I love the patriotism here. Blue,
yellow, and red are everywhere. There are all sorts of ways Moldovans celebrates
their country. They have a day to celebrate the colors of the flag. At school,
at any formal event, they wear a tricolor (a ribbon of the three colors of flag
with a pin). The Moldova flag is everywhere. During my service, Criuleni
constructed this flag pole and garden area for the Moldovan flag.
But one of my favorite parts is how
there are stories behind the meaning of everything. There’s a legend of
Criuleni and its name; there’s a legend of Moldova’s name; there’s a legend of
the aurochs symbol on the coats of arms and flag. And the nerd I am, I love
hearing/reading them. So here’s the legend of Moldova:
Dragos - The Sun of
Maramures
There was a young man Dragos, a son of the local ruler in
Maramurus. Having heard of Negru-Voda's success, Dragos longed to be just as
brave and as great since early childhood. He grew up to become a strong and
beautiful ambitious young man. His beauty was the reason why the people gave
him the nickname "the Sun of Maramures". His dream was to become the Ruler
of the Country of Romania. But with his father still feeling capable of
carrying out his duty, Dragos couldn't even think of becoming the Ruler of
Maramures in the near future.
Often he would gather a team of his mates and would go
hunting throughout the lands of Maramures and other counties for days and even
weeks. His real intent was to meet the people of these lands and make friends
and connections in the nearby districts. But hunting was always a high priority
too as he never came back without a good catch.
The Hunt
During one of such 'hunts', Dragos came across a doe, so
beautiful that no one had ever seen anything like it before. Dragos decided to
chase it. They raced like mad - many times they nearly caught it, but still it
managed to get away. They could easily shoot and kill it, but Dragos wanted the
doe alive and unharmed as it possessed a divine beauty.
At one point, the doe vanished into the thin air. Despite
this, Dragos continued the pursuit in hope to find it. The hunt led them far
away to the east from their home - to the other side of the Carpathian
mountains, but Dragos didn't want to give up and carried on.
God's Messenger
During the chase they came across a glade that looked as if
it was in heaven. On the glade, a beautiful young girl was picking flowers and
singing a song. The sight of the girl made Dragos forget about the hunt, the
doe, and everything else. He dismounted and approached the girl: “Who are you?
Are you a mortal or an angel or a fairy?”
The girl replied: “You don't know who I am and never will,
but I know that you are Dragos, The Sun of Maramures, and I'm here to advise
you. Give up your hunt and the doe and go to the Valley of Siret (a river in
Romania). There are Romanian domains there and God has chosen you to spare the
people from the rage of the Tatars and be their master. But there is one thing
you must do first”.
“What thing?” Dragos asked.
“You must kill the furious aurochs that is roaming these
lands unpunished. Take its head and show it to the people. And then all
Romanians will gladden, praise you and will say: 'Long live Dragos the Great
and Strong!”
That was all that the girl said. Dragos, glad that his dream
was about to come true, wanted to hug the girl but she vanished just like the
doe...
The Battle
So there he was, the Sun of Maramures, ready to face the
bloodthirsty beast. He didn't have to go far to find the aurochs. The beast was
as wild as a wolf, but much bigger and much more ferocious. It had a strong
body and legs that could carry it with the speed of arrow and sharp horns as
tough as steel.
As soon as the aurochs had spotted Dragos, it turned around
to face the warrior and bowed its head showing the sharp horns. Dragos, not
intimidated by the aurochs’ threatening position, squeezed his spiked cudgel
harder, raised it above his head and, when the aurochs approached, hit it on
the head between the horns with all his strength. The aurochs screamed so loud
that, it seemed, the end of the world had come. Then, it turned around and
started running away from Dragos, who immediately engaged in the chase to
finish off the beast.
After an exhaustive chase, Dragos caught up with the animal
and hit it again a couple of times until the beast dropped dead. Then, Dragos
took out his war axe and cut the aurochs’ head off, which he took to the people
of that land.
The people praised Dragos, just as the girl had predicted,
and the rulers of that land decided to unite under his rule just like Romanian rulers
united under the rule of Negru-Voda on the other side of the mountains.
Moldova’s Name
Dragos had many hunting dogs, but one he favoured the most -
the smartest and the best at hunting, whose name was Molda. He had had the dog
for a long time and it was very devoted to him. But it grew old by the time of
Dragos' adventures. During the chase after the buffalo Molda jumped into a
stream but didn't manage to get ashore and drowned. Dragos missed the dog a lot
and, to give the animal the credit, decided to name the country after it -
Moldova, or the Country of Moldova.
