BOSNIAN CULT OF THE SUN

While the moon symbolised a goddess, the sun symbolised a god i.e. the male principle without which life could also not be possible. According to the description of some folk beliefs and customs about the sun we can assume that he was called god Trzan or Trzance.

Every large or small place in Bosnia and Herzegovina practiced a cult ritual dedicated to the sun. On the eastern side of a certain place there was always a holly place where people would gather to celebrate the solar deity. There they practiced the rituals dedicated to sun and also ritual games, which imitated the trajectory of the sun, competition and general fun. Such a place was usually called Igrište (a playground) or Trzan. One would always come to the holly place barefoot and one would also travel on foot which corresponded to the ritual reverence of the holly place. What is especially characteristic for the cult of the sun is playing rounds. Rounds is a game where everyone holds hands and makes a circle which symbolises the sun, its eternal cycle but also vivacity and cheerfulness. There are data that claim that until the middle of the last century, the Bosnians went to a place called Vrbanja in central Bosnia to practice Trzan and to organise various games and festivities.

We shouldn't disregard an interesting analysis of folk belief according to which the sun deity had a dualistic nature. We need to enumerate a few examples to make it a bit clearer. For starters we need to mention the belief from north-western part of Bosnia where women would cover the bowl that contained cow milk when they would carry it from one house to the other. They did it out of precaution so that the milk "doesn't see" the sun since it can harm the milk with its spellbound eyes, i.e. the cow that gives milk would lose its capability to produce milk. Milk is a classical woman's symbol of fertility and food which is a characteristic of the goddess. Is there a small part of a larger myth in this belief, a myth that speaks of the possessive nature of a god towards a goddess or is there a small dose of ancient patriarchy, it's hard to conclude.

Besides that people still believe that the sun is malicious and poisonous until 6th of May passes (Hidirlez) and that's why people don't recommend being exposed to the sun for long periods. A similar taboo is connected with the earth for which it is believed that it's not good to sit on it until a certain date passes or better yet the cold part of the year. So we come to a conclusion that everything in nature is harmful to humans until May because after that the danger recedes. Hidirlez or Jurjevo is also called among the folk Mijena, which literally means change, since it symbolised a change of seasons - the end of winter and the cold part of the year and the arrival of summer and the fruitful part of the year. In the past the calendar in Bosnia was divided into two seasons and not four. Therefore it is easy to assume that the cult of the sun god could be celebrated only in the second part of the year which perfectly corresponds to the old pagan division of the calendar year to the light and the dark part. It is necessary to mention that 6th of May is not the original holiday of the sun god that is depicted as returning strength and fertility to nature with his warmth, but the beginning of the month of May. However because of the strong influence of Christianity, which in fact couldn't fully ban the old pagan rituals, the holiday was moved from the 1st May to the 6th and was thus transformed into the holiday of Jurja who slays a dragon. A Dragon or a snake was always the symbols of paganism for the Christian clergy and therefore the symbolic slaying of the dragon should represent the destruction of the old religion. But, this Christian myth was also taken from a much older myth from the Iranian religion and myth about god Mithras who according to legend slays a bull out of whose dead body nature sprouts, especially grain which is necessary for the human race. However, for this text it is more important that Mithras was the sun god. The continuity of sun worship according to some available data never lost its basics but was only supplemented with new beliefs which came along with the Slavs but also with the members of the Persian religion. How strong was their influence is best depicted by the shrine of Mithras in Jajce which was built in 3rd century AD.

Of the other folk belief about the sun we need to mention those that can be classified as imitative magic based on the invocation and pleas for help and blessings from the sun. Today also Stravarke in Bosnia turn their hands clockwise while doing the melting of lead ritual, it is said that they are "following the sun". Also when they need to throw three embers into the bowl with water the Stravarka does it by first encircling the ember three times also in a clockwise direction. The above mentioned rule clearly shows the folk belief about the beneficial power of the sun when it comes to healing and annulling negative influences. However this isn't only practiced during the lead ritual, every time when one wants to do a magical step which needs to have a positive outcome or some benefit like giving to the poor, turning the beans when fortunetelling, kneading bread, etc. the rule of making three circles clockwise is always adhered.

In the past every wedding procession followed this holy rule which was understood as being beneficial for the wedded couple. That's why the wedding procession always went from the bride's house towards the groom's following the "sun route".

Snakes inside a human being

 All until the half of the past century in smaller places around Bosnia and Herzegovina it was believed that there were snakes that can enter a human body and spend a certain amount of time inside it. Such a scenario would take place if a man fell asleep outside, in the shade of a tree, and opened his mouth during sleep. Allegedly the snake would use that moment if it was in the vicinity and enter his body. She would stay there for days, months even years. The man who had a snake inside him could be recognised by loss of weight and pale face. According to folk belief the snake would eat everything what the man ate not leaving anything for him. In order to cure himself of this mysterious disease the man would be told to lay somewhere outside, on the grass, and fall asleep and one of the inhabitants would bake a chicken and place it next to his mouth. According to belief as soon as the snake would sense the smell of roast meat she would get hungry and would go out and in such a way free the man of its presence.

