Iele

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The iele are feminine

.

Locations

The iele are said to live in the sky, in forests, in caves and on isolated mountain cliffs, and reported to have been seen bathing in the springs or at crossroads. From this point of view, the Iele are similar to the Ancient Greek

Thracian

origin, who guards crossroads.

Activities

They mostly appear at night by moonlight, as dancing

Bacchantes

.

Scorching

The place where they had danced would after remain carbonized, with the grass incapable of growing on the trodden ground, and with the leaves of the surrounding trees scorched. Later, when grass would finally grow, it would have a red or dark-green color, the animals would not eat it, but instead mushrooms would thrive on it.

Names

knows nine of these pseudonyms, from which she makes combinations, and which are the basis for spells.

Character

The iele are said not to be solitary creatures, but gather in groups in the air, where they can fly with or without wings; they can travel with incredible speeds, either on their own, or with chariots of fire. The iele appear sometimes with bodies, at other times only as immaterial spirits. They are young and beautiful, voluptuous immortals, their frenzy causing delirium in onlookers, and with bad tempers, but not being necessarily evil. They come in groups of three or seven. This version is mostly found in Oltenia, were three Iele are considered the daughters of Alexander the Great, called Catrina, Zalina and Marina.

Sometimes evil

They are not generally considered evil genii: they resort to revenge only when they are provoked, offended, seen while they dance, when people step on the trodden ground left behind by their dance, sleep under a tree which the Iele consider as their property, drink from the springs or wells used by them. Terrible punishments are inflicted upon the ones who refuse their invitation to dance, or the ones who mimic their movements. The one who randomly hears their songs becomes instantly mute. A main characteristic is their beautiful voices which are used to enchant their listeners, just like the Sirens from ancient Greek mythology. Invisible to humans, there are however certain moments when they can be seen by mortals, such as when they dance at night. When this happens, they abduct the victim, punishing the "guilty" one with magical spells, after they previously caused him to fall into sleep with the sounds and the vertigo of the frenetic Hora, which they dance around their victim, who is abducted, to disappear forever without a trace.

Vengeance

The iele are also believed to be agents of revenge for

.

Appeasing the Iele

To please the iele, people dedicated festival days to them: the

, people and cattle would suffer mysterious deaths or become paralyzed and crippled, hail would fall, rivers would flood, trees would wither, and houses would catch fire.

People also invented cures against the iele, either preventive or exorcistic in nature: garlic and mugwort worn around the waist, in the bosom, or hung from the hat; or hanging the skull of a horse on a pole in front of the house. The most important cure is the dance of Călușari. This custom was the subject of an episode of the popular TV series, The X-Files (see The Calusari).

Comparison with other mythologies

The same common Indo-European mythological base is suggested by the close resemblance with the Nordic

.

Modern sightings

There is some discussion on the topic that an episode of "Destination Truth"; which had a follow-up episode may have encountered Iele. The Romanian forest episode, in the episode they believed they were encountering ghosts or aliens. Some viewers went to the online boards for the show discussing that the events and behavior closely tied with the Iele.

Footnotes

Bibliography

• Victor Kernbach, Dicţionar de mitologie generală, Ed. Albatros, București, 1995, pp. 256–257.