The study of the traditional spiritual culture of the Romanian people starts from the study of beliefs, customs and ancient magic practices that have been preserved, along with Christian cult practices, to this present day. Under the hard  conditions  of our historical existence this has been an important moral support.

Since times immemorial ancient beliefs and customs have been transmitted and they have existed in close connection to the daily working activities and the wish for fulfillment of the Romaniaan people. Within the area stretching between the Carpathians, the Danube and the Pontus Euxinus the memory of such customs goes back a long time. The main symbols of these traditions have been the sun, the earth, the water and the air, primary sacred elements whose importance has lasted to the presentday.

Our folklore has traditions dating back from the times of the Roman Dacians. These beliefs make the originary fund of the Romanian spiritual culture. The customs are evryday practices, with traditional  individual and collective rules , through which fertility and wealth , human and animal health are invoked and natural and supernatural evils are kept away. A great number of these practices are reminiscences of ancient agrarian rites off fertility and passage.In the creations and manifestations of the traditional folk culture the profane co-exists in close relation with the sacred. In his book 'from Zalmoxis to Genghis –Kan', Mircea Eliade says:' All the religious conceptions of the Roman Dacians are at least contemporary with those we decipher in the folk traditions.'

A basic manifestation of these customs is the traditional tryptic : charms, magic, incantations.

In incantations we find the desire to cure the sick through the  traditional  medical magic. Al. Rosetti discovered that some incantations are on a similar pattern with some ancient  Latin ones; 'A comparison between the constituents of the Romanian magic incantations and those existing in the Roman empire proves an undeniable parallelism between the two'.In fact the very word descantec has a Latin etymology, coming from th e word discantare. The incantations were accompanied by some          ( medicine, concoctions, plant mixtures), whose curing properties were derived from the the belief accordind to which the water, together with the earth, the air and the fire, is one of the primordial elements of nature.

Another important  argument is the fact that in the Carpathian-Danubian-Pontic space even Plato registered, the importance of the exorcism in "Carmide".

Enchantments were magic practices used in the past, in which there were expressed, also through exorcism, wishes for fulfilment in social or individual life, for preventing or banishing  the evil from enemies or witches. As appendage in practising them, there were used metal objects or made from iron and silver, and also spontaneous or cultivated plants: sweet basil, chicory.

The spells were considered "evil" practices, in which, for fulfilling wishes and banishing pains, you resorted to witches, who  conjured evil spirits.

Many ancient traditions are today  connected with the settlement. For the settlement and the dwellings we have prevalent Latin-Roman base terms:

^{"casa"( casa (house)                                              "fenestra"(fereastra (window)}

^{"pariet"(perete (wall)                                            "mensa"(masa (table)}

^{"coperio"(acoperis (roof)                                      "scala"(scara (stair)}

^{"scandula"(scandura (piece of wood)}

The three territorial limits with magic load were the household, the field's gate and the village border.

Building the house posed a lot of problems beginning with choosing the place, the material used and especially laying the foundation, which supposed sacrificing a life, like in "mesterul manole", ritual with a great spread (m. Eliade). Also finishing the constructions meant some traditional habits: adorning the roof with green branches, putting in corners plants to banish the supernatural evil.

The dacian-roman inheritances are felt especially in the customs directly in contact with the cycle of life (birth, marriage and death), the ones connected to death being prevalent. During the formation and christianizing of the romanian people, the ritual of incineration from the traditional dacian-roman fund was abandoned, by the generalization of the ritual of inhumation completed by christian cultural practices. Some prechristian practices survived, being adopted by dacian-roman population in the process of leavening the folk romanian culture.

So, at the thracians, when a child was born one would cry, and when someone died one would joke and have fun, celebrating in this way getting rid of the lives' burdens. Those two rituals are certified by the archeological discoveries not only during the time of the roman occupation from dacia traiana, but also during the migrations.

The games of deathwatch are an eloquent example of this circulation. Especially the games of deathwatch from vrancea conjures up the ancient ritual of incineration of the dead, by the purifying and protective power of a burning fire at the funeral, around which people that wore {antropomorfe} and {zoomorfe} masks, named "unchiesi" (uncles), gamboled.

Another game, "chiperul" was also danced around the fire. The dancers, arranged in indian file, were thrown in fire, but, first of all, the dead was taken through fire as well.

"cantecul bradului" ("the song of the pine tree") and "cantecul zorilor" ("the song of dawn") are connected to the burial traditions.

"the song of dawn" doesn't have a correspondent in the folklore of other people. Through this song, the dawns are prayed not to hurry so that they could finish the preparations, for the long journey the man had to cover to the other world.

"the song of the pine tree" is part of the ceremonial of the {tineri necasatoriti} single, the pine tree symbolizing the youth of the one who died and as well the fact that the dead will get married on the other world. Some researchers maintain their belief that the pine tree replaced the mediterranean cypress, which the romans used to put in front of their house and at the head of the dead, announcing death.