 

Aždaha (Dragons)

In the past Bosniaks believed in dragons, they described them as giant snakes with wings that were able to live both in the sky and on the land. It can be concluded from the folklore that dragons were males, there was no mention of a female dragon, and the dragons fulfilled their desire for offspring with human woman and animals, especially cows. According to folklore if a dragon was attracted to a woman, he would come to her room at night or wait for her somewhere outside, on a meadow, and he would use his magical powers to put her in a trance like state. After the intercourse the dragon would fly away and the woman wouldn't have any recollection of the incident.

Fatima K. from Bosanski Novi claimed that she gave birth to a dragon in 1974: "I gave birth inside the house, sometime after midnight, after half an hour of painful labour, out came a child in a white placenta and after a few moments it disappeared?!" She claimed that she never saw the child again and therefore she concluded that she didn't give birth to a "Snijet" but to a dragon. Another confirmation to this claim is that her breasts were full of milk in the evening, but when she woke up in the morning they were all drained. This occurred on a daily basis for a couple of months. Being afraid she told this to her neighbour, an old lady, who in turn told her that it was the dragon-child that came each night to feed himself with her breast milk. After some time the night visits ceased.   

Bik Garonja

Bik Garonja (Black Bull): old Bosniaks believed that the Earth rests on the back of a giant black bull. When the bull moves his ear then an earthquake takes place somewhere in the world, and on the day when the bull shudders the whole world will come to an end (Judgement day). The tumult that is heard during the earthquake is believed to be the bulls bellow.

According to the second version of this myth underneath the Earth's surface there is a huge sea which is inhabited by a gigantic fish. On her back there is a huge bull holding the Earth on his back and in such a way prevents it from falling into the sea. When the bull moves one of his ears the Earth shakes and somewhere in the world there is an earthquake, but if he would move one of his legs or another part of his body the entire Earth would fall into the ocean. To prevent that dramatic scenario, God created a fly which constantly flies in front of the bull's eyes, of which he is afraid of, paralysing him from fear so that he cannot move.

Stuhe

In the past it was believed that stuhe or zduhači were male witches. They possessed magical powers and they were clairvoyant. They usually helped people by performing various miracles and protecting some place from ill weather. They usually moved at night. Amongst the people there are a lot of tales about fights between stuha when there was a fight between the good ones and the bad ones. The most famous zduhači in Bosnia and Herzegovina were Gaibija and Suljo Aganović from Foča.

Illyrians legend from Velika Kladuša

Based upon the Greek legend Illyrius, progenitor of the Illyrians was a son of Polyphemus and Galatea and the brother of Celtus and Galas. Illyrius children, Auterius, Enchelus, Perrhaebus, Taulus, Daortho, Dissaro and Partho are the heroes of the epic poetry of Illyrian tribes. In this legend Illyrius is closely associated with a snake; she wrapped around him after being born and thus gave him all its magical powers. Modern philology aims to prove that etymologically names of Illyrians and the mentioned animal, plying the important role in the Illyrian religion, are connected.

As Japods occupied the entire territory of present-day Northwestern Bosnia, and elsewhere, it is logical to assume that they preserved and passed, on each generational shift, some of the old Illyrian legends. Such is a legend form Velika Kladusa about a father with seven sons which reassemble the Greek one. That legend describes the giant snake that guards the Gods treasure. She was living in a deep den near Velika Kladusa, in a suburb called a Rudnik. At a time when Romans achieve military superiority over the Bosnian land, there was an Illyrian family – father of seven sons and one daughter. Life was modest but nice until the day when children, out of sheer wantonness and youthful exuberance placed the flatbread on the stone and hit it with a spear. Horrified with this sacrilege of wheat, a gift of the Gods that feeds people, the father tried to reason the children and prevent them of throwing the spear to the flatbread, but in vain.
Suddenly something strange happened and forced the young man to stop their game – the flatbread started to bleed?! Seeing this strange omen, the father grabbed his head with his hands and wept because at that moment he realized that the Gods will punish them for blasphemy.
Shortly after this event, all seven sons lost their sanity and scattered to all four corners of the World and any track of them got lost. The father died from deep sorrow for his sons. The only one that remained in the deserted house was the daughter, drowned in grief for her late father and lost brothers, but even she was spared of Gods’ punishment, because she was the one who baked the flatbread. They turned her into a huge snake and decided that she would guard their gold and gems until the moment when young man comes, enough brave to let the snake kiss his forehead.

