Night of the ghosts

These days I've been asked if there was a holyday like Halloween in Romania. The truth is, not really. But we have something similar, at least when it comes to it being the night of the ghosts.
It is a month later than Halloween, 29 to 30 of November. And there's no candy or trick or treat involved, sorry! In our tradition, this is a terrifying night. The souls of the dead and some of the souls of the living wonder in the dark. They have this big gatherings at the crossroads, on the villages boundaries, glades and other unholy places.
These souls belong to the dead, they leave their graves for this night. But there are also souls of some of the living people, called "strigoi". Their souls leave their bodies while they are sleeping, to go and meet the souls of the dead. They have long fights, even duels, using beaters, scythes or other tools they steal from people's households.
They say that the souls of the living, after leaving the bodies, transform into a wolf, a snake, frog or some other animal. The souls of the dead-ghosts, spooks- whatever you want to call them, can be violent towards people if they don't protect themselves. When the ghosts have nobody to fight with, they go to the homes of the living people, try to get in through windows, doors or chimneys, and drink the blood of the sleeping families. That is why this night people eat garlic, they rub it on their body, on the chest, back, forehead and at the joints, to prevent the ghosts from drinking their blood. They place garlic on the windows, doors and at the chimneys.
They also say that there are ghosts that have no desire to destroy or hurt people. They just gather in woods and glades and dance in circles all night long, untill the roosters sing. That is actually the time when all spooks, souls of the dead or the living, go back where they left from: in the graves and in the bodies of unsuspecting sleeping men and women.

So there you have it: wanted to be spooked? Believe in Romanian old folklore! :D Most of us don't believe that obviously, but in the countryside there are still some people to keep the tradition, especially the older people. And I guess this is where Bram Stocker found his inspiration to create the well known mith of Dracula. Poor Vlad Tepes! :D He is the real figure behind the mith and he was not a vampire, as you might imagine, but he was a rather bloody ruler. Not something unusual in those times.
This is it for this time.
Crys