Mysterious Bosnia and Herzegovina – between legend and reality

autor: Raif Esmerovic

History of a people, especially in the distant past, can be studied and perceived from various aspects and directions, which can be summed up in one whole or studied individually. Mythological legends and beliefs are one of such approaches, since we cannot ignore the fact that often legends and myths are real descriptions of events to which folk imagination has given a mystical thread and has impressed upon them human hopes of the time. Because of these reasons it is a real pleasure to research the history of the Bosnian people which is contained in myths, legends and folklore, those unique fragments of collective consciousness, which survived to this day through oral transmissions. Actually, the intent of this feuilleton in part is to touch upon interesting aspects of shamanistic practice of Bosnian stravarke which are intertwined in ancient folk myths, which are usually the best reflection of life and thinking of our ancestors, their habits, spiritual understanding and coexistence with nature.

On the trail of Tur

The honour of opening up the first chapter of Bosnian mythological scene deservedly belongs to the mystical being Tur (bull) who holds Earth on his shoulders, according to legends (1). Curiosity of this mythological tale is that it is only present among Bosnian people and as such it represents exceptionally important segment in search of our origin. Researching available tales and data about the extinct bovine of the same name, Tur (Bos primigenius) I came to a conclusion that our ancestors Illyrians, probably came to our area from today’s Iran and India, following this creature during its migration towards the European lands. Namely, according to research of the Paleontological museum at the University of Oslo, first examples appeared in the area of today’s India two million years BCE from where they migrated to the Midlle East and other parts of Asia. They reached Europe around 250 000 BCE. Since prehistory Tur was an important animal for the survival of humans, our ancestors as well, which is evidenced by drawings in pre-historic caves but also the above mentioned legend.



Although a several ethnologists mentioned the beliefs of Bosnians in terms of Tur holding the earth in “Contributions to oriental philology” of the Oriental institute in Sarajevo, year 1980, page 310, a very interesting practice of Bosnian people is mentioned; although people crossed over from Arian Christianity to Islam they still continued to give honours to the old Illyrian deities, joining them to the Muslim devotes such as Vejsil Karanija: “Then, from an old lady, Puhalovka Alijaginica, which lived in Čebedžije in Sarajevo, I recorded the following: >>On Wednesday one would pray noon prayer and bow to : Oganj and Ognjev Pir (2), Tur, Hadži Dedi, Hadži Kasapi, Sitoj Nefisi, Vejsil Karaniji, his father and mother.”

In the rest of the text the author claims: “it is a shame that Gržić is pretty unspecified, claiming that “people in Bosnia still believe that the world rests on Tur, and when he shakes, that earthquakes take place”. It is interesting that the author mentions that Tur shall appear before the people when a great earthquake takes place, which directs us towards the ancient traditions about doomsday which is among the Bosnian people predicted when the bees, sheep and wheat disappear, “40 years before doomsday”.

In Cazin the bull Tur is also called Garonja, which picturesquely tells us that we are talking about a bull with black pelt, which is what the real Bos primigenius looked like. Personally, this last data is the most fascinating one since this wild ox has died out a long time ago, namely the last Tur lived in 1627, which begs the question how our people remembered the way the ox looked like since there are no written documents about it. Actually, it is a real mystery if anyone in BiH, especially among the common folk, knew whether such an ox actually ever existed in our area?!  



Place names

Illyrians have, especially the tribe Japoda, like other ancient peoples always chosen places near water when building their settlements, which is where they stayed the longest, like most animals, therefore it is not strange that often place names begin with the name Tur and they are usually found, or at a relative distance from a larger river such as: Turija in Bihać, river Una, village Turjak near Višegrad, river Drina, Turjak near Banja Luka, river Vrbas, Turić near Pelagićevo, river Sava, or some places in Croatia, close to BiH, such as Turanj in Karlovac, river Korana, Turopolje near Zagreb, river Sava, etc. Probably in the previous centuries there were more place names across Bosnia and Herzegovina but through the turbulent history and the influence of colonial conquerors the names gradually changed.