Many centuries passed since then, the story about the snake-girl slowly became a legend, which is told in the long winter nights. Each spring, on the Hidrelez holiday, the girl would come out from the hole in her new shape repeating the same plea: “Help me! Is there any man, of any faith to let me kiss his forehead, so I would become his wife or sister?” Many knew about her said words but there was no one brave enough to liberate her from the curse and become rich.
But, one spring before the arrival of Hidrelez, a poor young man decided, persuaded by an old woman from the village, to go and let the snake kiss him. – Anyway, as poor as I am, I have nothing to loose, he was encouraging himself. He arrived at down to the hole in the ground, where the snake lived for centuries and waited on her. Soon, from the darkness of the large hole appeared the snake’s huge head followed by her long body. Seeing huge snake before him, the young man got paralyzed with fear. He could not move. But the moment the snake approached him to give him a kiss the young man pushed her and run away. The young man was running thinking that snake would go after him, but something quite different happened. She just looked after him sadly and said: - Let God gives you my sadness and loneliness, and makes you die since I can not!” After that she returned back into her hole. Shortly after this event, the unfortunate young man turned seriously ill and after great pain and suffering he died.

Bosniaks - Illyrians

Bosnian historian prof.dr.Enver Imamović, believes than the modern-day Bosniaks do not continue the lineage of any Slavic tribe, but rather of an ancient Illyrian tribe called Posen. He gives a serious reference to support his statement and adduces the ancient Greek historian Appain of Alexandria (c. 95 – 165 C.E) who mentions an Illyrian tribe named Posen as living on the territories of modern-day Bosnia and Hercegovina. Mr.Imamović corroborates that the term Posen is nothing else but a corrupted form of the Illyrian term Bosen. Thus, mr. Imamović concludes that when talking about modern-day Bosniaks and the ancient Illyrian Posens we are talking about „one and the same people with the same name and a historic continuity of 2,000 years“.
To support his theory of the Illyrian ancestry of the Bosniaks, mr.Imamović mentions that the very name Bosnia is pre-Slavic and that it was existent long before the Serb and Croat tribes moved to the Balkan. Thus, he mentions that „already in the Roman time Bosnia was called approximately Bassania“.


Bosniaks are Illyrians

Prof. dr. Enver Imamović in his book “Historija bosanske vojske” ("The history of the Bosnian army") describes at length the Bosnian Illyrians, their military and social system. For this text the most important part of the book is the one that describes the vast density of Illyrians in Bosnia before the advent of the Romans and the Slavs:

After they had conquered the coastal tribes the Romans headed inland. At that time Bosnia was inhabited by numerous Illyrian tribes. They were considered as particularly brave and warlike by the surrounding tribes. The north-western part of Bosnia was inhabited by Japodi, east of them, between the rivers Vrbas and Bosna, were the Mezeji and in the central Podrinje there were Dindari. Desetijati inhabited central Bosnia, Dalmati western Bosnia and Ardijejci southern Herzegovina and the Adriatic coast.

Nakon što su pokorili obalna plemena Rimljani su krenuli u unutrašnjost zemlje. U to doba Bosna i Hercegovina je bila naseljena brojnim ilirskim plemenima. Ona su od okolnih plemena smatrana izuzetno hrabrim i ratobornim. Sjeverozapadnu Bosnu naseljavali su Japodi. Istočno do njih, između rijeka Vrbasa i Bosne, živjeli su Mezeji a u srednjem Podrinju Dindari. Desitijati su naseljavali srednju Bosnu, Dalmati zapadnu, a Ardijejci južnu Hercegovinu i primorje.

 

According to prof. dr. Enver Imamović and academician Muhamed Filipović, the Bosniak people are direct descendants of Illyrians which can be easily confirmed through various analyses especially historical but also religious.

It has long been regarded that the Albanians are the only direct descendants of the Illyrians, however the things that mr. Imamović and mr. Filipović have brought forth in their historical analysis's and papers confirmed the findings of the Swiss institute IGENEA. Namely, the experts of the institute came to a conclusion that only 20% of the Albanians have the Illyrian gene on the other hand 40% of the Bosnians have the gene as well.

When the Slavs arrived in the Balkans they performed genocide over the Illyrians, it is believed that 4 million of them were killed, and the survivors had to forcefully assimilate into the community of the Slavs.

