Urmen

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Gypsy children , 1855

The Urmen (also Uremi , Ursitory , Ursitori , Ursitele , Urbitele , Urditele , Osatorele , Ursoi or Ursoni ) are a group of three fairies or women of fate in the mythical traditions of the Roma . Two of them are good fairies, the other is malevolent. Her queen is called Matuya, who makes use of the large unlucky birds called Charana.

They are unusually beautiful women who live in shiny palaces in the mountains or sing and dance under trees. Urmen are not allowed to favor and protect more than seven darlings, otherwise they perish miserably. As adults, they live in the palaces of their Queen Matuya. After the relationship with a man, they give birth to triplet primordial and then grow old quickly. You only need to nurse your babies once, then they will already learn to walk and leave their mother to live in tree hollows under large plants. The children of the good primeval beings remain pure primeval primitives, those of the bad ones become half-urns who live like quarrelsome women in human fashion.

The giant birds called Charana have mercy on those miserably perishing primeval monks who have accidentally favored an eighth darling, and offer them euthanasia . They chop the meat from their bones and bring it to the primeval queen, who throws it at people who have offended Urmen. When people eat it they go insane.

The Urmen became known through the novel Die Ursitory , which was written by Matéo Maximoff in 1938 and published for the first time in 1946. According to this, the Ursitory are the three angels of fate, the angel of good, the angel of evil and the arbiter of reason, who determine the path of a child's life on the third day after birth. On this day the mother places three pieces of bread and three glasses of wine for the Ursitory in a circle around her child. She whispers his real name in the child's ear and, according to some traditions, keeps it a secret from the father and children until they come of age because the real name gives strength.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Micha F. Lindemans: Urmen . Article in Encyclopedia Mythica , March 3, 1997, last edited March 19, 1997, accessed July 3, 2016.
  2. Hermann Berger: Mythology of the Gypsies . In: Hans Wilhelm Haussig , Heinz Bechert (Ed.): Gods and Myths of the Indian Subcontinent (= Dictionary of Mythology . Department 1: The ancient civilized peoples. Volume 5). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-12-909850-X , pp. 790, 816.
  3. ^ Matéo Maximoff: The Ursitory . Manesse, Zurich 1954; 8th edition 1993, ISBN 3-7175-1272-2 and reprint as paperback, Unionsverlag, Zurich 2001, ISBN 3-293-20208-X .
  4. Gypsies / Literature: Matéo can write. Der Spiegel, No. 41/1954, from October 6, 1954.
  5. After the devouring. The Independent, May 11, 2003. Retrieved July 3, 2016.