Marţolea

Marţolea is a Demonic entity in Romanian mythology (especially in the regions of Bukovina and Maramureş) who lives up in the mountains and descends on Tuesday nights to lure with her singing and punish the women caught working.

Called also Marţ Sara (the old Romanian words for "Tuesday Evening") is a malefic entity, who demands the semi-holy day of Tuesday to be respected and who forbids four women's chores: spinning of the wool, sowing, boiling laundry and baking bread. This is a pagan being.

Marţolea's punishments for these things are harsh like: killing by ripping,hanging the guts on nails to the wall and around the dishes, in the unmarried women cases. For the married women the punishments are killing or possessing their baby or their husband who is far from home.

Usually her form is of a big old woman dressed all in black,ugly,soldier/warrior or as a handsome man.To married women it shows as an old woman,to married men as a virgin and to unmarried women as a young charming man.

In some regions,she is called Joimâriţa, another form of the Romanian word for Tuesday.

Also Marţolea repays the women who keep the Tuesday day sacred by leaving them eggs on their doorstep or flowers from the highest mountains in Bukovina.