The tradition has it that those who sin and do not respect the Rusalii days are punished by the Iele, who make them go crazy or make them look ugly, the only remedy for the diseases left by the Iele being dry wormwood put under the pillow. It is not indicated to sleep outside during the Rusalii night, to go to the fountains or at crossroads. During this day, lime branches and wallnut tree leaves are brought to the church. After being sanctified, these are hanged at houses eaves or at icons.

A unique folk tradition in the country gathers during Rusalii, in Batin, a place nearby Cluj, hundreds of tourists. The name of the tradition is called “impanatul boului” and it consists of a procession which takes place on the roads of the village, the main character being an ox adorned with garland of flowers. In front of the church, the priest sanctifies it and then pours drinks to the people. The ox is at a certain moment released and, according to the tradition, a maiden “suppresses” it, and goes three times around a table with it being, in the villagers’ cheers. The tradition also mentions that the girl will marry within one year.

After Rusalii, the villagers from the Valley of Gurghiu –Mures District- are celebrating all year the tradition called “watering the wives”. According to the tradition, only those women who will be watered will be healthier and more beautiful. Rusaliile punish people that commit bad deeds, those that don’t respect the holidays, those that sleep underneath the trees or bring water from the fountain after the night falls; they bring them up in whirl, they make them look ugly or transform their faces. If a human is seen by the Rusalii that are dancing or if he steps on the place they had been dancing, he falls ill with the disease traditionally called “taken by Rusalii”.

One can get rid of these diseases through spell pronounced during Rusalii, reading from Holy Books at the Monastery, entering the Horse’s Dance or jumping over the rock that the Horses dancers put on the Earth. After they leave the tombs during the Great Thursday and spend the Easter with the living, Rusalliile refuse to go back to their places. To make them go, people give away food or objects in their name during Mosii de Vara. During their great Feasts (Sfredelul Rusaliilor, Rusalii, the first day of Saint’s Peter Lent), when these spirits of the dead became extremely dangerous, people used to wear garlic or wormwood at their belt or they entered in the Dance of the Hores (Hora Calusului) in the Rusalii Day. The magic-ritual remedy against the diseases caused by the Rusalii women was to be found in the Southern part of the country and in Moldova, namely the Horsemen (Calusarii). It was also The Horsemen (Calusarii) who made them go away from the world of the living.

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