Mythology of

Bosnia and
Herzegovina
RAIF ESMEROVI

The first step towards destruction of a nation is destruction of its memory. Destroy its
books, culture and history and then find someone to write new books, invent a new
history. Such a nation will soon start to forget what it is and what it was.

Arthur Schlesinger
Bosnia exists over 2700 years

Map of the Bosnian country of the 7th century BC, published under the Culture presentation of
Europe, publication of French National library in Atlas "Europe throughout the centuries" which
raised a lot of interest both among the Bosniaks as well as this part of the Europe. In the top left corner
of this map it is written "altere eisenzeit 700-450 v.Ch." Inscriptions themselves are of a Duch
language, old German - though today these two languages Ducj and Deutsch, are well distinguished
because of the modernisation of the German language. Territory of Bosnia is marked by the
inscription "BOSNISCHE" and encompasses geographical area from the Adriatic sea until the depths
of the inland of the territory that today makes up Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and parts of Montenegro. If
we compare this map with the map of discovered tombstones, they fully coincide. Another thing is
very important, namely, in the neighbourhood there are inscriptions Illyici, Hallstatty, Kullur. Map
that proves that Bosnia exists over 2700 years or 27 centuries is a historical proof of the age of the
Bosnian people but also its Illyrian descent. This is why all those lies which were marked to us by so
called historians about some sort of affiliation to Slavs or in general any type of historical connection
loses all sense. But, this is a very important data for further study of the ancient history of Bosnia and
its peoples.
Bosnian mythology is not Slavic but Illyrian!

Cultural anthropology which combines a few special disciplines such as ethnology, archaeology or
linguistics, gives us a perfect insight into the history and heritage of a certain people, and it tries, fairly
successfully, to show in a logical sense the evolutionary trend present throughout history among a
certain people. Influences are, of course, socially multifaceted, and so with the cultural the religious
influence was supplemented and the circle would be complete.

If we wish to monitor carefully that evolutionary sequence of events then we surely must reach out to
mythology, its fantastic creatures and legends, mostly for the fact that mythology is the most archaic
form of art which for the first time showed mankind's limitless imagination. Inhabiting nature and
the world around them with highly unusual and different beings and appearances, mankind first of
all showed their social nature, but also the need to express its intimate fears, hopes, aspirations and
frustrations. The tendency to express oneself in the best possible way resulted in the appearance of
various stories, legends, drawings and sculptures about a different world where the principles of good
and evil are highly accentuated, and what is more important, where they show their meaning and
efficiency. Through those mediums we come across information about classic frustration with
everyday life to which people were subject to in the old days as well as today. That's why mythology
as a discipline always suggests that there is no one answer but that there are many.

Consistency of mythological legends is evident in various segments of a society in its entirety, even
though it might not be so visible at first glance. Some of its parts, smaller or larger segments, are so
incorporated in everyday life that no one pays attention to them, nor is their deeper meaning
analysed. In more recent past mythology was present in social memory mostly when one wanted to
achieve a political goal, which is always connected with nationalism and genocidal ideas, which we
could witness during the end of the last century when the militant politics of Serbia specifically and
deliberately used the historic event, defeat by the Ottomans at Kosovo, to start their military invasion
on neighbouring republics which had catastrophic circumstances, such as the genocide in Srebrenica
but also in other cities in BiH.

When we want to study the mythology of Bosnia and Herzegovina but also of the entire former
Yugoslavia we have to start from the historical fact that southern Slavs don't exist. There are only
people of southern Europe which use Slavic languages, but those people are not of Slavic descent but
Illyrian, especially the people from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, which was proven a couple
of times with the analysis of genetic origin. The mistake that historians made in their estimate of the
origin of a certain people based solely on their language is catastrophic and, as we have witnessed,
historically tragic. According to that theory todays Mexicans should be Spaniards, Brazilians or
Portuguese, etc.

One of the studies on genetic origin of the inhabitants of former Yugoslav republics was implemented
in cooperation with: Institute for Anthropological research in Zagreb, Medical University in Skopje,
Clinical centre in Belgrade, Estonian Bio-centre at the Tart University, Medical University in Pritina,
Medical Faculty in Tuzla, Clinical hospital "Bijeli Brijeg" in Tuzla, Health centre in Zagreb and Medical
school in Edinburgh - Scotland. For the results to be as close to reality in the field, the tests were
gathered in all cities of the former Yugoslav republic.

