Thread: Ok this is going to be fun. This amazing rock formation covered in snow is known as Babele. The name means "Grandmothers" and it's derived from Slavic (Serbian) word "baba" meaning grandmother but also rock...

Here is the same rock formation just without the snow...

It is located in Romania, on the Bucegi plateau which itself is located on Bucegi Mountains, part of the Southern Carpathian mountain chain...The name "Bucegi" is derived from the Slavic (Serbian) "buk" meaning beech tree. So the mountain name means "Beech mountains"...

The Babele rock formation is located near the mountain peak called "Baba Mare". The name is again derived from Slavic (Serbian) "baba" meaning "grandmother" or "rock" and Romanian mare meaning great, big...

Baba (Grandmother, Rock) is a common root for mountain peaks and rock outcrops in Balkan Slavic countries. In this article I have collected quite a few of them. Have a look.

https://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2020/08/baba-mountains-and-crags.html

For instance Velika Baba (Big Grandmother, Big Rock), Jezersko, Slovenia.

If you thought that Babele rock formation is wow, how about this one, also located on the same Bucegi plateau...It is just like the sphinx in Egypt. Just organic

Here is the same rock formation just without snow but with some sheep...

Bucegi plateau is located on the borders of three counties in Romania, all three with Slavic names:
Brașov - from "baras", fortress
Prahova - from "prag", doorstep, water cataract or "prah" dust
Dâmbovița - from "dămb" (dub), oak

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Romania_county_name_etymologies

The main pass through the Bucegi mountain range Bran pass, once marked by border crossings between Wallachia and Transylvania, and was defended by the Bran Castle. Bran is a Slavic (Serbian) word means "to defend"... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bran_Castle

The castle is linked to Vlad III Dracula, better known as Vlad the Impaler, who was ruler of Wallachia on and off from 1448 to 1476. And an inspiration for the Bram Stoker's Count Dracula. Interestingly the name Vlad is Slavic and means Ruler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler

Oh and there is a letter written by Vlad III's father Vlad II to the citizens of Brașov (Slavic name) in Slavic (Medieval Serbian) and a letter written by his uncle Aleksander to the citizens of Sibiu (Slavic name) in Slavic (Medieval Serbian)...More: https://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2020/07/and-those-who-lie.html

Now...Back to the Babele rock formation. There is a legend linked to it. It goes like this:

This is interesting, considering that Baba is a Slavic word. And that Baba Dochia is basically Romanian version of South Slavic Baba Marta (Grandmother March), The Hag, Winter Earth, the spiteful old witch...Originally Baba Morana, the goddess of death... https://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2020/01/gryla.html

In Romania there are three main legends related to Baba Dochia as Baba Marta, the Old Hag Winter Earth...

First legend says that Baba Dochia was a proud old woman who insulted the month of March either by badmouthing Him or by going up to the mountain with a herd of goats (way before she should, in May). March then borrows frosty days from February to punish her...

Interestingly in Serbian folklore, "babini jarci" (grandmother's goats) and "pozаjmenci" (borrowed days), both mean "cold stormy snowy days in March or April"...

Second legend goes like this:

The whole story is an allegory about the animosity between the old hag winter and the young maiden spring. Just like in these Irish and Slavic legends

http://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-old-woman-of-mill-dust.html

And just like in the stories about the Snow white

http://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2019/12/snow-white.html

Now in this legend, Baba Dochia's son's name is Dragomir, Slavic name meaning "The one who is very dear" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragomir . I wonder if this is euphemism for the sun, which is "very dear" as it is the sun that turns old hag winter earth into young maiden spring earth...

We have parallel to Dragomir (very dear)=Sun, Summer in Radegast (dear guest)=Sun, Summer http://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2015/02/radegost-welcome-guest.html

The wild strawberries are a summer fruit, ripening at the earliest at the end of May, beginning of June. May is the time when in the Balkans the flocks are moved to the highland pastures.

Which is why Baba Dochia, The Old Hag, Winter goes into the mountains with her flock of Goats when she sees that her daughter in law, Young Maiden, Spring brought the strawberries from the forest...

In the third legend Baba Dochia's son's name is partially Romanised to Dragobete. The legend goes like this:

In Serbia, traditionally, sheep were sheared twice. First time in February, when dirty wool between the legs and around the udder was sheared in preparation for lambing and suckling. This is the black dirty wool which was usually thrown away...

The main shearing season is in May, after the lambing is over, and before the sheep are taken up to the mountain pastures. This is the clean white wool...The sheared wool was washed in rivers before being dried and further processed...

The washing of wool is the signal to take the flocks to the highland pastures. Which is why Baba Dochia, The Old Hag, Winter, sets off with her flocks up the mountain when she sees that her daughter in law, Young Maiden, Spring, have brought back home freshly washed white wool...

The reason why in one legend Baba Dochia goes up the mountain wearing 9 coats and in the other 12 coats, is this:

There is a belief in Carpathian region of Romania, that the first 9 (in some parts 12) days of March are the "Baba days". This is the time when Baba Dochia can bring snowstorms and cold weather before the spring fully sets in.

There was also once a custom in the same region, for women to pick a day out of these Baba days, on the first of March. And if the day turns out to be fair, they'll be fair in their old days, and if the day turns out to be cold, they'll turn bitter when older...

Very interesting considering that Baba is a Slavic word meaning Grandmother. And that in Serbian folklore, "baba" means changeable weather at the beginning of March when snow is likely to fall, and "bаbini dni" (grandmother's days) means cold snowy days in March or April...

By the way, why is Baba Dochia called Baba Dochia? Apparently, the name originates from the Byzantine calendar, which celebrates the 2nd-century martyr-saint Eudokia of Heliopolis on March 1...

I love this. Eudokia from Heliopolis (the Sun City), celebrated on the 1st of March, gives the name to Baba Dochia, the mythological equivalent of Baba Marta, who is celebrated by the Balkan Slavs on the 1st of March...When did they invent Eudokia?

How can such an important Romanian folk character be basically Slavic, Serbian in origin? Well why are we surprised, when even the Romanian national hero, Iovan Iorgovan, was, apparently, of Serbian origin http://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2019/09/iovan-iorgovan.html

How come? Well someone had to give names to all the Slavic toponyms and hydronyms in Romania...Huge number of Serbs once lived in Romania...They are, almost all, Romanised now, through a process organised and "encouraged" by Austro-Hungarian, and later Romanian states...

All that's left to remind us of all the Serbs who once lived in Romanian Carpathian mountains are toponyms, hydronyms and legends...