Personal names

Tur and Pir among the Bosnian people from middle ages were personal names which is shown by the census mentioned by A. Sućeška in the annex “Waqf loan in Sarajevo” /Oriental institute in Sarajevo, 1996/ page 120. where, among other things it is written: “Loan: 3.600 from the price (of sold) honey (?) 360. guarantors: Ibrahim and Osman, sons of Hizir, form the mentioned street. Present: Nesuh Imam, son of Muhamed; Mustafa, son of Tur Alija; Husein, son of Pir Alija; Sefer Imam, son of Seid, Hadži Kurt Alija, son…” On page 223 a list is mentioned in which among other names there are these two: “Tur Ali, son of Murad, Pir Ali son of Murad…” etc.

(1) According to the Bosnian tradition this world is standing on the back of a giant bull Tur (Garonja). When he moves his ear somewhere on earth there is an earthquake, and on the day that Tur shakes his entire body the end of the world will take place. For the rumble one hears when there is an earthquake, people say that it is the roar of the bull Garonja.  

(2) Pir is the name mostly connected to Sufism, it signifies the Sheik, spiritual leader, holly person. /The Pir or Sufi Saint in Pakistani Islam/. Oganj comes from the Illyrian language, as the name for the hearth, and signifies fire. It is possible that behind the name “Ognju i Ognjevu Piru” – the literal translation would be “fire and fiery saint” – are hidden the deities of the household hearth, in which according to the Illyrian belief belongs the snake. Conclusion is imposed by itself that Oganj i Ognjev Pir are ancient deities of our ancestors i.e. fire and snake, totems of the house and family.

Great bird – creator of life on earth



Although shamanistic practice in Bosnia throughout the last centuries has been minimised and reduced to only a few fragments of folk medicine we cannot disregard the rich inheritance in oral tradition. That close contact of man and nature – natural forces – can best be experienced through certain legends, such as the one which can be heard from individuals, usually elderly people, and which is in complete opposition with the monotheistic tradition about genesis. Namely, it claims that life on earth wasn’t created by Allah but that in the beginning of time our planet was covered by an endless desert, without any signs of life. At one moment a Great celestial bird flew over the land and once it saw this wasteland she was overcome by sorrow and she dropped a tear which created a lake once it fell to the earth; the lake grew daily and it got wider and deeper until it became an ocean. Then from the water’s depths life appeared on the surface and spread across the once desolate land (3).

Memory of the gigantic bird, which breathed life to the desolate earth, remained throughout the centuries in the memory of the Bosnian people which as a sign of thanks offered/sacrificed the scent of fruit, which she apparently used as food. They would do this by placing fruit peels on the stove, apple or orange peel, so that they can spread their fragrance which would go up towards the sky. Though today there is a thought that the Great celestial bird could have been an alien ship which brought life to earth, as a type of experiment, we shouldn’t downplay the importance of the legend itself, just like the fact that there are several traditions including the Great bird, like the one in which she bet with god that she will stop and prevent marriage of a boy and a girl, which has a deeper meaning and alludes to the existence of first people on earth.



(3) This tradition I heard in childhood from now deceased Đulsa Ordagić (Velika Kladuša), which told other folk myths such as the one when a snake enters a human being and gives birth to snijet, but this legend impressed me especially because this sweet old lady, a frequent guest in our house, wanted to explain why there is so much sorrow and pain in the world – because the world was created out of a tear. In a deeper sense, this tradition reveals that the origin of life is fluid i.e. tied to water, sperm or fertile water i.e. amniotic fluid.

Soul and creation of man

The Illyrians nurtured polytheism, segments of which are present in all tales of Bosnian people as we shall see further in the text. Totemism and animism, which are crucial for the definition of polytheism are clearly noticeable in a few important segments of Bosnian mythological tales such as the one about zviždenjak, star as the habitat of the soul, source of water and trees. It is considered that they’re totems, but also astral, animal and vegetative doppelgangers through which the human being is tightly connected to nature and its forces which surround them.  

Without a doubt the seed of life stems from space and something or someone has brought it and planted it on earth for some, to us, unknown reason. But, ancient Illyrian belief that every man has his own star, habitat of soul, with which he is connected through the middle of the forehead, that place which is called “the third eye” which confirms the theory about terrestrial seed of life. There is a Bosnian belief that in animals, especially dogs, there can be a human soul, also the colourful description of scenes from hell in which punished people always have an interaction with animals leads us to a similar conclusion.

