Simion Florea Marian (September 1, 1847–April 11, 1907) was an ethnic Romanian Austro-Hungarian folklorist, ethnographer, Eastern Orthodox priest and teacher, from the Duchy of Bukovina.
Born in IliÃÂeÃÂti, a village southwest of Suceava, his parents were Grigore and Ruxandra (née Stanovici). He studied high school in Suceava, NÃÂsÃÂud and BeiuÃÂ, passing his Matura in 1871. From 1871 to 1875, he attended the CernÃÂuÃÂi theological institute. He then served as a parish priest at Poiana Stampei (1875-1877), Voloca (1877) and Siret (1877-1879). From 1879 to 1883, he taught catechism at Siret. He settled in Suceava in 1883, working as a teacher and, from 1894 until his death in his adopted city, a professor at the Higher Gymnasium. He was elected a titular member of the Romanian Academy in March 1881.
His first published work appeared in Familia magazine between 1866 and 1867: Datinile poporului român: o nuntàla IliÃÂeÃÂti în Bucovina. He contributed to numerous magazines: CÃÂrÃÂile sÃÂteanului român, Amicul familiei, Gazeta poporului, ViaÃÂa RomâneascÃÂ, Junimea literarÃÂ, Convorbiri Literare, Analele Academiei Române, Gazeta Transilvaniei, Calendarul Ligei, Aurora RomânÃÂ, Calendarul Bucovinei, Literatorul, Noua revistàromânÃÂ, Observatorul, Revista criticàliterarÃÂ, Vatra, Calendarul diecezan, Amicul poporului, Calendarul poporului, Albina CarpaÃÂilor, Calendarul gospodarilor, CÃÂrÃÂile sÃÂteanului român, Curierul literar, Epoca, Familia, Patria, Albina, Glasul Bucovinei, Lumea nouÃÂ, Reforma, Revista românÃÂ, Tribuna and Revista pentru istorie, arheologie ÃÂi filologie. Together with Teodor V. ÃÂtefanelli, he founded Revista politicÃÂ. He produced a large body of work on folklore and ethnography, in which traditional Romanian culture was first researched systematically. He collected folk songs, which he published in books.
His pioneering investigations into Romanian folklore appeared in book form as Descântece poporane române (1886) and posthumously as PÃÂsÃÂrile noastre ÃÂi legendele lor. Works of synthesis that laid a foundation for Romanian ethnography include: Chromatica poporului român (1882), the first Romanian-language book of its kind; Ornitologia poporanàromânà(two volumes, 1883), which won the NÃÂsturel-Herescu Prize from the Romanian Academy and was the first of its type anywhere; and Insectele în limba, tradiÃÂiile ÃÂi obiceiurile românilor (1903). He wrote thematic monographs on ethnography that went through multiple printings: Nunta la români (1890), NaÃÂterea la români and ÃÂnmormântarea la români (both 1892). Between 1898 and 1901, he published the trilogy SÃÂrbÃÂtorile la români: I. Cârnilegile, II. PÃÂresimile, III. Cincizecimea, linked to the folk calendar. His history books include: Câteva inscripÃÂiuni ÃÂi documente din Bucovina (1885), Biserica din PÃÂtrÃÂuÃÂi (1887), Sf. Ioan de la Suceava (1895), Condica sfintei mÃÂnÃÂstiri VoroneÃÂul (1900) and Domnia lui ÃÂtefan voievod cel viteaz ÃÂi a lui ÃÂtefan TomÃÂa (1904). He was one of several authors who contributed to Die Bukowina (1888).