NAME: Illyrian

EVOLVED FROM: Danubian / Yamnaya

COUNTRY: Albania / Croatia / Bosnia and Hercegovina / Romania / Greece / Turkey

REGION: Dalmatia, Bosnia/Hercegovina

TERRITORY: Illyria

LANDMARKS: Adriatic Sea / Balkan Peninsula

SITES: Gmunden / Oberzeiring / Koman

CENTERS: Glasinac / Skodra

AGE: Neolithic / Bronze / Iron

DATES: BC 2000 /BC 15th – 12th c / BC 1000 / BC 900 / BC 8th c / BC 5th c / BC 393 / BC 359 / BC 310 / BC 3rd / AD 168

DEITIES: Galatea

SIGNATURE: tumulus / villages / hillforts / tattoos / horse breeders / sea raiders / lembi

                                          

Bosniaks – Bogomils

During the XII century, the Bogomils movement appeared in Bosnia which spread quickly and was accepted by most, its spread lasted until the XIX century as some claim. Besides firmly resisting many rules of the Christian religion, the Bosnian Bogomils kept a large part of their old Illyrian religion which worshiped nature and its forces. Namely, it is known that the Church of Bosnia didn't have any sacral objects and also that it fought against construction of such objects. Instead they chose places in nature, in the open - according to some they were old pagan sanctuaries.

Besides that the Bogomils were socially and morally conscious. prof. dr. Enver Imamović points out in regards to the remains of Bogomilism among the Bosnians of today a few character traits and behaviours which are an age-old tradition of Bosnia and Herzegovina: courtesy towards the elderly, women and children, sense of justice, patience, knack for business, hospitality and love for their parents.


The holly day Tuesday

The holly day of the Bogomils was not Sunday but Tuesday which is confirmed by a few old beliefs which survived in the minds of the Bosnian people until today. Namely, it is believed that the end of times will take place on Tuesday, which has nothing to do with Islam, also the believed that the most severe punishments in court should be ruled on Tuesdays. In both of these beliefs we find a strong symbolism of Tuesday and the explanation as to why the Bogomils held their prayers on Tuesday - the believers prayed to God in order to amend themselves and also to postpone the end of the world. Also on Tuesday the grandfather (overseer), the priests of the Bogomils, conducted a role of a judge in disputes which certain people had amongst themselves.

Almost all of the holy places in Bosnia and Herzegovina which were used in the past for duas and praying are actually old Bogomil holly places. According to many historians one of the heads of the Bosnian church was Ajvaz-Dedo (grandfather). In his famous work "The history of the Bosnian Bogomils", Salih Jalimam claims that it has been historically confirmed that Ajvaz-grandfather was a Bogomil because of the prayers held in the old Bogomil monastery, and also because of the title grandfather (Did, Djed, Dedo) which was held by the highest ranking Bogomils.

In the north-western part of Bosnia we come across another grandfather called Did Adže (Grandfather Adže) who fully fits the description of a Bogomil leader - he is old, wears white clothes, has a long white beard and black shoes. The memory of him never disappeared but has been transformed in a legend about a ghost who is in charge of scaring the children. But also in this legend Did Adže has a task to scare the children better yet to teach them good manners and teach them to be obedient which clearly shows an authoritative person, like the grandfathers among the Bogomils. Another story is connected to Did Adže, namely he rides a huge rooster, has the ability to teleport and he is extremely wise. Some stories claim that he knows the location for the entrance to the underworld.

Witchcraft in Bosnia

In accordance with the Old Bosnian believes the Moon Goddess manifested in two forms. The first form was celestial and the second one was a tellurian. In her celestial form the Goddess had the power of magic and healing whilst in its tellurian form she was the goddess of fertility and well being. The text of the old Bosnian Love Chant alludes on her tellurian form, noticeable already in the beginning of the formula “Black Earth Mother, please help me, nor is this charm related to you neither to me, but to my dear…” When Christianity came into Bosnia and after that the Islam, the old cult of Mother Goddess was preserved, thanks to Bogumils, but with time the people forgot the meaning of most of the rituals and customs.

The belief in fairies is the best preserved part of the cult of Mother Goddess, which was kept in the mind of people. It is obvious that the cult could continue to exist only by loosing its religious significance and get a mark of local legends and superstitions. As such, it did not present any threat to monotheism but could have been forwarded from generation to generation. Based upon it, even the titles of Moon Goddess and Mother Earth had been changed into Zlatna (Golden Fairy) and Gorska vila (Forest Fairy). Both of them have been mentioned in the mythology of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The title Zlatna comes from the word gold which reminds of shinning, gloss or better to say the moonlight. The Gorska vila is the same as the Forest Fairy and the late title also refers to earth.

Chant Bosnian witch

What happened to Hasiba B. from a small Northwest village of Bosnia, few years after the World War II, shows the best that the connection between the people and old goddesses never severed. According to her story, once while she was shepherding at the meadow something unusual happened. While walking around she suffered a huge shock for no apparent reason which mostly reassembled the epileptic seizure. She lost the consciousness, her body was completely rigid and she was foaming out of the mouth. The family members found her in such condition and brought her home. Hasiba was lying for three days without consciousness like being in coma. When she woke up on the fourth day, she was completely sound and healthy. That most fascinating thing was that she woke up with the gift of foreboding and healing. Namely, while in coma she was visited by fairies who taught her how to foretell the future by watching into the water, how to perform divination with beans and how to heal the people by ritual of salivanje strahe. The fairies also taught her the various bajalice (oral charms) that she was supposed to pronounce in the healing rituals. One of the most interesting charms is the one related to the magical healing of the Moon.   