Also, they used to sprinkle the tombs with water (ceremonial named at greeks hydrophoria). This custom is certified at the geto-dacs by what was found in their tombs: some broken ritual vases, destined to "soothe" the thirst of the dead.

The gets were the ones who cultivated some kind of aquatic pantheism, attributing the water miraculous powers. For them the principal of life, that impels {materia}, identifies with the water. Humans returned to their primary element, the water, in order to achieve a new life. Another reason for the proverbial thirst we have mentioned previously is that the faith has preserved during the roman conquest.

The principal holidays from our time have been established depending on older traditions, in connection with the year's cycle. So, the winter holidays marked the beginning of the year, the spring holidays the beginning of the cycle of vegetation, the summer holidays were meant to protect the crop from the nature's forces and with the occasion of the final holidays, the autumn ones, the first fruits were offered as an offering for the dead.

The perrenial character of these holidays is to be notuced. Their functions were essential: they kept up the relationship with the sacred, reproduce the community group and harmonise society with the universe.

There is a strong traditional heritage related to the first celebration of the year. With some primitive archaic peoples the beginning of the year was celebrated at the spring equinox, when the agricultural labours started. For the Romans ,during Romulus, when the primitive agrarian calendar was in function, having a 10-month year division, the beginning of the year was the 1st of March( the Ides of March). Only under Numa pompilius did this date change to the Ides of January.

The holiday of the new year was as well the holiday of Ianus. From here derives the agrarian character and the name of the first month – "ianuarie" (january). Ianus, the god with two faces, personified the past time and the future time, therefore the beginning. That is why the day of Ianus's auspices brought to the romans a feeling of a sacred excitement, of rebirth of time and life.

Some time later, due to the julian calendar, introduced by caesar in 46 b. Hr., The holiday was set for good on the first of january, being spread in the whole roman world, including dacia.

With the occasion of this holiday the house was adorned with green branches (of laurel, in the mediterranean spaces, of pine in our parts), the children, the relatives, the municipal magistrates, the counsels and the emperor would receive gifts ("strenae") and well whishes ("oratio", "vota"). These gifts had the magical role of assuring in the mew year the fulfilling of all hopes for the ones who received them. The existence of these traditions on the dacian territory is proved by several gifts (equestrian figurines made of terracotta equipped with wheels – sigilla; piggy for money, bronze rings) found at potaissa, gilau, cristesti, sucidava etc.

Even our well wish "iti doresc un an nou fericit" (i wish you a happy new year) derives from latin: "annum novum faustum felicem tibi (mihi)".

The roman christianity has tried to cancel the memory of the customs connected to the heathen gods, and to oppose them a adequate holiday, establishing in this way christmas exactly when "saturnalia", "dies natalia solis invicti" and "calendele lui ianuarie" were.

The survivals in the roman cultural fund are more obvious in the zones inside the carpathians than in the ones outside the carpathians due to the creations and manifestations of daco-roman tradition. The more obvious ones are the christmas carols and the new year's wishes.

Another holiday that dates from the roman time is the "cosmadionul" – the cosma and damian saints, celebrated on the first of july, these two saints being the ones who made, when they were not christians, the poison for saint gheorghe; it's a sin to work on their day. As well in this cycle of ancient holidays you will find "rusaliile" – during it two other christian holidays take simultaneously place: "pogorarea duhului sfant" and "sfanta treime" - the holy trinity, and also a complex of rituals dedicated to fairies and an important episode from the cult of dead ("mosii de rusalii"); this holiday is seen at the greeks as well, being called "ingenuncherea" (the kneeling).

The old agrarian rituals left their marks on many folk traditions. So are the magical rituals for invoking the rains, for the fecundation of the cows, for the fertility of the fields: "sangeorzul", "plugarul", "dragaica". The origin of some folk dances like "hora" and "calusarii" must be found in the same old substratum. In these dances persist the memory of some magical medicine rituals, some initiating rituals and of an ancient cult of the sun, as well as some mythical symbols of nature.

In the traco-dacian substratum {consta) the originality and personality of the romanian people, while the roman {sorginte} has invested us with the universal vocation of the roman civilization.

^{1. "servare"( serba( serbare( sarbatoare (holiday)(to celebrate)}

^{2. "creatio,-onis"( craciun (christmas)(birth)}

^{3. "discantare"( descanta( descantec (exorcism)}

^{4. "pharmacum"( farmec (enchantment)}

^{5. "sacrificium"( sacrificiu (sacrifice)}

^{6. "casa"( casa + the suffix "ator" + the suffix "ie"( casatorie (marriage)}

^{7. "nuptiae" (pl.)( Nunta (wedding)"nuptialis"( nuptial (nuptial)}

^{8. "monumentum"( a) monument (monument)  (b) mormant (tomb)}

^{9. "funeralia"( funeralii (funerals)}

^{10. "battizare"}