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The wolf, as a mythological symbol, is present in the culture of many peoples, but in the Romanian one it occupies a privileged place, being capitalized in ballads, fairy tales, legends, ritual songs, etc., most often with a positive meaning - "brother" of man, the "guide" from the "world with longing", temporary, in the eternal, "without longing", "master", protector of the great "thresholds" of existence. His role of "initiator" of the soul, in the mysteries of life and death, in the Great Journey, is exemplary captured, for example, in some popular verses, recorded in a folklore anthology by Constantin Brailoiu: "And you will go out / The wolf before, / To frighten you./ Not to frighten you, / Good brother to catch him, / As the wolf still knows / The fear of the woods / Of the paths./ And he will take you out / On the road , / To a thief, / To go to heaven ”.

For Romanians, the great wealth of folk creations dedicated to the wolf is also explained by the fact that it was the totemic animal of the Dacians. Mircea Eliade, quoting the Greek historian Strabo, points out that the Dacian veneration of this animal is also reflected in the fact that their very name, of the Dacians - daoi - came from daos, a word which, in the Phrygian language (of Thracian origin) means "Wolf": "Therefore, the Dacians called themselves, in ancient times, wolves or those who are like wolves" (Mircea Eliade, From Zalmoxis to Genghis Khan).

Associating the wolf of the god of light, Zalmoxis (from zalmos, which in Phrygian also means wolf), the young Dacians, during their training and initiation as warriors, believed that they must acquire intelligence, courage, ability, zeal in the battle of the wolf, dressing - even, ritually, in the fur of a wolf. Not coincidentally, the Dacian banner symbolically brought together a wolf's head and a snake's body, the second symbol - the snake - adding, as significance, the idea of the cyclicity of universal existence, of life and death, beginning and end. , light and darkness, finite and infinite.

Romulus Vulcanescu, in Roman Mythology, but also in Popular Masks, starting from an information recorded by Herodotus, shows that, in a certain Dacian tribe, north of the Danube - neurii - the veneration of the wolf, as a totemic animal, is manifested and by the fact that, once a year, each of the neuros metamorphoses into a wolf, for a few days, to penetrate the spirit of the animal, an aspect that has been preserved in fairy tales or even in customs related to certain Christian religious holidays, superimposed over the old Thracian-Dacian background. Thus, until today, several "Days of the Wolf" are preserved in folklore and in the religious calendar, starting with Saint Peter in winter (January 16), the date recorded in the Christian Calendar and as "Honor of the Wolf", when Saint Peter, protector of this animal, establishes its "borders" and allows it to eat from people's flocks, then St. Peter's Summer (June 29) - "The Council of Wolves" - a day believed to gather wolves in a certain place, usually at a crossroads, where St. Peter is shown and distributes food to wolves from a never-ending bread / prescura, gives them chickpeas to satisfy their hunger, because without the consent of the Saint, wolves would not dare to do any harm in the world.

For Ukrainians, the owner of wolves is "The Forest Man" (Liesi), for Serbs, Saint Toader, for Belarusians, Saint George. In the local tradition, Saint Andrew (November 30) is also considered "master of wolves", the date corresponding to the passage in winter and, in ancient times, probably, the passage in the Dacian New Year. The fact that there are "wolf holidays" in both summer and winter only underscores nature's cycles, which are reflected in human life.

And in other peoples, the wolf appears as a beneficial symbol. The legend of the founding of Rome is closely linked to the wolf and the woodpecker (sacred creatures, acrotites of the god of war, Mars), who fed Romulus and Remus. In the Nordic countries, but also in the Greeks, the wolf was associated with a deity of light or embodied the image of a mythical warrior. The Turks represented, in folk traditions, the legendary ancestor Genghis Khan, as a blue wolf (sign of heaven and light), accompanied by a white or copper deer (embodiment of the forces of the earth). A celestial blue wolf (corresponding to the star Sirius), guardian of the celestial Palace (Big Dipper) is also the creator of the Chinese dynasties, which gives courage and strength in the fight of the warriors.

In various Romanian and universal myths, the wolf is partially associated with evil powers. In our country, there are, in some areas, legends about pricolics (werewolves), believing that such spirits were transformed into children who cried before birth. On the other hand, from birth, it also has a protective function of this animal, because when a sick child needs a "device", a name change is made, savior, the new name must be Lupu, Ursu, Vidra etc. , invoking, as

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