If analyzing quite a long text of three bajalice which make a whole, one could write a lot. However for this occasion it is enough to list few interesting ones. The bajalica brings up several times numbers 3 and 9 (3x9=27, which corresponds to the lunar circle), few times word silver, the metal dominated by Moon in astrology, while water as the Moon element is being mentioned 52 times. For better understanding of this text, maybe is good to specify that a year has 52 weeks.   

The fight against the evil embodied in physical and psychological diseases starts by activating of two elements: earth and water and after that the fire. It is important to remember that the forth element of air is present constantly through the breath i.e. the speech of a person who chants or baje. As described in bajalica, during the battle between the earth and water from one side against the evil, the “doors of the earth” are being open whilst the valleys and hills collide. That creates the power which neutralizes the evil. The appearance of the full moon is quoted at the end of the first bajalica.

The second bajalica starts with full moon coming that manifests by the psychical calmness of patient. The full moon waning, the moon phase coming and this change results by Moon giving the water and strength to the patient.  It follows by the next: “the patient was born in the night of the full moon and therefore he eliminated any decease during nine days”, “the night comes to the patient as so the help from the water; as the down comes the following day so the sun will arrive to the patient.” The last verse points out that by arrival of the sun the patient will be relieved of physical issues, such as fear, insomnia and anxiety. After, as the sun goes down in the west so the peace and calmness comes to the patient. On the next night the full moon brings the water as the gift to the patient that heals him for the next nine days. The evil withdraws and disappears as the days pass by. At the very end are mentioned the following: the full moon as well as the moon phase that brings the new moon which makes patient resting and neutralize the negative affects.

At the very beginning of the third and last bajalica it is described the arrival of full moon that brings the health i.e. strength to the patient. The most interesting part in this bajalica is speeding up the moon phases: full moon – moon phase – full moon, whilst element of water is in all verses that follow the moon change. Once again the reborn of the patient is emphasized but this time he is born for the first time during the night of the moon phase and the second time during the full moon. In both cases the moon “gifts” the patient but this time the gifts are three waters and nine days. These gifts have the profound curing effect as described in the following verses: “regenerate its own body; open the eyes; calm the psych; heal the bones and body; the full moon is coming…” In the last 15 sentences it describes exclusively the fight between fire and water, their interaction that bring definite victory over negative influences which caused psychological and physical problems to the patient.  

*Bajalica or magic chant – basma, bajati. The term has its origin in the Azerbaijan language where it represents folk poetry bayati which is in fact incantation- a type of magical poetry intended for sickness, happiness, love, fertility, keeping evil at bay.

Faeries or Vile

Faeries are young beautiful women with long golden hair. They have supernatural beauty and a soothing voice. They live inside forests and around lakes, they fly around trees and they like to dance in circles on the green grass. During that occasion they usually sing one of their many songs whose words worn people about some danger. There's a belief amongst the people that a child who feeds a fairy with his milk will become a great hero, this is best illustrated by the legend of Mujo Hrnjica.

If people hurt the fairy in any way, it will immediately take revenge by making the human psychologically disturbed. Fairies were afraid of mothers, especially in the past. According to a Turkish folklore which found its place amongst the Bosnian people, in the past humans stole the first child of a fairy and ever since then the fairies seek revenge by stealing human children or by exchanging a human child for its own. For this reason Bosnian women would place a metal object, most often a spoon, near baby's feet inside the crib, when they had to leave the house or when they had to do some chores.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina the most famous fairies are Bosanska vila, Gorska vila, and the queen fairy Zlatna. It was believed that Zlatna was the mistress of the forest and the water. Legend has it that every night, Zlatna accompanied by other fairies, went to the river to take a bath and after that they would dance and sing throughout the night on a nearby hillside. Bosnians believe that only those of pure spirit and a clear heart can see fairies in their sleep.

Besides female fairies it is believed that there are male fairies amongst these mythological creatures. The most famous male fairy is Ušušur. According to a legend from Doboj, Ušušur fell in love with a girl, who married another man. Desperate and furious, Ušušur used his magical powers to drown the girl in a river. Comprehending the gravity of his actions, he threw himself in the river after the girl but he couldn't drown himself because he was immortal. Because of this incident he decided to punish himself and he chained himself to the bottom of the river, which became his home. Ušušur is described by the people as green man, ragged and covered in moss

Prepasti

 After WWII in Bosnia rumours started spreading about scary apparitions which were called Prepasti. Usually they appeared on roads, meadows or next to rivers and creeks as obscure, black clouds, silhouette and whirlwinds that would go high into the clouds and sometimes they would turn into scary dark figures. Those supernatural apparitions were described by the people as distempered ghosts of dead soldiers because the places where they usually appeared were battlefields where large number of soldiers died during the war. Prepasti usually appeared in places where the soldiers lost one of their body parts, and according to belief they appeared to search for their lost limbs. Prepasti would disappear forever when the rain completely washes their blood from the soil and when plough furrows their bones into the ground.

