Roxana Savin’s new photographic series and monograph, On Heaven’s Doorsill, originates from a deeply personal space while delving into the mythology, folk tales, and ancient traditions of rural Romania, a world shaped by tradition, imagination, and a deep connection to nature, where she was born and brought up. It is inspired by Savin’s grandmother, Alexandra, who lived her whole life in a Romanian village where time was measured by the seasons and everyday life existed in harmony with the ancient rhythms of the landscape.
One night, long after she became a widow, Alexandra dreamt that her late husband appeared to her. When she asked, “Have you come to take me across?” He replied “Not yet. I will be back for you at harvest time.” And so, she waited. The leaves turned gold, the hay was cut, and the fields swelled with ripeness. At harvest time, she entered the gates to the other side and rejoined him.
Through a visual exploration of beliefs rooted in oral traditions, ancestral custom, and rituals that pay tribute to the departed, offering both solace and unease, On Heaven’s Doorsill examines and echoes the porous boundary between the living and the dead and the liminal space in between. Savin’s imagery blurs the lines between the everyday and the mystical as the ordinary takes on an eerie quality.
As in Romania where, despite its Orthodox status, ancient pre-Christian traditions and customs remembering the dead prevail, so too does Savin uphold a continuous communication between the living and the dead. The book of On Heaven’s Doorsill features on the cover an image referencing an ancient funeral dance – Chipărușul. Unique within Europe, the tradition takes place in the mountainous Romanian region of Vrancea and involves chained masked people from the community of the deceased jumping over a fire to purify the deceased’s soul, guiding it on its path to transcendence, while simultaneously warding off evil spirits. The book closes on the back cover with an image of a woman in a traditional Romanian headscarf, an overt reference to her grandmother. Savin’s images evoke therefore the dance itself and the natural cycle of life and death.
As she reflects on her upbringing, “Daily life was tightly woven with the rhythms of the land and the wisdom of those who came before us. People, animals, the changing seasons, and even spirits all shared the same space, shaping how we understood the world. I saw how the customs, stories and beliefs, passed down through generations, influenced every aspect of life in our community. They mark rites of passage, the agricultural calendar, healing practices, and constitute responses to crises and misfortune.”
Savin’s personal memories of her grandparents’ village and rituals including the deeply rooted practice of pomană, giving alms, hold great significance and extend into the other customs and traditions in Romania. More than just a ritual, pomană is a gesture of compassion made in memory of the departed, marked by sacred offerings mainly of food, bread, wine and candles. Savin often accompanied her grandmother on early mornings carrying the pomană to the cemetery, silently joined by other villages with their own offerings. It was believed that the connection between the living and the dead did not end with burial. Her grandmother thought the soul’s journey after death depended on the participation of the living: without their prayers, offerings or remembrance the departed could not find peace.
For Savin, “The enduring practice of these traditions acts as a bridge between past and present, life and death, enforcing a sense of community that anchors its people in something far older and larger than themselves. These beliefs, rites, and mythic narratives are the foundation of my spiritual and cultural identity, grounding me in a worldview that transcends the individual. Though my grandparents, who embodied these ways of life, are now gone, and I myself have long since moved away from the land, their presence and the spirit of that world continue to live in my memory.”
Roxana Savin : On Heaven’s Doorsill
Photography and text Roxana Savin
Publisher dienacht Publishing
Book design, concept and editing: Calin Kruse and Yala Kruse
First edition 500 copies
Format Hardcover
ISBN 978-3-946099-38-3
Price €42.00 + shipping
https://www.dienacht-magazine.com/publishing