There are several mythological tales in BiH about the creation of the first man and every one of them is in the spirit of the monotheistic dogma about Adam and Eve, as the first people in the world. But, what attracts our attention are the tales about the human body and soul. For me the most interesting one speaks about the difficulty in divine creation of man, namely, the greatest issue was to get humans accustomed to breathing and air, which is confirmed by the legend that god had the greatest difficulty in designing the nose of a human. This primordial issue has not been overcome until today, if we take into account the shock that a new-born baby experiences before it draws its first breath when it comes out of the womb, which is followed with great pain and loud crying.



According to a Bosnian legend when an embryo is conceived in the mother’s womb, during the first 40 days, God determines his entire faith. However, although a bit hidden in this belief it is insinuated at the connection of the embryo with the soul i.e. consciousness, which makes him a foetus and enables him to develop. Respectively, it is believed that the embryo during the first 40 days is not actually a being, until the gift of life i.e. soul//consciousness is not given to it by divine intervention, so that it can have its own faith. There is a belief that the soul doesn’t enters the embryo i.e. foetus at once, but gradually, in stages, through the head (temple) which signals at the belief of Bosnian women that the child’s temple is closed only when it can pronounce the word – egg (4). Shape of egg and apple, folk representations of the soul, is very similar and actually a result of certain differentiation through folk tales, which is usually oral, and as such through generations of narration it has gone through smaller or larger changes. But, what is most important is that it kept its essential meaning.

According to the growth and development of a human, his soul grows as well. Admittedly, among the Bosnian people it is usually described as a fruit of the apple tree; it is hard to reach “since it has seven layers around it” – namely, as far as I could fathom from my informant, the first layer should be the aura, then skin, hair, blood, meat, veins and bones. The soul is described as a type of foreign parasite, which, when it enters the body, uses its energy tentacles to wrap around each bone 99 times and that is “why it is not easy to die!”. As folk tales further state, during death the soul first recedes from the peripheral parts, from the hands and legs, when it is usually said that his hands and feet are cold.

Violent death, especially the one in which the human is being killed or dismembered, disrupts the regular process of separation of soul from the body and the side effects of such an event are the vortices of discordant energy which in the past was called by our people Prepasti. There is a dilemma whether the violent dismemberment of a human body severs the part of soul which is in that limb. Namely, after WWII people reported the appearance of vague vortices of wind and mist, which turned into dark figures for moments, in meadows or places near creeks or rivers, where like miniature tornadoes they rose into the air. Such sudden apparitions “souls which are calling for help” happened in places of death, where soldiers, but also civilians, violently lost legs or arms. Bosnian people considered the appearance of Prepasti as a search of ghosts for their lost limbs. Allegedly, Prepasti would disappear without a trace only when the rain would wash away all the blood and when the plough, ploughed the bones into the earth. It was believed that as soon as earth received the last part of the body, the soul would find its peace. The same thing happened with animals, whose apparition the people called – Prikaze. In both cases, during such supernatural encounters, there was a danger that a human can fall ill because of stress and fear.

(4) We shouldn’t forget the traditional Bosnian ritual of giving a chicken egg or an egg to a new-born as a symbol of health and life which is connected to what has been written. Background of this gift giving can have a kind of magical motif “gifting of the soul” or its strengthening.

Death of male children

In all ancient Bosnian traditions one can glimpse a shamanistic practice of connecting people with the animal world, plants and spirits which they represent. First plants which appeared on earth haptovina (Sambucus ebulus) (5) and odoljen. For both of them it is claimed that they’re the oldest plants in the world. Especially interesting is the old Bosnian legend which spoke about no male children being able to survive more than 24 hours after birth until the plant odoljen (Valeriana officinalis) has sprouted from earth. According to that legend we could conclude that to our forefathers this plant was one of the cult plants and at the same time a symbol of male strength and life. But, this legend also can lead us to the way of a theory that the process of creation of the first humans was not easy and it obviously repeated itself a few times until it was lead to a useful state.



Odoljen is a name which comes from the term “to resist something”, and in BiH folklore it is considered a plant which has apotropaic strength to protect the human being from all evil spirits and magic – negative energy – which prejudges the theory according to which the creation of the first human, which was a man, was not possible until the first odoljen has appeared, probably the plant totem of our ancestors, which should be added to the already existent list.