 

Three suns and a dragon

According to folk belief of the Bosnian people when the Earth was created there were three suns until one day a giant dragon swallowed up two and the third one was saved by a swallow. But, the dragon is immortal and he lives in the large sea in the east. Every morning when the sun appears the dragon opens his mouth and flies towards it, however he is prevented by an angel that strikes the dragon in the mouth with a thunder bolt and the dragon returns back into the sea. As soon as the dragon recovers he flies out of the sea and blows in the direction of the sun and then a wind is created form the mist and is dispersed all around the world.

 

Jinn or Džin

Demonic creatures that have an aberrant form, which were created out of a flame. The Bosnian people describe the Jinn as small creatures with one eye and a tail. Each Jinn is limping. Even though they can take various human or animal forms they prefer to appear to humans in a form of a dark man (dark silhouette) whose face can never be seen. They also like to show themselves in a form of a black dog, a cat or a snake. It is believed that the Jinn are faithful servants but also masters of witches and wizards. When the Jinn want to seduce and subject someone to them, they dance a fiery circle and call out the name of the one they want. This usually happens when that person is sleeping. Jinn can dance a circle during the day but at that time in a whirlwind, that is why people avoid whirlwinds to this day. It is believed that as soon as the human utters: "In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful" and blows towards the whirlwind, that the whirlwind will disappear.
A special group of Jinn by the name Al-Karisi attack women who have recently given birth, and babies in the first 40 days after the birth.

 

Šejtan or Sheitan

They are demonic creatures that are similar to the Jinn. They are less powerful than the Jinn, because when a Šejtan enters a human, the human starts enjoying vices, impurity, lies or theft; but when a Jinn enters a human being, then the person suffers mental illnesses. Šejtan are easily frightened and they run away from humans as soon as the following words are uttered: "In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful". A Bosnian legend claims that that the Šejtan was present when the first man, Adam, was created. Namely, when God created the human body, He left it lifeless for three years. Each day the Šejtan would come and observe the human body and he would batter his fingers on the body. When he would reach the human's head, he would batter it to and say: "This head won't be empty". At the passing of the third year Allah gave life to the human and it rose to life. Allah warned the human immediately about the Šejtan and told him not to speak to the first creature that approaches him and not to tell him his name. In the beginning Adam resisted the Šejtan's advances, but after some time he gave in to the Šejtan's blandishment and questions and he started a conversation with the Šejtan. The cunning Šejtan jumped on his left shoulder and exclaimed that he will remain there forever since they are now friends. As soon as God saw what had happened he sent an angel to land on to Adam's right shoulder to stop the Šejtan from influencing the human to do evil all the time.
In Bosnia against the Šejtan there is a saying: "Šejtanu nalet te bilo!"

Angels or Meleci (Meleki)

It is believed among the people that there are two angels, one of them is blind and the other one is deaf, which are sent by Allah to stir up the clouds and the storm to places where Allah wishes to punish the people because of some sin. If the blind one hears the prayer from the mosque he will immediately redirect the clouds and save that place from the storms. It is further believed that the Šejtan wants to hinder him in his intent and that a fierce fight between them arises. According to the legends when the angel swings his sword towards the Šejtan a lightning flashes in the sky.
When a baby is smiling it is believed that it has seen an angel. The angels are considered to be the protectors of babies because of the baby's purity and impeccability. It is believed that babies are actually angels until the moment when they learn to speak because then they can utter the bad words along with the good ones and so they lose their gracious ability.

Soul or Duša

According to belief a man should never be woken abruptly because his soul leaves his body while he sleeps and travels around the world without any limitations. There is a similar belief amongst the Bosniaks about witches, they can also travel in the same manner with their physical bodies while they are asleep. When a witch falls asleep her soul exits through her mouth and wanders off to do evil to other humans. Her body then becomes blue and cold, her mouth stretches and her lips blacken. Before dawn her soul returns in a form of a bumble bee and enters her mouth at which moment she awakes abruptly from this mystic state.
It is believed that the souls of children haven't yet completely merged with the body and that their souls wander the world almost every time they fall asleep. Because of this reason mothers who want to move their child while it is sleeping, call the child by its name, or she lightly pulls its nose, wanting to alarm the soul about what is happening at that moment. Immediately the soul returns to the body. Otherwise, if the soul isn't warned, it is believed that the child can get ill or have serious psychological consequences.
Today in Bosnia and Herzegovina it is believed that a dying man's soul can not leave his body until his family and his neighbours "ne halale" (forgive him for his sins).

