Description
Strigoi in general originate from Romanian mythology and are said to be spirits risen from the dead [1]. Strigoi may have originated from the Latin word "strix" and "striga" which during the late Roman period became associated with witches and strixes [2,3].
In Romanian, the word Strigoi means "one risen from the grave" as well as being related to the word striga which means "to scream".
Strigoi seems to enjoy feasting on the flesh of the living and seem to be particularly related to the consumption of blood although this may be due to its relation to vampires [4,5].
Although the name Strigoi is so closely related to being reawakened from the dead only one type of Strigoi seems to be just that. The Strigoi mort is a reawakened dead who seeks to torment their families until their relatives die [6,7].
There are many similarities between vampires and Strigoi due to vampires being largely based on the myth of the Strigoi. Similarly to vampires is also the ability to transform into animals [4].
The way to know that a buried family member has become a Strigoi mort is to check if rigor mortis has set in. No Strigoi can move if rigor mortis holds them still.
Becoming a Strigoi
There are certain criteria for becoming a Strigoi. Any of these fulfilled increases the risk of returning as a Strigoi mort.
1. Be the seventh child of the same sex in a family.
2. Lead a life of sin.
3. Die without being married.
4. Die by execution for perjury.
5. Die by suicide.
6. Die from a witch's curse.
2. Lead a life of sin.
3. Die without being married.
4. Die by execution for perjury.
5. Die by suicide.
6. Die from a witch's curse.
[8]
Preventing & protecting against Strigoi
1. Exhume the Strigoi.
2. Remove the head of the Strigoi and cut it in two.
3. Drive a nail into its forehead.
4. Place a clove of garlic under its tongue
5. Smear its body with fat from a pig killed on St. Ignatius Day.
6. Turn its body face down so that if the Strigoi were to ever wake up it would be headed towards the afterlife.
2. Remove the head of the Strigoi and cut it in two.
3. Drive a nail into its forehead.
4. Place a clove of garlic under its tongue
5. Smear its body with fat from a pig killed on St. Ignatius Day.
6. Turn its body face down so that if the Strigoi were to ever wake up it would be headed towards the afterlife.
Sources:
[1]: "Strigoi". www.dexonline.ro. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
[2]: Melton, J. Gordon (2010). The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. Visible Ink Press. p. 584. ISBN 9781578593507.
[3]: Petic, Mircea (2011). "Generative mechanisms in Romanian derivational morphology" (PDF). Memoirs of the Scientific Sections of the Romanian Academy. XXXIV: 8.
[4]: McLaughlin, Daniel (18 June 2005). "A village still in thrall to Dracula". The Guardian. London, England: Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
[5]: Boris Perić, Vampir, translated into Slovene by Iztok Osojnik, Zbirka Beri globalno, Ljubljana (Tuma) 2007. ISBN 978-961-6682-05-3
[6]: oul dicţionar explicativ al limbii Române, Bucharest: Litera Internaţional, 2002. ISBN 973-8358-04-3
[7]: *moroi in Dicţionarul explicativ al limbii Române, Academia Română, 1998
[8]: Theodor, Burada T. "Datinile poporului român la înmormântări." (1882).