In folk tradition it is said that faeries tend to comb their long golden, while sitting on a rock or near a river and to sing: “If a mother knew what odoljen herb is she wouldn’t burry her son into the black earth!”. As we can sense from the above mentioned, the need for shamanistic approach to nature is deeply rooted in the consciousness of our people, and highlights and confirms the extremely tight connection of man with the world which surrounds him and especially the mystic forces.

 (5) Haptovina or shortened hapta is used in the cult of the dead, namely, in the past there was a custom of placing a knife on the chest of a dead body and above his head a steam of rue, if one couldn’t find rue it was exchanged with ćabarska trava or Sumbucus ebulus.

Garlic and the secret of eternal life

In Bosnia it is believed that every disease has a cure, only death cannot be cured, though people claim that it could be cured if someone could catch the seed of garlic. However, the cunning faeries would pluck the seed and take it with themselves, for centuries they prevented humans from attaining their desire for immortality.

Snake in the human body

Ever since the ancient Illyrian ancestors the snake had a primary place according to its religious-mythological meaning. In the myth about the genesis the first Illyrian or progenitor came into being from a snake that’s why it has a central role in the family, it represents an animal doppelganger of the head of the family, it protects the house and its inhabitants from all evil. When building a house, until the middle of the previous century people would leave a small hole in the wall, close to the ground, so that the so called house snake could live in it. Often none of the inhabitants would ever see the snake but despite this it was firmly believed that it existed and people would leave food or a small saucer with milk next to the hole. In certain parts of BiH the builders would etch a drawing of a snake on the wall, in order to mark its secret role and welcome it.

Besides, among the Bosnian people it was believed that the forest or outdoor snake can enter a human and live in his womb for some time. Namely, as the villagers claim that in the past it happened that a person would fall asleep outside, on a meadow, or under a tree, and a snake would enter into his body through the mouth. Such a person would be recognized by sudden loss of weight and a pale face. According to the villagers, everything that he would drink or eat, the snake would eat and it would take away his strength and food. If the snake would not be chased out of the human body, the person could die. That’s why people would bake a young chicken and a vessel with milk would be placed next to the face of the person while it slept. The snake would, allegedly, drawn by the smell of the chicken and milk, come out of the body and free it of its disastrous presence. As informants further claim such a snake would be completely white when it would exit. It is quite obvious that this belief is Illyrian since it reflects the mythological thesis about the connection of a snake and humans.

Birth of dragons in Bosnia


Among the Bosnian people since the ancient times a belief about dragons was present, the dragon not only existed but it sexually assaulted women, but also cows, and out of this unholy union dragon cubs were born – snijet. This unusual belief is traditionally present among the Bosnian people while among Bosnian Christians it doesn’t exist or appears in rare instances.

According to people the dragons loved to stay in woods or hills, flying from one tree to another, sleeping inside caves or bathing in rivers. Namely, it occurred that random passers-by near a river, would hear sudden trashing on the surface of the river and would experience drops of water falling on them. For such sounds it was believed that they were created by a scared dragon which feeling someone’s presence would fly away. Allegedly, while in the water the dragon would go in circles and once bathed it would erect its body and would fly towards the sky.


Gaze of emerald eyes

People describe the dragon as a long snake, over two meters, with very thin and short legs and arms, whose body is covered with dark scales and a tale which is pointy at its end. What is especially characteristic for him are his magnetic, emerald coloured eyes which hypnotise his victim, preventing any and all resistance from it. Often in the past the dragon would lurk young women which went to get water on their own or women which worked in the field alone, he would surprise them with his appearance and he would hypnotise them with his gaze, out of which they would awaken without any memory of the event. But, this strange meeting did not go without consequences because four or more months later the woman, which was hypnotised by the dragon, would give birth to snijet – a dragon cub.


Birth of a dragon

Snijet or Snit got its name among the people by the soft membrane of the chicken’s egg which the chicken can lay when lacking calcium. Numerous ethnologists often made a mistake connecting this folk name of a dragon cub with a corn snijet (corn smut) /Ustilago maydis/ not realising what the informants were trying to tell them.

A few elderly women from which I had an opportunity to hear about the birth of snijet had an identical description of its birth. Namely, since all of them were illiterate and they didn’t know the name for a placenta, they used a folk name for it, what to them seemed to best describe what they see and that is snijet according to the soft membrane of the chicken egg. But, it is an important detail which reveals how snijet was constantly born in a white placenta, unlike a normal human baby whose colour of placenta was always dark red-blue or maroon, out of which the snijet would exit as soon as possible, running out of fear from human contact. According to the informants if in the woman’s stomach only a snijet was present, they would often give birth in their sleep, in the morning they would awaken with an empty stomach. Every night the dragon cub would return to its mother while it was sleeping in order to feed with her milk. Allegedly, such a woman would go to bed with her breasts full of milk and in the morning she would awaken with breasts completely empty.



