Ubiquitous Bogomil tradition

The human spirit is very restless. When a man is sleeping the spirit exits the body and walks away. The man dreams where the spirit goes, and when it returns into the body, the sudden energy surge wakes the man up. The spirit in Bosnian mythology is described as an etheric apparition which squeals. As for the soul, so as for the human spirit a bridge represents a very strong barrier and prevents it from further movement, namely, as soon as the spirit comes across a bridge during his nightly travels, he cannot cross it, it gets restless starts squealing and screaming. If someone would catch that mouse, the sleeper whose spirit is represented by the mouse would die immediately.

In Bosnian mythological representation a bridge is a notion of a place with high energy, which besides connecting two shores in the material level, on the spiritual it has the meaning of a spiritual portal through which the soul passes or perishes on its journey.

According to belief from south-eastern part of Bosnia a child's spirit is especially restless, like the child itself, it is restless and always in the mood for movement and games. Aware of this older women still today warn young mothers when moving a sleeping child from one place to another or if waking it to do it carefully, calling him by his name and pulling it lightly by the nose. If the child is a heavy sleeper they would imitate the sound of a mouse (cccc) in order to draw attention to the wandering spirit, this would force him back into the body. Otherwise, if the child would awake and the spirit hasn't returned, they would risk the child would fall ill mentally and physically.

Also for an adult the same rule applies, it should not awake suddenly, since its spirit is far away, traveling across the world. Apparently such a person could physically attack, start kicking the person that is awaking him at such an unpleasant moment. In that case it is necessary for such a person to be taken to the place where he is sleeping, for it to lie there again, and stay there until it awakes. If this is not done, the person could have some mental issues all its life.

As it is narrated among the Bosnian folk, according to the Bogomil principles, the human spirit belongs to the god of evil and the soul to the god of good. This is why it is believed that witches and wizards have to sell their souls to Iblis or some other ranked Jinn, in order to engage in magical practice and rule the unseen forces. They perform this with a ritual, usually by bringing the holly book Qur'an inside the bathroom and urinating or defecating on it. This is why the soul was purposefully exchanged for a certain power, the soul is trapped and no longer belongs to the human.

After such a situation and the disturbance of the equilibrium of good and evil, the human spirit in the body of the witch or wizard becomes extremely powerful but also evil and is capable of making various evil deeds. While the witch is sleeping, the spirit exits her, and the body gets a blue hue and becomes cold, almost as if she died, which is the consequence of a trapped soul. Her mouth gaps open and become black. It is considered that a spirit of a common man is capable of doing bad things during its nightly travels, such as attacking someone along the way, but this spirit like the witches spirit avoids crossing over all bridges which it encounters.

Similar belief exits in Iranian - Arabic occultism where it is claimed that every human possesses its astral doppelganger. Haamzad or Qarin is the name for the Jinn which follows the man at all times and tries to influence negatively his conscious and his behaviour. Qarin is the only Jinn which cannot be destroyed with exorcism or in any other way.

Are you a Muslim?

When a girl or boy would die one would place a stalk of nacre (ruta graveolens) above their heads. According to the custom one places an herb of a distinct smell next to the deceased in order to chase the Jinn away. One would usually use nacre, whose bouquets often adorned the grave of a girl or a boy. Nacre is according to this an herb dedicated to the cult of the dead in Bosnian tradition.

As soon as a person would die one would make "dead man's paste" and would distribute it across the neighbourhood. Necessity to follow his departure into the other world with good deeds, in order to ease it, was pronounced before and during the funeral. That's why next to the head of the deceased one would place a bowl of flour, or wheat, with a few tallow candles stuck inside of it. On the next day the candles and the flour were given to the poor.

According to folk knowledge, the deceased should be buried as soon as possible. Depending on the case the funeral should be done the same day, and if death occurred at midnight or during the evening - then the next day. If the person died suddenly in his bed, and he wasn't lowered to the floor prior to that, to die there, then it is done once he has died. His head is tied with a bandana and his eyelids are squeezed, so he can have a nice face. The deceased is placed so that his body is straight, it used to be a habit to tie the thumbs on the legs in order for the body to keep that position, while a heavy object was placed on the stomach, such as a knife, or a piece of earth, out of fear that the dead body wouldn't bloat, since that was explained as him "prikazati" i.e. - becoming a lampir. This is the reason why the house cat was locked away until the funeral has passed, out of fear that the cat will cross the deceased' body.

Deceased is covered with a white sheet and positioned so that his right cheek is turned in the direction of the holly city Mecca. One of the inhabitants, using a straight stick, takes a measure of the deceased, which is called "unčija" or "ulčija" in order to know the length of ćefin, the cloth of the dead, and digging of the grave. When the deceased is taken from the house, to the outside then care is taken that a part of him doesn't get stuck by a door or wall, since if that happens, it is believed, that his spirit will come back to the house and will disturb the inhabitants.

Bosnian folk believe that the soul can return home up to 40 days after the funeral. That's why lights or candles were turned on in the room where he lie, for the entire period, among the more affluent families, while the poor families would practice this ritual for seven or three nights. Place where the deceased was bathed was passed with fire, so that the Jinn and devils don't gather, and the room in which he lie was sprayed with water or was washed "so that the soul doesn't return". If the room was swept after the body was taken out, then the broom would be thrown far from the house.

After the body of the deceased is washed and all present men and women forgive him, halaliti, the body is taken to the grave where it is buried with a prayer. It is believed that when the Imam leaves the graveyard, since he has uttered all the necessary verses and prayers, the soul stays in the community of the dead. An interesting belief is that during the Imam's question of the deceased: "Are you a Muslim?" - the deceased in the grave lifts his entire body on the small finger of his right hand and answers readily: "I am a Muslim!" He does so that he is received by the dead. It is evident that the soul, according to belief, can resurrect the body so that it can lift itself up