Čifuti

Coming to Bosnia the Jewish people were known as very stingy people to which a dozen sayings witness. That's why they are called Čifuti or misers. But the thing which was most linked to them was the killing of children. This belief about the Jews is not far from the truth because we find written records in Bosnia about the concoction of a magical remedy made out of human parts, called mumijo or mumya, which were made by the Jewish witches or rabbis. They acquired human parts by stealing corpses or by kidnapping and killing Christian and Muslim children. It was believed that during Pasha or some other holiday the Jews steal a child place him in a casserole and sting it with needles until it bleeds out. That's why children were frightened by these words: "Run to your uncle, run to your uncle, sting!" (Bježi amidži, bježi daidži, boc!”) in order for them to stay away from the Jewish homes.

Cigani

Gypsies were also known among the folk in BIH as children kidnappers. According to folk belief they broke an arm or a leg to the kidnapped child or they blinded him so that it can beg for money in such a disfigured form. To individual gypsy women, magical properties were ascribed which allowed them to mug anyone they wished. Usually they did it with the help of a small finger from a child's corps and by uttering secret magical formulas. For that purpose they usually used a wing from a bat. Gypsies were even mentioned in magical formulas for curing fear such as salijevanje strahe (melting lead) when the stravarka banishes the fear with the following words: "Let the gypsies take your fear and your tears in their sack far away from you!"

Mora or Nightmare

Bosniaks believe that a Mora is a discarded or cheated girl which uses this form to get back at her boyfriend. In her invisible form she comes every night around midnight and suffocates the young man by sitting on his chest. The young man feels a large pressure on his chest, he sweats and has nightmares. He awakes in the morning pale and feels powerless. It is believed that every girl can turn into a Mora if she surrenders her soul to Iblis.
How does one catch a girl-Mora? From the mosque one must bring a green belt used for tying down a deceased to the stretcher during a funeral. The one who is attacked by a Mora must go to bed holding the green belt in his right hand. He mustn't fall asleep but only keep his eyes closed. Around midnight the Mora will appear and sit on his chest. At that moment the man needs to put the belt on himself and the Mora will become visible to the human eye. Caught in a trap the Mora will be scared and she will start to beg the man not to reveal her secret in return she must swear not to be a Mora any longer. That way she will lose her invisibility power and she will become a normal girl once again.

Witch (or Naletnica, Sihirbaza)

According to a Bosnian belief girls become witches if they wish to cause someone harm, for example, to get revenge on her neighbour, her neighbour's cattle or children. Witches drink children's blood and they take away the milk from cows. While a Mora stops being a Mora as soon as she gets married, the same thing does not apply to witches. They don't lose their title after marriage because they stepped on the Holy Qur'an and they gave their souls to Iblis.
The witch can turn into a large butterfly and enter any house she wants especially the one that has small children in it. When you notice such a butterfly in your house, you must catch it and burn one of its wings on a candle uttering: "Come back tomorrow, I will give you salt" and then let the butterfly out of your house. It is believed that the first woman that comes to that house to ask for some salt is a witch. If she is then told that she visited this house during the night in a form of a butterfly and that she is a witch it is believed that she looses all her demonic powers.

Tvora, Činilica and Otrovnica

Tvora: An evil spirit of diseases which attacks the patient and burdens his psyche with various nightmares and horrible appearances.

Činilica: An evil spirit that caused a lot of anxiety and fear in the patient's soul, so that the patient thought that all the evil of the spiritual world has entered him.

Otrovnica: An evil spirit that would poison the patient's blood until he would finally die exhausted.

 

Dont forget genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda 1994-1995.

Since some civilizations or cultures are simply more barbaric than others, and since these are multiethnic – and different ethnic groups will naturally want to fight each other – such conflicts consist of assaults on civilians, bizarre masquerades, acts of unspeakable cruelty, and outright genocide, as in Bosnia and Rwanda.

Mary H.Moran - Liberia: the violence of democracy, 2006.

Krvopilica

An evil spirit that would drink the patient's blood all night until it would completely drain the patient of his power.

Mraza

An evil spirit of hatred and disputes, he took away love and unity from people, and he made them fight one another.

 

 

Bosnian Lampir

Lampir according to Bosnian belief is a dead man, who was possessed by an evil spirit (Jinn) 7 or 40 days after his death, who in turn resurrected him in order to exit his burial place and terrorise the members of his family and various places and drink blood. He is described as a man without bones, inflated like a paunch, full of blood, ragged and hairy, with big eyes and nails; dressed in the clothes he was buried in or wearing a white cloth over his naked body. Bosnian name for vampire is lampir (lepir or lampijer) . Term coming from the folks name of the butterfly – lepir. The according Bosnian beliefs death men from grave, who is become vampire, went to out in shape butterfly and fly.