The results showed that the most dominant were the haplogroup's on the territory of former
Yugoslavia: 1lb, R1a, R1b and E3bl. Haplogroup l1b or so called "Illyrian gene" was the most
widespread in all countries of former Yugoslavia, and the most interesting fact is that the group l1b
was present even in 70% in Herzegovina, Dalmatia and other islands. In Bosnia this group was
present in 52, 20% while the Slavic group R1 on the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was
present only in 24,60% of the cases.

Precisely those facts correspond with the ever present confusion of scientific circles, especially after
genetic analysis, did the arrival of Slavic tribes to the Balkans really ever took place? There are
indications which gain more authenticity, that such an event never took place, but that the Illyrians,
after a difficult and long occupation by the Roman empire, created a pretty intelligent plan of survival
and preservation through assimilation of languages of neighbouring Slavic countries in order to
ensure some sort of peace and possibility for survival through a turbulent history.

Many segments of Illyrian religion are still present today in all countries that made up the former
Yugoslav republic such as the snake cult, belief in stars-guardians of souls, cult of fertility, and solar
and lunar cults, worship of water through the cult of god Bindu, belief in spellbound eyes, the name
spellbound (Urok) is an Illyrian word, etc.
Bosniaks - one of the best genetically preserved people in Europe

After the battle at Kosovo 1389, when the Ottomans completely defeated the Serbian army, which
lead to a catastrophic reduction of the male population, something took place which forever changed
that people in its entirety. According to claims of historians in the entire Serbia there were only 200
thousand men left. Defeated and destroyed, Serbs became a part of the grand Ottoman empire and so
suffered the worst fate of a looser. After the victory the Ottomans ruled over Serbia and in the long
history of 500 years in entirety they changed the demographic image of the country. Namely, Turkish
soldiers married Serbian women and girls or even raped them which resulted in every other child in
Serbia, having a Turk as a father. That's why there is not one family in Serbia which doesn't have
Turkish genes in their heritage. All of this unquestionably reflected in the physical appearance of the
Serbian people which is very similar to the Turkish people which is especially evident in the facial
features, namely, a larger part of the population has dark hair and eyes, just like the Turks. Because of
this historical but also genetic connectedness, everything that was Turkish became an inseparable
part of the Serbian identity from the Turkish cuisine, language, music and even mentality.
Today when you compare Serbs and Turks, besides physical similarity, you will notice some
important links: both people are extremely nationalistically driven, both people strive for creating
Grand Turkey i.e. Grand Serbia, both people do not accept minorities, both people committed
genocide which they deny - over Armenians and Bosniaks, both people are trying to assimilate other
people around them, both people pretend to be great religious people, both people claim other's
cultural heritage as their own, etc. There are too many similarities in order to conclude something else
instead of that they are brothers i.e. same people.

Bosniaks - one of the best genetically preserved people in Europe

Luckily, Bosniaks didn't have the same fate under the Ottoman rule since by converting to Islam they
were spared all of the negative events which struck the Serbian people. Today, out of historical but
also genetic research we know that Bosniaks are one of the rare European people which can brag with
a large percentage of racial purity. This was noticed long time ago by Karl Steiner, doctor in Ljubinja,
which in his work "Bosnian folk medicine" writes the following: "Bodily the tall man from Bosnia and
Herzegovina represents undoubtedly the most beautiful type of South Slavic-Illyrian racial mixture.
He is taller from his neighbours in Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia, his chest are powerfully kept,
musculature firm and hinged; smooth or weak curly, brown or dark hair and black eyes we see among
the members of all three religions, but as often brothers are similar but yet different, similarly our
Muslims, Orthodox and Christians show certain characteristics, which through centuries came about
due to mixture in breeding. For example among the Christians and Muslims the iris of the eyes is
mostly light, often blue or yellowish, while eyes among the Orthodox are usually darker, often black.
Among the Muslim and Catholic children one can often see light blue hair, soft, skin white as milk,
generally typical Aryan type, but the hair and skin colour will darken bit by bit, while these
characteristic among the Orthodox are rare."
Unlike the extremely large genetic mixture between Serbs and Ottomans in Serbia, in Bosnia and
Herzegovina there is a completely different situation about which iro Truhelka, archaeologist and
historian, wrote the following in his anthropological study:
"Endogamy was among the Bosniaks (Muslims in Bosnia) so strict, that in my time I knew a dozen Bey
families, which intermarried and they wouldn't allow in their harem women which were out of this
circle, though they were from the best homes. Because of the mentioned reasons mixed marriages
between the Ottoman and Bosnian Muslims were extremely rare and without evident effect on
shaping the race."
Endogamy and with it harem enclosure were the most successful measure of protection of racial
element in Bosnia, and I believe that I can say, that rare ethnic groups in Europe managed to preserve
their identity like the Bosniaks in Bosnia. The merit goes to harem exclusivity, which in this case
preserved racial characteristics of the forefathers. Similarly it is familiar that there was antagonism
between the Bosnian Muslims and Ottomans and that the Bosniaks dreaded from marrying their
daughters to so called Turkue (superlative of Turk), that antagonism often gained a dangerous
political form, and was the cause of revolts.

