The Skopti
The Skopti coachmen, who worked along the Soseaua Kiseleff until the 1940s, were one of the curiosities - or grotesqueries - of Bucharest. Members of a dissident religious sect founded in Russia during the seventeenth century - and related to the Lipovani of the Danube Delta - the Skopti ritually castrated themselves in the belief that "the generative organs are the seat of all iniquities", interpreting literally Christ's words on eunuchs in the Gospel of St Matthew. This was done after two years of normal married life - a period necessary to ensure the conception of future Skopti. Driving droshkys pulled by black Orloff horses, the coachmen wore caftans sprouting two cords, which passengers tugged to indicate that the driver should turn left or right.
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