As we can conclude by studying the ethnological records, but also listening to statements from individual old women, especially the ones which publicly and without hiding claim that in their youth they gave birth to snijet, every Bosnian woman in the past, until WWII, at least once gave birth to a snijet during her reproductive cycle. Because of this claim it wasn’t considered to be a sin to give birth to a dragon cub, moreover, it was considered to be a good deed even to the woman which three times gives birth to snijet entrance into heaven after death is promised. But, it was obviously considered beneficial in case the snijet is killed the moment it is born and buried, without allowing it to escape.


Cannibalism and killing

People firmly believe that all those snijeti which women don’t kill after birth, become dragons. Perhaps this is where the collective fear of Bosnian people lie, if all of the cubs would be allowed to live their population would grow to a dangerous level and it could endanger humans. Women described snijet, after it left the white placenta, as a small hairy creature of a dark colour which resembles a mole the most. It moved fast, climbing up the wall and would screech hysterically.

Sexual attacks by dragons on women occurred, when she would be in the early stage of pregnancy with her husband, and in her womb together, one beside the other, the child and snijet would grow. In certain ethnographic records it is written that a woman would give birth to a live child with a dead snijet on his head, then the child would die as well. Similarly, if both are born alive, and the snijet kills itself, it was believed that the child will die soon as well. According to this it could be concluded that according to folk belief the snijet represented a type of human animal doppelganger.  


It looks like a human, but it is not

Fear of snijet, though common to the entire Bosnian folk, was not of the same intensity in all regions, and in certain locations its pronounced influence was recorded. The decisive factor in that was surely the frequency of birth, since in regions where such an apparition was rare, or better hidden and tabooed, it was less present. In Zukići they described snijet as a demonic being “which looks like a human, but wasn’t one”. That description in certain parts of BiH was a result of fear from cannibalism to which snijet was allegedly prone to in the first period of its life, in order to successfully finish its incubation period and exit the woman in the outside world. It was claimed that in certain cases snijet would eat the womb of the woman i.e. it would feed with it. That’s why in Zukići it was believed that the snijet for a pregnant woman represented a great physical and health issue since it would have a difficult time carrying it and giving birth to it.

In this part of Bosnia it was claimed that snijet can only be killed by a washerwoman, a board for washing clothes, after which it would be buried under ground. It is remembered that before WWII in a neighbouring village Kusonje a woman gave birth to a child with eaten fingers on the hand and the feet along with a snijet. For this deformity the snijet was accused, claiming that it ate the child’s fingers, and it was immediately killed by a washerwoman. In other parts of BiH, women would kill it with a broom.

In Pazarić and surrounding areas each time a woman would give birth to a snijet it would be covered up and would be kept a secret, which was usually a traditional taboo in all areas of BiH. Snijet, if it was born dead or if it didn’t manage to escape and save itself, would be immediately wrapped in an old cloth and buried in the ground taking care that no one sees it. A rule that all women across BiH held is that a dead snijet should be buried, whether in the ground or manure, and that under no circumstances should it be thrown in the trash. Was it done out of fear from the possible revenge from the dragon, which is evident, since it wasn’t even recommended for people to talk about dragons, or a certain dose of respect was given towards these mixtures will remain one of the numerous mysteries among the Bosnian folk.

Bosnian Stravarke – travelers between two worlds


Lead melting ritual with which, traditionally throughout centuries in Bosnia and Herzegovina, were removed the consequences of magical attacks, spellbound eyes, fear and unexplainable diseases and direct contact with spiritual beings, is one of the most preserved rituals from folk medicine. Analyzing in detail ritual procedures of that fascinating ritual it is easy to notice numerous segments of shamanism to which our ancestors were prone. Observing the practice of several stravarke especially Ajša and Bilka, which inherited their knowledge of healing from certain family members, I witnessed scenes which in a pretty authentic way represent shamanistic practice of our forefathers Illyrians and their animistic cults.