Short history of Bogomils in Bosnia

Pope Pius II (1458-1464) in his work "Cosmografia" wrote while describing the Adriatic countries:
"Behind Albania come the Illyrian people towards the west and north. This people were called the
Slaves in our time and they call themselves Bosniaks, other Dalmatians, third Croats, Istrians and
Carniolans".

Bosnia - land of the Bogomils

The first mention of heresy in Bosnia stems from the first half of the 10th century. In the letter of Pope
Ivan X, sent to an archbishop from Split and the local clergy in 925, a complaint is mentioned that in
the neighbouring diocese or land (referring to Bosnia), there is a science "located in holly books". The
Pope rebukes them for not paying attention and "tacitly approving it". Though here there is no direct
mention of who the heretics were, nor is there mention of the character of their teachings, but there is
mention that it is not "in the holly books", this clearly implies that the Pope saw it as heresy. That it
refers to Bosnia and its heretics is quite clear since in the later period Bosnia was the only country in
this part of Europe where heresy developed and where it, so to speak, gained the status of state
religion. (Source: F. ii, Manual on Croatian history, I/1 Zagreb 1914., p.215.)
Another important document confirms that the Bogomils were present in Bosnia in the
10th century.Anselmo Canterburyjski (San Anselmo) from Alexandria in Italy, which lived and worked
in the 13th century, in one of his documents mentions that "the heretics were initially in Bosnia from
where they spread their teachings to Lombardy, and from there towards France, from where it arrived
to Orleans in 1022 and into Arras in 1025." (Source: A. Dondaine, Le Tractatus de hereticis
d'Alexandrie, Arch. Fr. Praedic, XX, Rome 1950., p. 308-324).

Letter of the Roman Pope Gregory IX about Bosnia as a nest of heretics

"In his letters from 1232 to 1239 (pope Gregory IX) mentions heretics in Bosnia several times. Thus on
May 30th 1233 he wrote to the cardinal Jakov Prenestinsky his legate in Bosnia, that with sorrow he
discerned from his report, that the Bosnian bishop fell "into the bitterness of the crazy heresy ". That's
why he ordered to place two, three or four bishops?! (though he has no support in Bosnia).
About the Bosniaks he says: "About the inhabitants of that country he says, that they are poor in
estate, and rich in wickedness, since in most part they are infected with wickedness of heresy". (Pope
doesn't hide his hatred towards the Bosniaks and confirms that Bosnia is mostly heretic but despite
that he plans to place bishops in Bosnia?!)
In the second letter from February 13th 1234 Gregory IX wrote: "such is the multitude of infidels in
Bosnia and surrounding areas, that the entire country (Bosnia) weeps and aches, barren and
impassable". On August 8th 1236 the pope wrote to Sibislav, the duke of Usora, son of the former king
of Bosnia Stephen (Stepan Kulini), that "he received with joy the news that he is among the dukes of
the Bosnian diocese?! (which never existed), which are infected by the taint of heretic wickedness, like
a lily among thorns".
From this letter one can clearly conclude that the pope clearly wrote to one catholic among the
Bosnian nobility, commending him for not falling into heresy like all the other Bosnian nobility. He
mentions that in the letters, which he wrote to Ancila, the mother of Sibislav and to Hungarian
bishops (since there are no Bosnian bishops), to whom he recommends Sibislav and his mother".
(Source: Dominik Mandi "Bosnia and Herzegovina volume II: Bogomil church of Bosnian Christians"
p. 33-34).

