Dacians - Myths
The Hultan

    The myth of the Hultan (or the "Zgrimintes") is one of the original and special creations of the dacian mythology, which was later transposed in the romanian mythology as well. The origins of the hultan's image can be traced back to the ascetic practices of the ancient dacians, to the priest castes, the early initiates.
    Only those children born with the placenta on their head or the seventh son of the seventh son may become a hultan. Some of this special children are stolen by the old hultans when they are still young, and taken to the school in "Crugul Pamantului", where they are trained until the age of 20. "Crugul Pamantului" can be translated as "the middle of the Earth", but not necessarily "the center of the Earth", but rather "the origin of the Earth", as in the expression "raised in the middle of the wolves". The folk in some zones in Romania still believe that children born with the placenta on their head are meant to know the secrets of the weather, while in other zones people think that these children will become strigoi, i.e. will be able to travel outside their body.
    After completing their magic training, the hultans become the protectors of the mountain roads, masters of the air and the weather. They live a lonely life, isolated somewhere in the "guts of the mountains". In order to practice their magic, the hultans have to take - among others - a very strict chastity oath; merely falling in love with a woman is enough to cause them to lose their powers. At times known only to them, these wizards come down from the top of the mountains and wander through the villages, disguised as beggars, putting men's hearts to a test. Whatever they recieve as charity they throw on running water, as offerings for "the other World". When people are mean or when they hurt that which the hultans protect, the wizards unleash rain and hail upon their lands.
    Since Christianism was adopted as the official religion, the myth of the hultans was altered. The Christians called them "solomonars", a name coming from the king Solomon (renowned for his wisdom), but, as it happens in any assimilation process, they turned the hultan into an evil figure, in order to drive people away from the old beliefs. At the same time, Christianity produced a new character, called the anti-solomonar, meant to defend the people against the hultan; the hultan suddenly became a tyrant, threatening to destroy the villagers' crops if he doesn't receive proper payment. In Getica, we tried to filter the Christian elements and show the true image of the hultan, before the alteration.

    The hultan is directly associated with the image of the dragon; the Getae called the dragon the balaur. In order to fly through the clouds, a hultan must summon a balaur and ride it. While riding the balaur or walking on clouds, the wizard is invisible to men's eyes, being visible only to other mages. Calling the balaur is an essential ritual for the hultan; the legend says that the dragons live in bottomless mountain lakes, and in order to ride one, the initiate must break the lake's ice with an enchanted axe and put a rein made of birch wood onto the balaur's neck. This is why the hultan never parts with his enchanted axe, his birch rein and his spell book.