How Astonishing Women from Romania’s Past Inspired Me as a Woman Writer

How Astonishing Women from Romania’s Past Inspired Me as a Woman Writer

When I started writing Dreamland, my second book of short stories about Romania’s history and folklore, I imagined I’ll write about what I know best, my native country. As I started my research, I discovered surprising legends and inspirational tales about women from Romania’s past that inspired me not only in writing, but in my life too.

A story was born from a legend that sits at the core of Maramures, this land in northern Romania: “Call of the Heart in Maramures, at Its Birth.” Its folk still share it by the hearth during long winter nights steeped in snow. It explains how the people of Maramures would not have existed if it wasn’t for the love and the self-sacrifice of one woman. She gave up her status just so that she can be with the man she loved. Never mind that she was a giant. Never mind this is a legend. 

More reality than legend, “A wave frozen in stone” was inspired by the oldest cave paintings of Central Europe, located in Coliboaia Cave, Bihor, Romania. Carbon dating placed them at over 30,000 years old; the Palaeolithic period.

Let’s pause for a moment. When we think of cave paintings and the artists who created them, who do we imagine? A man or a woman? Why do we give men priority?

I tried to imagine a woman. Her hands were raw from work and the freezing temperatures of the Ice Age. In brief moments of respite, when she hugged her babe and counted his tiny fingers, basking in their velvety touch, their sweet scent, and unconditional love… had she noticed the transformation her hands would have gone through? When she cured animal hides, had she noticed the snakes coming alive on the back of her hands? We call them tendons and veins. What word she used? Were they a mark of pride, proof of a life of hard labour? The only life she could have known. I like to imagine that she noticed. That she paused to draw breath. And that’s why she could render such anatomically detailed rock paintings. Bone and tendon and muscle. So distinctive that hand, the human hand. And a key anatomical feature by which individuals were, still are, defined.

Creating art, in its many forms.

I gazed at bas reliefs on Trajan’s Column countless times. Discerning the Roman army crossing the Danube River ahead of the first Dacian-Roman war; then battle scenes. I noticed Roman soldiers torching Dacian villages, but also Roman skulls stuck on poles around a Dacian fortress. And then, suddenly, I spotted Dacian women dressed in their beautiful attire, the Romanian blouse, “ia”, today a Romanian national symbol. An entire scene on Trajan’s column was dedicated to them.  I drew breath. What if the Dacian women were depicted on Trajan’s Column for another reason? Imagine the Roman soldiers’ surprise at having to fight against Dacian men… and women! The Roman soldiers were sourced from all the corners of the empire, fighting someone else’s war. But the Dacians, men and women, were defending their land. I imagined Roman soldiers, their arms lifting heavy swords, gladii, about to strike, then frozen in mid-air realising that among their opponents, handling the curved and feared Dacian sword, the falx, were women too. Thus, the story “Girl Warrior” came alive.

But could all women fight in battles to their hearts’ content?

In medieval times the Bistrita fortress was saved by the wealth of a woman. The stories I came across made me question if it was her material wealth that saved the town or her bravery. Ursula is depicted on her tombstone wearing a knit’s attire complete with a sword and a shield. The stone slab is known today as The Knight’s Slab. 

Prisoners of their time, women could not be warriors. Despite such prejudice, a few persisted.

At Salina Turda it is said that a rich maiden, rather than having her father remove the entire salt mine as her dowry, gave up her engagement ring and chose celibacy. Selflessly, she gave up the tradition, any dreams of being a married woman, than taking over the lad of another state. Thinking, feeling ahead of her time.

Feminism as an ideology and movement was a social phenomenon that blossomed in the nineteenth century, originating in the 1848 Revolution along with other major phenomena such as national liberation movements and labour movement. A giant step away from the cave artist and her work; a longer stride from the woman who chose to be less, for love; and a jump-away from the women who fought in battles alongside men. 

As was a Queen’s love and sacrifice for her people. 

It was the middle of World War I and the German troops had just entered Bucharest. Romania’s capital city had to be promptly evacuated. Queen Marie of Romania, born into the Edinburgh British Royal Family, had just lost her youngest child. The tragedy had occurred right after Marie, now a Romanian Queen, has advised her husband, King Ferdinand of Romania, to enter the war on the side of the Triple Entente. Even if that meant turning his back on his family, the Sigmaringens. But a Queen once is a queen forever.

So Marie the mother locked her pain deep in her heart and placed the dream of her people for a “Greater Romania” and their fight for liberty, first. “At the Great Hour, my country and I were one,” she said. Not much later, the Queen’s political commitment toward her adoptive country proved the leverage Romania needed at the Peace Conference in Paris. Here, the Queen herself attended on behalf of her people, pleading for Romania’s claims. As a result, the Greater Romania was created. It was an exceptional attitude for her time, as a woman in a conservative party to be actively involved in war politics and even war propaganda. The Queen never lost faith, she never gave up hope. 