Letter of Pope Ivan XII 1319 to Croatian liege Mladin ubi

"They are learning disastrous heretical fallacies. Every believer has to stand up against such people
and destroy them in order to up root their poisonous anger to prevent contamination of other
believers. We often, with great sorrow, listened, from credible sources, that the land of the Bosniaks is
the home to heretics, that churches are being abandoned, the clergy has been up rooted, Christian
sanctities are being trudged on, the cross is not being respected, moreover, there is no sacrament of
christening".

Bosniaks - dualists

"Dialogus contra manichaeos in Bosna" translated "Dialogue against Manichaeism in Bosnia" is the
work of Jakob de Marchia who was placed as the vicar of Bosnia and main inquisitor by the Roman
curia. This work which was written on the ground of Bosnia describes the Bosniaks as Manichaeists
and as bi-fundamental heretics (dualists). In the dialogue it is mentioned that they baptize themselves
with the book, and not water, similarly to the western Cathars, which is the original spiritual, dualistic
baptism called consolamentum.
The work "Dialogus contra manichaeos in Bosnia" was in the hands of church censors in 1697 when
the issue was canonization of Jakov (Jakob) Markijski (de Marchia). Since then the work has been lost.
Censors Johannes Bapt. Lucini and Jochannes Bapt. Barberio exhausted the content of the work and
incorporated it into their analysis which is contained in a collective work called "Monumenta
canonizationis B. Jacobi de Marchia" which is in Rome.
Jakob de Marchia who was labelled a saint was a doctor of canonical law and a great fighter against
heresy. Senate of Dubrovnik called him "the most elegant sower of the Lords word". His lack of
success in converting Bosnian Patarens he justified to the pope by claiming that he lacked support
from the royal couple Tvrtko II and Dorothea. Dorothea and Tvrtko became very unpopular among
the Franciscans, which called Dorothea an "evil woman".

They would rather die than accept orthodoxy

One of the four grand inquisitors which were labelled saints by the Roman church is inquisitor
Capistran (Giovanni de Capistrano) which was also known as the expert on heresy. In his letter to
pope Kalisto III 4/7/1455 wrote: "Bosnian Christians are not members of the Eastern church, nay they
would rather die in disbelief, than accept the religion of the Raan (Serbs)." (Ref: Franjo anjek
Phenomenon "krstjani (Christians)" in medieval Bosnia and Hum, collection of works.)
How much hatred and revolt there was against the Pope, and the eastern church - which at one
moment had a competition who will commit greater genocide over the Bogomils - is best confirmed
by this letter according to which the Bogomils inclined towards the Ottomans as protectors against
Christian evil (inquisition) and murdering.
At the end of 1456 pope's legate Ivan Karahal sent Nikola Barbucini to king Toma in order to talk him
into declaring war against the Ottomans in unison with Hungary. After the stay and discussion with
the Bosnian king, Barbucini sent a report to the pope's. legate that Toma is willing to go to war
against the Ottomans but that "he can't because of the Manichaeists which are still a majority in
Bosnia, and which love the Ottomans more than the Christians..". The statement that the Bosnian king
gave to Barbuicini was repeated literally, three years later in 1459 in his letter to pope Pius II.

Theological structure of Bosnian heresy according to inquisitor Torquemada:

Cardinal Juan Torquemada, uncle of the infamous Spanish grand inquisitor Tomas Torquemada, in
1461 compiled a list "fifty Manichean fallacies in Bosnia". Namely, that year three Bosnian nobles were
brought in chains to Rome ("three champions of heresy, influential in the king's court"). Cardinal
Torquemada questioned them and studied their religion for a whole year and found 50 fallacies. He
had Croatian priests at his side, and especially Luka de Talentis, archdeacon from Korula, who was
at the time serving among the pope's curia. In the end he interpreted to the three Bogomil's the list of
cardinal Torquemada and based on that list on May 14th 1461 they renounced all 50 "Manichean
fallacies" and promised that they will try to persuade their countrymen to change their opinion and
renounce them as well. After the ceremonial renunciation the three Bosnian Christians returned to
Bosnia. The two of them kept their promises, and one of them reclaimed and escaped into the parts
where Stepan Kosaa ruled "his friend in unbelief".

