The cult of the bear can be found in mithology, being considered a sacred animal.
Even the name Zalmoxe confirms the fact that the bear was a totemic dacic animal meaning "the one that wears the bear skin".

Bear skin was used in winter rituals and ceremonies because of the belief that on the bear's back are resting the earth's pillars, and because of the bear being considered pure and honest, constelations were named the big bear and the small one.
The bear is the one that controls the seasons according to its own rithm of hibernation.

He is also associated with various protective therapeutic virtues.
Tthe belief that a new born covered in bear fat after the first bath will be gaining the strenght and the bear's luck. For the sick and scared, fumigations with bear fur or applying bear fat on the skin was performed to gain the bear strenght and health.

It was believed that bears sacrificed themselves to teach new hunters how to hunt and they were returning into the sky to control the seasons.

Bears were celebrated with mask games and played by people dressed in bear skins adorned with targets bear, belts and big red tassel.