Romanian Cosmogony IV, The lover from the stars

The mythical creatures of the night are usually frightening and Maleficent, but there is one, a fascinating creature, born from unshared love, so attractive and mysterious like a true prince of the night. He is called Zburătorul, meaning The One Who Flies, a handsome airman tormenting the sleep of young girls and young wives.

According to Romanian mythology, Zburătorul is actually the personification of the intense feelings of erotic desire and longing for a man. He is described as a shooting star, coming down through the chimney or the window, entering a girl’s room in the shape of an incredibly handsome man and, sometimes, in the shape of the man the girl loves. They met and consume their love in the world of dreams but everything is so intense, almost real that the young woman becomes exhausted and obsessively in love.

Some old books even tell stories about young girls haunted by this mysterious man, becoming so desperately in love that they started acting like lunatics, walking down the village streets almost undressed and untidy, obviously exhausted and sometimes semi-conscious. How cruel it must have been for them to be judged by the entire community only because their dreams become their second reality, one full of love and passion. Their fate was even crueler with the girls recently married. They were judged and discredited by the community and by their family, blamed to have a weak will and no love or respect for the working, responsible husband. But Zburătorul was not an ordinary lover, he developed obsessions and curing this love-illness was a hard thing to do.

Even now, in some remote villages, there are few people remembering such women who were at the edge of losing their minds or their marriages forever. Luckily, there were certain chosen people, known as good sorcerers, that with the permission of the possessed girls and with a bit of magic succeeded in healing them. It is said that they used magic words that asked to Zburător to leave, to hide and never to return. They also used magic plants like wild garlic, Mandrake, lovage or deer grass to create strong potions to bathe the women for 3 days in a row. At the end of this ritual, the girls were cured, the Zburător was gone, and life kept going on as usual.

If sorcerers are known to have disappeared long ago, the love stories and passionate dreams certainly are not. Maybe Zburătorul adapted to our modern times and uses other ways of tormenting young women’s love.[1]

[1]https://rolandia.eu/en/blog/romanian-myths-legends/romanian-mythology-3-legends-you-might-not-have-known