Fifty Manichean fallacies in Bosnia according to Torquemada:

1. There are two gods, one of which they call supreme good, and the other supreme evil.
2. There are two principles. The first they call god of light and the other god of darkness.
3. Some angels have an evil nature and they couldn't stop sinning.
4. Lucifer ascended into the sky and fought god and he brought many angels from there.
5. Human souls are demon's trapped inside bodies.
6. Evil angels, trapped in bodies, will return into heaven with the help of baptism, cleansing and
repentance.
7. They condemn and reject the Old Testament. They say it stems from the god of darkness.
8. For the angel that spoke to Moses on the hill Sinai, they claim he was evil.
9. They accept the New Testament only partially. They deny that Jesus was born by a woman and they
don't accept his genealogy.
10. They renounce the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament.
11. They condemn the blessed John the Baptist and claim that there is no greater devil in hell than him.
12. The tree of knowledge (of good and evil) was a woman, and Adam sinned for having sex with her
and that's why he was cast out of heaven.
13. Blessed Marry was not a woman nor female being but an angel.
14. Son of god took a pseudo-body and not a real one.
15. Christ didn't truly suffer nor died, nor did he go to heaven or hell, but all that he did was illusory.
16. They believe that their church was God's.
17. They are successors of the apostles, and their heresy is the bishop of the church and the deputy
and successor of Peter.
18. The Roman church was condemned and cast out.
19. Everyone is a pope, from Saint Peter to Saint Sylvester, whether their religion or not, and saint
Sylvester was the first one who went rogue.
20. They condemn brick churches and called them synagogues, and for those that pray inside them,
they say they are performing idolatry.
21. Use of pictures inside churches is idolatry.
22. Sign of the cross is the devil's symbol.
23. They despise the service of the lord, laude and hymns, they say it's all contrary to Christ's gospel
and his teachings.
24. They make fun of and condemn worship of holly relics.
25. All reverence of saints which is done in churches is condemned and made fun of and they say one
should only pray to god and worship him.
26. Their elders allow the people to pray to them, saying that they are without sin and that they carry
the holy ghost in them (Parakletos).
27. They condemn church sacraments.
28. They renounce baptism which is done in the water and they say that it is John's baptism and that it
cannot save anyone.
29. They claim that's Christ's baptism is done without water, by placing a book of the gospel on the
chest and imposition of hands.
30. With their baptism everyone achieves forgiveness of sins and becomes as holly as Peter himself.
31. A child cannot be saved before it reaches the age of reason.
32. Full worth and power of baptism comes to the baptised from merit of the baptist.
33. The number of times the baptist sins, that's how many souls, though they be in heaven, will fall
into hell.
34. The number of times the baptist sins, that's the number of baptisms those that he baptised will
need.
35. They renounce the sacrament of confirmation.
36. They say that the Christ's body cannot turn into bread, and if it is turned, we cannot eat it.
37. They renounce the sacrament of penance, they say that sins are forgiven by their repeat baptism.
38. They renounce the sacrament of the last ointment.
39. They renounce the sacrament of the (holy) order.
40. Bodily marriage is adultery.
41. Every sin is a death sin.
42. Renouncing every church authority, they say that no one must be excommunicated.
43. They renounce enjoyment of meet, they say that no one who eats meet or cheese or dairy products
can be saved if they are not baptised again.
44. They deny resurrection and say that the body that dies now will never resurrect but the spirit will.
45. They claim that there is no purgatory. They say that there is no middle way between heaven and
hell.
46. They renounce prayers which are used for the deceased inside the church.
47. It's a death sin to kill animals or birds, also to smash eggs.
48. They condemn blood justice which is done by worldly leaders.
49. They condemn all oaths.
50. They forbid giving charity, they reject and rebuff acts of mercy.

