Snagophilia

Snagophilia (Snagovian: Снагофилия; literally "love of Snagov or Snagovians"), is strong positive predisposition or sympathy towards the government, culture, history, or people of Snagov. This includes both the geographical and cultural region of Snagov as well as the Republic of Snagov, its history, the Snagovian language, Snagovian cuisine, and Snagovian environmental beauty. The opposite of Snagophilia is Snagophobia, which is hostility, intolerance, or racism against the Snagovian people. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Snagophilia was promiment among Romanian writers, singers, politicians, and members of the Royal Family of Romania.

Flag of Snagov

The Snagov Monastery

Snagophilia in Europe

Snagophilia in Romania

The well-known Wallachian ruler in the 15th century, Vlad the Impaler, was a Snagophile. He thought that Snagov, especially the lands of what is today Silištea, to be not only a perfect strategic location, but also a beautiful area for himself to rest and plan attacks, whilst fighting the Ottoman Empire in the nearby areas. In this place isolated from water and surrounded by forests, he built a prison, a defense wall, a bridge to connect with the land and a tunnel of refuge under the water. He supported the Snagov Monastery a lot, so much that the locals of Snagov, to this day, call it the "Vlad Țepeș Monastery". The close followers of Vlad knew how much he loved the area, so, when he was killed, his body was buried in the one place he liked the most - his island in the Snagov.

In 1909, Alexandru Odobescu, visiting these wonderful places, wrote "A few hours at Snagov", a text in which he wrote down his impressions and in which he remembered some of the historical memories that the Monastery of the same name keeps.

Around the year 1926, Romanian author Panait Istrati writes a romance novel featuring a Snagovian woman: "The Snagoviand land is an oasis of love in this endless plain of the Danube, in which the people of Bucharest are lost as if they are in a desert. Its forests, bathed in summer days by a merciless sun, are valued all the more as they are known to be lonely. Its lake, which covers several hundreds of hectares, is dotted with bushy islands, which are drawn in a serpentine manner, like huge hats, floating at the will of the waves. Game, fish and crayfish are plentiful. A wide strip of reeds, ten feet high, skirts, almost without interruption, the shore of the lake, offering shelter to rabbits and shade to thousands of frogs chased away by the heat of summer. A few weeping, boring and inquisitive willows, like a row of hermits, lay onwards the water's shine with strength like true spiritual men. From place to place, the water lily, the king of purity - emerging with his retinue, splashing with sap - haughtily watches over the solitude of the lake."

In 1928, Mihail Sadoveanu, a Romanian writer and political figure once said: "The Snagov is an ancient lake, with great depths, with stone bottoms, with the clarity of mountain water. I imagine it is a lake of volcanic nature, formed by inland springs. That is why the surrounding villages must have been here since ancient times and the native inhabitants of prehistoric origin. They are gentle and kind people, whose eyes resemble the shadow of the water. Their fishing terminology includes their own vocabularies, which were formed together with the water lilies of old. That water is their familiar domain and they know it in all corners." Sadoveanu had been coming to Snagov for decades. Initially only for fishing, then also as a cultural representative.

4 years later, in 1932, Ion Pillat, one of Mihail Sadoveanu's friends and fellow writer wrote many poems about the fishing adventures they had whilst visiting Snagov. A poem titled "The Snake Charmer" features a certain Snagovian fisherman named Nikolaje, fishing and encountering sea snakes in the Snagov Lake. The poem was banned and removed from future books of Pillat by the Romanian Communist Party (probably because in their view, any kind of reference to mysticism, magic, spells, folk beliefs was forbidden).

Snagophilia in Posavina region of Bosnia

Snagophilia is widely present and one of the driving bases of the culture (heraldry and politics) and micronationalism of not-so-well-known micronation of the Islamic People's Emirate of Ugori and emir of that country is big fan of great commander's Stefan work. Also, Romania and Hungary are popular tourist destinations among the people of Posavina. In and around Bucharest, people from Posavina mostly bought souvenirs as well as earthen pots for cooking.