Animism (from the Latin word anima – soul) is the oldest form of human belief and religious consciousness of man which was recorded during the Paleolithic period and signifies belief in the presence of spirits in living and nonliving things and apparitions, and in them, according to the British anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, it contains “a minimal definition of religion”. Archaic animistic beliefs that certain ghosts cause diseases among humans and with that damage its inborn connection with nature (harmony), in the earliest age of human presence on earth born a need to communicate with that negative entity, whose presence isn’t clearly defined, i.e. they can be located in anything that surrounds humans.



Individuals who are energy wise and mentally best aligned with the spirit world were traditionally called shamans, and their successors were without any doubt in Bosnia individuals of both sexes which are called stravari and stravarke, for which it is often said that they “possess the power of prayer”. Their ability is manifested in that they can with the power of their will elevate their consciousness onto a higher thought level, in order to comprehend spiritual reference and based on her to undertake a certain ritual of exorcism and curing of spiritual, and sometimes physical ailments. In that above all mystical, but also risky undertaking, the shaman aligns with the energy of the earth, just like individual birds use the power of the wind in order to stay in the air a few hours at a time with minimal usage of their wings.

Studying the practice of stravarka Ajša it is evident that in the beginning of the ritual she is sitting at the table with her face turned towards north and her left hand (fist) she positions in the middle of her forehead while she leaves her right hand free so that she can move the edge of the vessel with water clockwise, or as it is said among the folk “to follow the sun”, almost mechanically, during the utterance of the exorcist formula. All the time while the mystic prayers are being uttered, the stravarka looks with great focus onto the surface of water slowly moving her body left and right. Protection of the forehead with the left hand, actually with closed fingers, is based on the old Illyrian belief that every human in the sky, in the universe, has his or her own star, dwelling of the soul, with which he is connected through the forehead. As stravarka is directly exposed to danger from negative energy in the lead melting ritual she protects her star i.e forehead from its influence since otherwise, Bosnian stravarke claim “if you don’t protect your star you can get mentally ill!”.

Slowly and rhythmically moving her upper body the Bosnian shaman was consciously exposing himself to autohypnosis, while focusing on the surface of the water, known for its characteristic of absorption, and with that it become the medium, through which stravarka penetrates into the invisible world of spirits. Water is a symbol of the mental sphere and as such is an ideal surface on which it is easiest to bring the human mind into a state of stronger or weaker trance. Thereby a great role is played by the exorcist formulas themselves, whose verses are rhyming, and are uttered with a low voice, droningly almost automatically, which is why you need to know them by heart. Sometimes the listener has the impression that stravarka sings the verses due to the rhyme. I’m of the opinion that this magical poetry is the key of leading into a trance since it is known that music, with that poetry, stimulates slow hypnosis of the left side of the brain, the one in charge of inner communication.


Blowing and yawning

Analyzing voodoo rituals energetic hitting on the surface of the drum, singing and ecstatic dance leads to a trance or much more passive ritual of tribe shamans, who alone and with droning beating of the drum, followed by quiet singing of prayers to spirits causes a trance, we can notice a lot of similarities with Bosnian stravarke which instead of a drum uses a vessel with water, over which she slowly moves her body left and right (east-west) and sings verses of the exorcist formula slowly.

While mechanically repeating the text of a formula and slowly moving her body, the stravarka is releasing accumulated energy by blowing in the direction of the water vessel at the end of each repeat. Ritual blowing towards the prop or diseased can be considered as a specific way of imitating divine creation of a man, to whom god, in order to animate the body made out of clay, blow life into it, or even as a transfer of energy which the shaman or stravarka cause in themselves by uttering the magical formula. Blowing in a precisely determined direction, that energy is directed in order to cause a desired effect.

Signs that the stravarka is entering a light form of trance is frequent yawning, which is interrupted by utterance of magical poetry, but professedly it has a strong psychological effect on her and the diseased himself, which is usually sitting next to her. With uncontrollable yawning she stretches her jaw and increases the size of her chest with which she pumps the brain with air which in turn leads to the reduction of its temperature. Similarly, with that physiological phenomenon she expels a certain amount of air from the body, cleanses her, which undoubtedly represents in the magical ritual an exchange of accumulated energy and a release. Yawning is sometimes actually spontaneous and out of control or stravarka but sometimes a ritual habit but it does play an important role in the ritual. We shouldn’t forget to mention that all shamanistic rituals of healing are focused on release of the diseased’ body of one or more negative entities with which she wants to accomplish ectoplasm effect, which is sometimes visible, material, and sometimes fluid. Yawning in this case could be considered as expulsion of hot air, steam, from the body.