                                             

In Bosnian Posavina ethnological data reveal that people believed that the lampir had eyes of a goat or a goat which he used to hide once he came into contact with humans since they gave him away. Besides the form of a human he can also have various animal forms such as a cat, dog, pig, ox, horse, mouse, bat, etc. He exits the grave though a small hole since he has the ability to elongate himself, but once he gets out he becomes large and grotesque and he makes sounds by shouting in various voices. He appears always after midnight and walks around the graves and its immediate vicinity.

When a lampir goes around a house he is followed by the noise of ten sieves, sieving the ground. He often brings some dirt from his grave and offers to some inhabitants to smell it and then sneeze. If someone says "healthy" to that person than he won't turn into a vampire; if not then he will turn into one. There are a lot of documented stories about the lampir's nightly visits, this is one of them: around Prijedor there is a Muslim graveyard. Next to it there is a Christian house. When a religious student stopped by, the housewife told him the following: "For a couple of nights we have been disturbed by a vampire. In the late night hour he throws stones at the house so forcefully that the boards on the roof started to break. Two nights ago I went out to see who is throwing rocks at our house - but as soon as I stepped out there was an eerie silence and I didn't see anyone. And as soon as I went back into the house it started again. This continued until dawn. Then I visited the graveyard, looked at all the graves, and I spotted a hole in one of the graves. I placed a large stone onto it but it was in vain, because the vampire threw stones again last night."

The standard assumption that garlic and hawthorn are a sure defence mechanism against a vampire are not true in Bosnia which can be ascertained through the following story: "A woman by the name of Aćima died in a village called Stupari, and the people started to talk that Aćima started to return to her house after midnight. The inhabitants and her husband testified to this claim, then the villagers gathered around and dug up her grave and saw her peaking at them through one eye, then they put a hawthorn stake through her. The next night a member of Aćima's household got sick, that member claimed that Aćima came back again walked around the house not saying anything, and that she took three pieces of garlic with her before she left. The family and their neighbours dug up her grave again and they found her lying on her side and the three pieces of garlic were placed around her. They made a big fie around her and once they burned her they closed the grave again. Since then the lampir Aćima was never heard from again.

One of the more interesting beliefs of how one becomes a vampire was recorded in Vlasenica - that is if someone walks over a yarn. This happened to an ethnologist: "Two girls who were weaving a yarn asked me to go over a yarn once I stepped over it. I didn't want to but they were persistent because if I didn't a great evil would befall me. When I asked what could happen they answered that I should step over it again and that they would tell me. Once I did what they asked, they said that if I didn't step over it again that I would become a vampire once I died and if they were alive when that happened he would seek them out and kill them."

Prikaze

Are evil spirits that appear to people only at night in various forms, mostly as cats, rabbits, goats, dogs. It is believed that whoever sees a Prikaza he will get seriously ill or die in a short time.

 

Kudretfenjeri

It is believed that these are the ghosts of dead Muslim soldiers who usually appear in the form of mysterious lights at abandoned cemeteries, ruins of old houses or military fortresses and even sometimes forests. It is believed that these soldiers were buried in Christian cemeteries and now they are wondering in search of a Muslim cemetery.

Meknjača

Meknjača or Plačo: is the name of a mysterious bird that has never been seen but has been heard usually during eve time or at night. Its call can be compared to a child crying. The folk believe that it is a soul of a deceased child that has turned into a bird and that it is only heard when someone is about to die. It is also called drekavac.

A Popular History of Witchcraft

In august, 1927, an english lady who was walkingin a wood near Travnik, in
Bosnia, apparently aroused the suspicions of some peasant women, who crying
out that she was a sorceress who would bewitch their children, attacked her,
beating her and scratching her until the blood flowed. She escaped with difficulty and found protection in the neighbouring village.

Karanđoloz

The belief about this mythological creature was brought over to Bosnia by the Ottoman Empire. Karanđoloz as it is believed can be found at night on lonely intersections, when it surprises a traveller by jumping on his back and riding him like a horse. Besides being very heavy, Karanđoloz has an awful smell and reeks, and in that way deepens the traveller's misery and suffering. If the Karanđoloz asks the traveller "Am I heavy?" the answer mustn't be affirmative or this being of the night will become even heavier. The Karanđoloz won't stop torturing the man until dawn; when the roosters call is heard in the morning the demonic being will disappear. People used to protect themselves against the being by going around the house or a stable in circles holding a walnut in each hand and clapping one against the other they uttered: "Tučem kućnog dušmanina, što berićet odnosi a musibet donosi!". The famous Bosnian writer Mehmed Meša Selimović wrote about Karanđoloz.

Lampir

Whoever cuts his nails during the night will become a lampir (vampire).

Bosnian folk believe that if a dead man inflates, that he will become a vampire. To prevent this from happening people would place a knife or a piece of earth on his chest.