The Shadow Queen

     She moves as the mistress of Death through the winter forests of Romania.  Her mere glance through a peasant's window brings pestilence and certainty of the grave.  It is often even worse: She might bring despair.  With the coming of the Winter Solstice, the residents of Eastern Europe look warily for evidence of the Shadow Queen in their communities.  Stories vary on just what She might look like; perhaps a beautiful lady or possibly an old crone.  Most do not expect to see Her but can see Her influence in the form of starvation, disease, and suicide.  She must not be opposed.  It is best to do all possible to avoid Her gaze or Her attention.  Perhaps She will pass you by.

     For those who survive the Winter, which may actually be the Queen's husband, it is important to give offerings to Her in thanks for their lives or perhaps to make a final break of Her power.  On Palm Sunday, villagers build an effigy of the Queen out of straw, dressing it in some of the old clothes of the woman that was most recently widowed.  This is a blessing to her with the belief that it will prevent he husband from returning from the grave to her in the form of a Strigoi Morte, a vampire.  At the height of the ceremony, the figure of straw is sawed in half and then burned.

     There is much inconsistency in the descriptions of the Shadow Queen's appearance and behavior across the Carpathian Mountains.  In my novel, Carpathian Nights, I chose to never quite show Her directly.  I do have Her bring much despair, death and decay.

     The name "Shadow Queen" has lately been taken up with a video game, a Snow White novel by C.J. Redwine, and an association with the English queen, Joan of Kent.