BOSNIAN MYTHOLOGY

The mystical world of Bosnian people has in itself, besides its uniqueness, a rich religious-magical
concept infused with shamanism. When we analyse the majority of registered beliefs we come to a
unique entity which reveals a fascinating fact of how much the Bosnian people were linked with
nature and its forces throughout their long history. Since the ancient times Bosniaks believed that each
man had his own star in the sky, headquarters of the soul, and on Earth a snake, guardian of the house
and family, his/her tree and stream and in the underworld a zvidenjak. Some anthropologists tried
to classify all of the above mentioned elements into a thesis about human doppelgangers (astral,
vegetable and animal), regardless of the fact that their lives and existence are completely independent
from that of the human and they have no connection to him except in certain situations, i.e. the ones
that deal with death. For that fact this presumption is completely irrelevant and unfounded. However,
in the mystical connection of mankind and nature we notice a dominant influence of fatalism, which is
common to all Mediterranean people and cultures, in combination with the Illyrian cult of the snake.

Traditional legends about the close connection of certain reptiles with humans can be separated into 4
chapters after an analysis of Bosnian mythology:

-about the snake, guardian of the house and family,

-snake which can enter a human and live inside its body for certain amount of time
-about sexual contacts between dragons and women and the birth of snijet, baby dragon,

-and about zvidenjak and its devouring of a human corpse

All of the above mentioned chapters are actually segments of a single cult of snake, a totem animal of
our ancestors. Besides serving as a totem symbol the snake represented to the Illyrians the highest
deity whose spirit permeates the entire nature and universe which is especially well reflected in the
belief that a large snake stretches around the entire globe, creating a ring with its body. According to
ancient belief the snake was created 40 years prior to any other animal and human which is the reason
that her role is especially prominent in the cult of the Grand Mother. Namely, a snake, or in its
celestial form a dragon, is a classic symbol of fertility. In Bosnian tradition the connection of a snake
with a dragon can be connected to the personified idea of vegetative cycles analogous to the ones from
Greco-Roman mythology. A dragon actually makes a circular journey, he exits earth from water, flies
through to another location where he enters a pit, a hole and reappears after a certain period.

Cult of zvidenjak

Animism, which is inseparable from shamanism is evident in many segments of Bosnian folk religion
in whose auspice the longest living cults, which got their religious sense from the Illyrians, embedded
their beliefs into the collective consciousness of Bosniaks. The cult of zvidenjak (Salamandra
salamandra) among the Bosnian people is closely linked to the cult of the snake and the belief in
dragons. The name zvidenjak was given to this lizard since people believed that his scream or
whistle could instantly make you deaf. He is also called dru or dievnjak.

Based on the ancient Bosnian belief we can conclude that in fact zvidenjak is a miniature form of a
dragon on earth. Its yellow colour with black spots faithfully depicts Illyrian legend about the god of
evil, a large black dragon, who managed to swallow two suns in the sky while the third sun was saved
by a swallow. People still today believe that the yellow colour between the black spots represents
traces of the two suns that he swallowed. The concept of swallowing in this legend is analogous to the
devouring of a dead human body by a zvidenjak and this imposes a conclusion that a dragon feeds
of life energy which he gives back to nature in its vegetative or even reincarnating cycle, all the while
waking new life in nature itself.

Although in its miniature form zvidenjak has the power to hurt any human that tries to hurt him.
Namely, still today it is believed that if someone disturbs or steps on a zvidenjak he can become deaf
from zvidenjak scream. It is also connected to rain among the folk since according to folk belief it
appears before rain or immediately after it.

Besides obvious fear of seeing a zvidenjak and the belief that this reptile is the messenger of rain,
there is no classic divination among the folk about a chance meeting with this animal according to
which someone's fortune or misfortune is predicted, as is the case with the fox, rabbit, wolf and the
like. Analogous with the snake, the beliefs about zvidenjak are also contradictory; in some, respect is
shown to it and in others it is suggested that one should throw a curse on it: "God willing, if you are
mine, you should die before me!" or to even undertake more rigorous measures i.e. to kill it. In Kakanj
it is believed that it is best to kill zvidenjak 40 days prior to one's own death?! The reason for such
behaviour according to belief stemming from Glamo, Livno, Kupres and Mrkonji Grad, is that a
zvidenjak enters a dead man's body through his mouth and spoils his physical purity, and it is a
good deed to kill it. Killing a zvidenjak is in opposition with the attempts of certain anthropologists
and ethnologists to proclaim a zvidenjak as man's animal doppelganger, since if that was the case,
killing this animal would be forbidden and would represent a great sin.

