Caloian

Caloian is a rain ritual in Romania, similar in some ways to "Dodola". It is found mostly in Wallachia (the southern part of Romania). The origin of this ritual, as is the case with those of many other local popular beliefs and practices, precedes the spreading of Christianity, although it came in time to be associated with the period of the Orthodox Easter.
The ritual would often be celebrated in early spring to promote fertility, although it could also be celebrated at other times of year to bring an end either to a drought or to a period of excessive rain. Young girls would make one or more clay dolls, portraying what would once have been weather deities, the most important of these being the "Father of the Sun" and the "Mother of the Rain" (the being portrayed depending on the purpose of the ritual). Such dolls would be dressed in everyday clothes and placed on a wooden board or in an improvised tree-bark coffin ornamented with flowers and thus depict in their attendant symbolism the traditional burial ritual - here shown in a mock form and presided over by children. The participants would then bear the little effigy in procession through the fields, around wells and along water courses before eventually burying the "caloian" in its tiny "grave". After three days, the "caloian" would be unearthed, returned to the village and mourned again until it was finally set loose to float on the waters of a river or lake, or thrown into a well. The ceremony ended, the young girls performing the ceremony would then bake a special cake which was shared out among the village children. This cake was known as "ghismán" or "ghizman" - the name being derived from the biblical (garden of) Gethsemane, marking the fact that this ritual was often associated with the Easter period observed by the Orthodox church.