Muma Pădurii
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In
She can be associated with
Etymology
Muma Pădurii literally means "mother of the forest", though "mumă" is an archaic version of "mamă" (mother), which has a fairy tale overtone for the Romanian reader (somewhat analogous to using the archaic pronouns like "thou" and "thy" in English). A few other words, typically protagonists of folktales, have this effect.
Characteristics
Muma Pădurii is a spirit of the forest in a very ugly and old woman's body. Sometimes she has the ability to change her shape. She lives in a dark, dreadful, hidden little house.
She is thought to attack children and because of this a large variety of
This (step-) mother of the forest kidnaps little children and enslaves them. In one popular story, at some point, she tries to boil a little girl alive in a soup. However the little girl's brother outsmarts Muma Pădurii and pushes the woman-monster in the oven instead, similar to the story of Hansel and Gretel. The story ends on a happy note when all kids are free to go back to their parents.
In modern culture
Instead of saying "She's ugly", Romanians sometimes say "She looks like Muma Pădurii".
See also
- Culture of Romania
- Religion in Romania
- Baba Yaga
- Black Annis
- Boo Hag
- Crone
- Hag
- Mother Nature
- Nocnitsa
- Onibaba (folklore)
- The Witch (fairy tale)
References
- Lăzărescu, George, Dicţionar de mitologie. Dicţionarele Editurii Ion Creangă, București, 1979.
External links
- (in English) Muma Pădurii și Păduroiul [dead link]
- (in Romanian) Fata si Muma Padurii Archived 2016-10-18 at the Wayback Machine