A Fertility Rite
By Jennifer Wells
I was invited to join Maja
Panevska and her family to
observe a Roma fertility rite
called “????????”. It actually occurred on May 5th, the
day before ????????. It is
performed at a rock outside
the town of Sveti Nikole, and
I was told it is the only place
in Macedonia where the rite
is held.
This rock is located on
a large plain, far from any hills or mountains. It appears to
be the only large rock outcrop in the area. Maja said it was
a meteor and is believed to have powers to help women have
children. She said it was primarily a Roma celebration but
Macedonians from all over the country would come to the rock
on this day. In fact, on the dirt road leading to the rock, we saw
license plates from Bulgaria, Serbia, Ohrid, Bitola and Prilep.
The ceremony occurs in the afternoon. We arrived at 4:30 and
stayed for an hour or so. By the time we left, there were many
more cars parked behind us on the road, and cars were still
arriving.
We walked up a dirt pathway toward the rock. The area
was crowded with people and there were vendors selling both
food and wares on either side of the walkway. You could buy
clothes, cotton candy, clothes, plastic kitchenware, lots of stuff.
It reminded me of Pazar day in most small towns. There was
a small concrete building on the right before you reached the
rock where they were selling candles and lambs.
We bought candles, lit them and placed them at the base of
the rock, then walked around the rock three times for luck.
But the ceremony was not really for us, it was for the
women who want to become pregnant. A woman who wants a
child walks around the rock holding both a red and white skein
of yarn. She, and at least one
other person, wind the two colors of yarn around the rock. After the yarn has circled the rock
three times, it is removed and the
woman and a man (not her husband) climb to the top of the rock.
The rock is approximately 15 feet
high. The man is her “best man”.
He could have been the best man
at her wedding, or he can be
someone else, even someone she
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