According to a belief among the Bosnian people each man has his own zvidenjak, although it
remains an unknown if one gets him during birth or it appears during one's lifetime. When a man
dies, the third day after the funeral, zvidenjak visits that man inside the grave. If the man was sinful
during his lifetime, zvidenjak will start devouring him from his nose, but if the man was noble then it
will only lay beside that person. That's why one shouldn't kill zvidenjak, if one sees him on a road it
is advisable to take it with your hand and place it across the road or onto a meadow. This act of
kindness can be connected with a human's attempt to propitiate his afterlife companion so that he will
spare him.

In another belief it is mentioned that after a man's death a zvidenjak will visit his sahibija (master) in
the grave to welcome him and he will start devouring the cadaver from his big toe. It is interesting to
mention that among the Bosnian people it is believed that after a man dies and is buried, at one
moment the soul returns into his dead body, entering through the toes, which results in resuscitation
of the body but also shock and fear which cause a man to try and get up, he then hits his head on the
wooden beams above his head and dies again. That's why we can presume that a zvidenjak starts
devouring the body from the toes in order to stop him from reviving; or this act can have a
mythological depiction as "life devouring" or taking away life energy from someone.

Besides eating humans from the toes, people in certain parts of Bosnia believe that a zvidenjak eats a
man's nose or eyes as soon as he enters a grave. Since eyes are, according to belief, god's gift to
humans and are as such holly, which also supports another belief which claims that there is no greater
sin then a man swearing by his eyes, we can conclude then that a zvidenjak always goes after
tabooed parts of the body. According to folk belief god had the most trouble with creating a nose, and
that's why making fun of someone's nose is considered to be a great sin. Analysing the above we come
to a conclusion that a zvidnejak's task is to devour a man's toes in the grave (in order to stop him
from reviving), or nose and then drinks his eyes i.e. to take away his heavenly gift after which the
body will be completely lifeless and without any divine sanctity. By that the human body becomes a
clod of earth, from which it was created.

In the myth about the black dragon and his devouring of the sun or moon, we notice the hunger of
this being for all that which sparks and has a divine characteristic. The attack of darkness and evil on
light and good is an anthological tradition about two universal principles through whose interaction,
creation, destruction, life and death are possible. As zvidenjak represents a miniature dragon his
devouring of evil people inside a grave can be seen as an act of feeding a dragon who needs strength
from evil. This is clearly visible in those parts of belief which accentuates that zvienjak starts
devouring the body at the beginning or end of the body, i.e. at the places considered holly. Besides
zvidenjak in the Bosnian tradition it is believed that a snake visits a dead person inside a grave and
devours him and in such a way he becomes a part of it. This fits perfectly into the Illyrian myth about
the great grandfather of the Illyrians which turns into a snake after he dies.

As a Bogomil legend says, zvidenjaci were created out of fallen angels. Namely, when god punished
all evil angels and threw them from heaven into hell, there were so many of them that they were
falling all day and night, until hell was full and until it closed its gates. Those angels that fell on earth
after that were turned into zvidenjak.

According to the Bogomil doctrine human souls are fallen angels trapped in the body. Perhaps in this
information we can find hidden the answer as to why it is believed that zvidenjak eats a dead body
inside the grave - frees a fallen angel from the human body or better yet a demon inside an animal
body is freeing a demon from a human body. But, we shouldn't ignore the historical fact that the
Bosnian people before the advent of Christianity (Bogomilism) and Islam had a long continuity of
pagan past with its numerous Illyrian cults of nature where a central place was occupied by the cult of
fertility and the Grand Mother. That's why this Bogomil legend needs to be observed strictly from the
point of cultivating that same cult through folk religion which existed along with monotheism.

The cult of the Grand Mother is full of magic, mystic rituals and codexes of behaviour based on the
worshiping of natural forces which can appear to humans in a human, vegetable or animal form. A
special feature of this cult is that from its beginning it had the role of a public service i.e. it helped
human communities which is best seen through the belief that the Grand Mother thought people
everything about agriculture.

In folk tradition zvidenjak is a classic example of creative energy. He has the power to endow a
human with creative energy which leads us to the idea that this animal in folk religion of our people,
and especially our ancestors, had a divine status and probably represented a form of natural force.
This is supported by magical practice through which one asks for blessing from this animal.

