VRĂJITOARE – WITCHES OF ROMANIA

ROSALINE BEN-BARUCH LANGE

In Romania, in a suburb of Bucharest, lives Mihalela Minca. She is a Roma witch and, according to her own statement, the strongest in Romania. In her clan of witches, consisting of her two daughters, daughter-in-law, and their daughters, they help people with everything from love problems, failing health, financial difficulties, evil spirits, and substance abuse. The interest in witches abilities and magic increased with the emergence of the internet. Today Mihaela and her Clan have customers spread all over the world. And in an otherwise patriarchal culture, their work as witches has made them economically independent from all the men in their lives. They now live as the free women their ancestors were not.

During communism in Romania, the Roma witches were persecuted and harassed by the police and the government. If they were caught practicing witchcraft or helping people around the towns, they were thrown into prison. They were seen as a threat to the social order and the established society.

Mihaela Minca’s mother was one of the witches who was imprisoned for several years under communism. A generational trauma that Mihaela still believes can be felt in the family. But with the fall of communism, interest in the witches and their secret skills also began to rise again.

In Romania, there is still a culture of secrecy among the part of the population that comes to the country’s witches. One does not speak too loudly about it. But today the witches have gained an established place in the society. Some believe that they are as important as the church.

In most Roma clans, it is the man who is supposed to provide for and work for the family. The man also has the final say and makes most decisions on behalf of the woman. However, in witch families, this has changed, and some now perceive witches as the only Roma clan where women work on equal footing with men. The recognition of their profession has been important. It has allowed witches like Mihaela and her daughters to reposition themselves in a patriarchal society. Their work as witches is, for them, an expression of female liberation and a rebellion against a culture that has been dominated by men.