Dochia

DOCHIA

Private collection, 70 x 100 cm, acrylics & gouaches

In Romanian mythology, Baba Dochia, or The Old Dokia, is a figure identified with the return of spring. She is sometimes imagined as “an old woman who insults the month of March when she goes out with a herd of sheep or goats.” Supposedly the name originates from the Byzantine calendar, which celebrates the 2nd-century martyr-saint Eudokia of Heliopolis (Evdokia) on March 1. The Romanian Dokia personifies mankind’s impatience in waiting for the return of spring.

There’s a legend dating back to the Dacians, where it is said that when the Romans invaded Dacia, king Decebal’s daughter ran in the mountains and, possessing spiritual knowledge & power, transformed herself into Dochia, an old woman taking care of a herd of sheep. It’s said that this is the way she evaded Traian’s intentions to find her, take her to Rome and make her his wife.