The Ispas and the "Horses' Easter", Romanian traditional celebrations

The mythical character that supposedly witnessed the rise of the Lord is celebrated six weeks after Easter on a Thursday. His name is Ispas. Ispas was a merry man and true believers try to be as cheerful as possible. He is celebrated as a saint patron of the home in Muntenia, Moldova and Oltenia. On the Ispas day, sacrifices are performed and hair from the tips of cattle tails is cut. In the old days, there were fairs where women were sold to young pretenders.

When a man dies, his soul goes to Heaven. Some of the souls get lost on their way up and get stuck on Earth. These souls become “Moroi” or “Strigoi” (ghosts). On Ispas day, they can harm people and cattle unless certain magic rituals are performed. To insure that such a thing will not happen, people gather buds of special flowers and have them baptised. Then they strike with them the people and cattle that are more likely to be haunted by the “Moroi.” People plant corn during this day and the lambs are marked. The ritual greeting is Christian: “Christ has resurrected!” and “He really did resurrect!” The Horses’ Easter is a celebration dedicated to … horses. The date is not fixed. The celebration is held the first Thursday, six weeks after Easter (in some parts it is called The Mares’ Thursday) when all horses are let loose to graze wherever they might choose to and it is the only day that they can have all the grass they want. It seems that once, the Horses’ Easter was a day for settling scores – much like a payday. This was the day that deals were concluded and debts were paid. As opposed to Sangiorz (April 23) and Samedru (October 26) that are celebrations with a fixed date, the Ispas was mobile. That is the reason why the celebration lost its original meaning and importance and is now used to mock people. “On Horses’ Easter Day” now means that old debts will never be paid. Some stories explain the new meaning of the celebration in a different matter. It appears that the Virgin Mary has cursed all horses because their constant trotting annoyed her while she was giving birth to Jesus.