov
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Caloian is a rain ritual in Romania, similar in some ways to Paparuda. It is mostly found in Wallachia (Southern part of Romania). The origin of this ritual, as many other local popular beliefs and practices, precedes the spreading of Christianity, although it was in time associated with the period of the Orthodox Easter.
The ritual is celebrated in early spring as a fertilization ritual, or whenever around the year during the time of severe drought or excessive rain. Young girls make one to several clay dolls, resembling male figures, most important being either "Father of the Sun" or the "Mother of the Rain", depending on the purpose of the ritual. This doll is dressed in common clothes, placed on a wooden board or in an improvised tree-bark coffin, ornamented with flowers and so pursuits a mock-up of the traditional burial ritual, officiated by children. The suite marches through crop fields, around water courses and wells until the "caloian" gets to be buried. After three days, the "caloian" is unearthed, returned to the village and mourned again until it is finally set loose to float on the water of a river, lake or thrown into a well. This ceremony being ended, the young girls who had attained the ceremony were baking a special cake called "ghismán" or "ghizman" (from Ghetsemane, as this ritual was often related to the Easter period) which was shared with the rest of the children.
See also