The Ispas Painting
100x160cm, acrylics on canvas
A custom specific to Sibiel, Mărginimea Sibiului is held on the day of Ispas. Children, young boys on decorated horses, and girls dressed in their traditional holiday attire, gather and surround the crosses (”troițe”) in the village, while singing this particular traditional song:
“Holy Cross, don’t go
‘Cause the young come with good horses
And maidens with crowns
And priests with prayers,
And the old with bows”.
This custom completes the service held on that day, for the Ascension of the Lord, for the commemoration of heroes and for the prosperity of the crops. All of the participants wear lovage bunches around their waists, the plant that on this day, through the consecration at the church, gains protective and abundance properties.
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