Transylvania, the Romanian region of the Carpathians, is an area rich in legends and mythological beings. In addition to Count Dracula, other fantastic beings seem to have lived in their towns and villages. Join us to meet the Solomonari, the ancient mythological magicians who dominated the dragons.
The Solomonari, the magicians who dominated the dragons
According to accounts the legends of Transylvania , the devil had a school for sorcerers or wizards that was known as "Scholomance" . In each course, it only admitted 10 students and at the end of the teaching it let 9 of them go, but retained the tenth. This last pupilo, learned to ride dragons and became a kind of devil's field helper, especially in matters related to meteorology. He was a magician solomonari or solomonario .
The legends described them as tall, red-haired and bulging-eyed youngsters who used to be dressed in white tunics like peasants or in scattered and patched clothes. When they did not act helping the devil they dressed like beggars so that the population would not recognize them and they carried a bag with magical instruments and a book with all their knowledge and spells entitled "Book of the Solomonarios" . Their magical items are usually an iron ax that acted in a similar way to a wand, but also worked as lightning rods, a semantron or toaca which is a percussion instrument with which they summoned the winds and reins to direct the dragons made with birch bark.
The knowledge acquired with the devil allowed the solomonari dominate the dragons and guide them to the sky to cause rain, hail and snow, blizzards or thunderstorms. When they disguised themselves as beggars, they studied the hearts of the inhabitants of the towns and farms and, according to their behavior, they favored or punished them with good or bad weather.
The ancient inhabitants of Transylvania did not fear the solomonari since they believed that they were fundamentally benevolent beings and even if by their bad behavior some countryman attracted his anger, they could be appeased with the help of some old teacher solomonari I lived among humans. It was with the arrival of Christianity that they wanted to eradicate the figure of the solomonari and they became disciples of the devil so that people would stop believing in them. However, the original legend resisted and in Romania the solomonari or solomonarios fundamentally beneficial figures.
Did you know the Solomonari ? Do you know of any other magician who dominates the dragons? If you have been interested in this post, you may want to know more about Transylvania and its legends: 4 chilling legends of Transylvania.