Like the women I discovered before her, they accepted any sacrifice that came in their way and faced danger without flinching. They never acknowledged defeat. 

When they shouldn’t have a saying, for no other woman has spoken before. When they had no obvious choice over their life, for no woman has chosen before. When they couldn’t fight for their ideals, because no other woman has fought before. They were the first to do.

Each epoch has seen a battle whose boundaries were pushed a little further. Had they followed one another? No, and yes. Not knowingly, but yes, through the ethos that each one embedded in their X-chromosome.

When they whispered so I can speak out loud; when they fought so I don’t have to, I know that today it is my turn to act, after my mother, and ahead of my daughter’s generation. Therefore, I am a woman writer. 

—

Patricia Furstenberg, Writer

Patricia Furstenberg is a Romanian multi-genre author who resides in South Africa. Patricia penned 18 books, such as the bestseller Joyful Trouble, contemporary page-turner Silent Heroes, beloved children’s literature The Cheetah and the Dog, and historical fiction new releases Dreamland and Transylvania’s History A to Z: 100 Word Stories. She is the creator of #Im4Ro, sharing positive stories from Romania.

Author Website / Amazon / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook / Goodreads 

Dreamland: Banat, Crisana, Maramures, Transylvania, 100-WORD STORIES, Folklore and History (Romania in 100-WORD STORIES, Folklore and History)

The western territory of Romania, a paradise dreamed of by empires; a fairyland protected by its hearty folk; and centuries-long safe haven to hopeful emigrants.

Dreamland, these are stories lived, legends of why, myths of who, folk believes rooted in the days when the populace of Banat, Crisana, Maramures, and Transylvania laid the first foundations in places still untamed, places that maybe changed their face as they changed many hands throughout centuries.

Dreamland: like a river flows free, like the bird knows no boundaries, and like clouds spread over the entire horizon, so is the history, and the tales of these Romanian provinces. Dacians and Romans, Vlachs, Moti, Mocans, Huns, Peri, Magyars, Transylvanian Saxons , Swabians, Szeklers, Jewish refugees, Ottoman invaders, hajduks and emperors, priests, these are the folks who shared this Dreamland and together they shaped its history, culture and architecture.
In these troubled times, when one’s identity escapes and is easily strewn along paths travelled far and wide, let’s take another look back. Let’s meet the people who can still remember the tales of their ancestors, entrusted to them with the seed of truth.

Today Romania has ten defined historical provinces: Banat, Crișana, Maramureș, Transylvania (Ardeal or Erdély) presented in this book, Dreamland, but also Bucovina, Moldova, Basarabia, Oltenia, Muntenia, and Dobrogea.

Banat: local population lived mainly in huts scattered over the valleys because the main occupation was pastoralism without transhumance. This historical region often bordered various empires that made the area somewhat insecure, and often depopulated due to war outbursts. Today Banat is a land peacefully shared between Romania, Serbia, and Hungary.

Crisana: is a geographical and historical region in north-west Romania named after the Criş Rivers guarded by the peaks of Apuseni Mountains. The etymology for Crişana goes back to the old name for Criş Rivers, Chrisola, deriving from Ancient Greek golden due to golden specks often spotted in its waters.

Maramures: located in the very north of Romania, the very birth of Maramureş has its legend. Its people love to share it by the fire of the woodstove, during cold January evenings steeped in snow. The wood-carved Maramureş Gates are one of the most precious symbols of Maramureş Country.

Transylvania is a historical plateau located at the heart of Romania. Dominated by large pastures, Transylvania is sheltered by the Carpathian Mountains which stand guard around it: to the west, Apuseni Mountains; to the east, Harghita Mountains; and to the south by the Fagaras Mountains nicknamed the Alps of Transylvania and traversed by the spectacular Transfagarasan Road. A multicultural region with a noteworthy history and a rich cultural heritage, Transylvania is known as Ardeal to its millennial Romanian inhabitants, Siebenbürgen to the German Saxons who lived on this land for centuries, and Erdély to the Szeklers and the Hungarian people living here today, alongside Turks, Jews, Serbs, and Roma Gypsies.

This isn’t a history book, or a storybook, but rather a collection of fleeting impressions, lived truths, reflections, descriptive essays, and snapshots of a life lived in fabulous ways.

These short texts are meant to evoke passages from history and I tried to write them with passion and lyricism, and, I hope, wit. Telling stories is the best way to keep the past, this untouchable treasure, alive.

In chronological order: 117 Stories punctuated by historical details.
Over 80 color photographs.

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Category: On Writing