Among the folk there is a belief that one person which yawns a lot during the day was a recent victim of someone’s spellbound eyes, and that by yawning the body is signalling that it is under direct attack of negative energy which it wants to release. It is evident that the alleged belief probably stems from shamanism of our forefathers which actually confirms the opinion of stravarke which claims “if that (stravarka) yawns intensively during the exorcist seanse the diseased will be cured quickly”. Even our forefathers the Bogomils considered yawning a physiological phenomenon which releases the soul from suffering, namely, in the middle ages in BiH they believed that the best and luckiest death when the dying yawns three times, before breathing his last breath, since that is a sure sign that the soul will be saved. In that context it is easy to conclude that the gesture of yawning in spiritual interpretation defined by an actuator of release from the presence of the entity or apparition which negatively affects the human body and spirit.      

While in the state of trance the shamans directly or symbolically signalizes i.e. communicates with a spiritual entity and stimulates it for aid. I’m of the opinion that spirits respect individuals which have the ability to enter their world and talk to them. Especially since they have the function of correcting wrongs which are certainly not favorable for the spiritual world, since it is known, that we’re all intertwined and everything that happens in the material world has an effect on the spiritual and vice versa. To us and to the supernatural entities does not fit to spend time in whirlwinds of unharmonious energy. Probably even the spirits suffer from humans themselves and shamanist practice of communication between the two worlds is necessary and crucial for survival, and it is evident that despite technological advancement the need for spirituality will never cease.


Mother gave birth, mother healed

In shamanistic healing the goal is for the stravarka, but also the diseased to harmonize with the natural ritual i.e. harmonize with it, since the disease itself or evil that befell him, is the result of this misbalance. That’s why ritual healing are always undertaken around the rise of the sun and in the afternoon, when the sun loses its strength and is nearing setting, alluding to the weakening and disappearance of the negative state. The same principle applies to the moon. To bring oneself into a state of light trance, but also connect to natural forces, stravarka turns her face in the direction of north and uttering verses of the exorcist formula she slowly moves her body left-right i.e. in the direction of east-west, imitating the solar trajectory focusing all the while on the water. Such a position is not accidental, it has its origin in ancient shamanistic beliefs. Namely, in ancient times it was considered that the Northern star represents the centre around which everything revolves which is why this rudiment still present in the practice of Bosnian stravarke. North represents the state before sunrise i.e. before the birth and appearance of light. It symbolizes dawn, time when the power of evil weakens and disappears. Dawn among Bosnian stravarke is considered as a short but very important part “when the night is separated from day”, with which it is alluded on the division of evil (night) from good (day) and release i.e. recovery. Shortly north to the Bosnian stravarke signifies dawn and is a substitute to that part of the day, and it is often less important whether she is performing healing ritual in the morning, around noon, or at night, it is enough to just assume a correct position i.e. that the body and face are turned in that direction.

During the entire time of the exorcism the diseased is sitting at the table across stravarka quiet, and between them there mustn’t be any items on the surface of the table, in order to not have any physical barriers when transferring magical energy. Similarly, stravarka warns the diseased that while the séance lasts he shouldn’t cross his legs or arms, with which the diseased would block and disable acceptance and flow of positive healthy energy throughout his body. Though not a crucial factor in the healing process, the ritual is consider to be successful if during it the diseased becomes sleepy or even falls asleep, this means that he too is in a light state of sleep or  hypnosis.

Shamanism and cult of healing are deeply influenced by the cult of the Grand Mother “since who will take better care of the healing of their children than the mother”. In a nice and poetic way this reveals the beginning of the most famous Bosnian exorcist formula :” Mother gave birth, mother healed…” When pouring molten lead into the water into the vessel of water, which she holds over the diseased, stravarka looks through the window, in the direction of a hill. This is no accident, since during the time of the Illyrians and Bogomils hills were holly places, dedicated to various deities, especially ones that bring luck, health and fertility “since they’re trapped and full, they resemble a pregnant woman’s stomach”, which in the best possible way reveals the connection with the Grand Mother.