When a young man wishes to master something, especially hand crafts, he would go at spring time in
search for a zvidenjak. As soon as he would find him, he would take him into his hands and would
pass him three times under his belt. After that, it was believed, he will be successful in any craft he
chooses. In another example that man which wanted to become a skilful master would catch a
zvidenjak and would pass him along with an axe through his clothes and his belt, from his chest,
downward, letting the axe hit the ground but holding the zvidenjak in his arms and uttering: "As you
managed to decorate yourself like that zvidenjak, so shall I be able to make everything I want with
my hands." He would then place the animal on the axe and walk home. Tomorrow he would come
back to check if the zvidenjak is still on the axe, if he is that means he will become a master, but if he
is not then his wish won't come true.

Girls who were unable to make embroidery nor weave and make other hand crafts would at spring
time search for a zvidenjak and would pass him three times through the sleeve of their right arm and
would take him home and bound in him in a ball of yarn, a piece of cloth or something else and leave
him there until morning. At dawn, before sunrise, the girl would take the bound zvidenjak and
would go to a spring which is turned towards east. She would place the cloth (yarn) in the water and
the zvidenjak as well, uttering: "As you are multicolored zvidenjak, so too shall I know how to
weave and start all work: who gave you let him also give me!" She would then take the cloth and
quickly, without looking back, go home leaving the zvidenjak in the stream.

In folk tradition, because of his name, zvidenjak is considered to be a male animal, besides the fact
that there are female animals of this breed, that's why it has the title of uncle. On the other hand, snake
and frog are animals of female sex.

In certain parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina zvidenjak is called dievnjak, drud, dadenjak, probably
from the old word dad - rain, but we shouldn't exclude the possibility that such a name comes from
the Turkish word daida, which was retained in the Bosnian language, and means uncle. The
following example from ritual practice of our people gives us this idea, namely, farmers before Jurjevo
or Hidirlez would catch a zvidenjak and would throw him into milk on the day of the holiday, the
milk would be milked that morning and they would utter: "So shall we be multicolored lambs, like
you are dazed, uncle!" They would then take him out of the milk and would bring him to a forest and
would leave him there,

Why is zvidenjak called uncle in this formula is hard to discern. Eventual family relation between a
snake and zvidenjak arises as a relatively acceptable idea, as two divine beings, i.e. they are brother
and sister, children of the Grand Mother personified in nature overall. But, it's a motive for further
research of interesting Bosnian mythology which constantly confirms the deep connection of our
people with the ancient Illyrian cults of nature.

Bosniaks - snake people

According to Bosnian mythology the snake is the first being that God created, it appeared 40 years
before the first man and animal were created. This mythological data is especially interesting from the
aspect of perceiving numerous other beliefs and legends about the snake in BiH since it gives us a
basis for understanding the entire concept of the snake cult phenomenon. We should especially note
the connection of this cult with the tradition of our people whose Illyrian genes justify denomination
of Bosniaks as snake people.

Among the multitude of beliefs a legend about a giant snake stands out, this snake encircles the entire
globe, forming a belt around it, which when analysed geometrically depicts a circle which has a dot in
the centre. In such a way we get the symbol of the sun which is inseparable from the snake cult. We
shouldn't disregard the peculiarity of this transcendental myth which directs us towards a mystical
idea that a snake has a celestial form besides its earthly one.

Folk beliefs claim that the snake is as large as a mountain in its original form but thanks to its mystical
powers it manages to appear in its miniature form in front of humans. It is, according to all aforesaid,
a being of exceptional magical power and one of the greatest forces that exist in the universe. The cult
of mountain peaks, which certain folklorists and ethnologists hypothesised to belong to the solar cult,
can be directly connected with the snake cult through simple logic and folk descriptions of the snake
as a gigantic appearance which is compared to that of a mountain. In such a manner we again confirm
the hypothesis about the inseparable connection of the sun and the snake in folk beliefs.
Tuesday - holly day

Folklore claims that snakes live like humans: they have their families but also kingdoms and
monarchies. They always gather exclusively on Tuesdays in order to hold their meetings and
agreements and at that moment, according to folk belief, there are hundreds of them on one place.
Depending on the religion that they follow they have names which are identical to humans. How
widespread this belief is still today is best shown by the statement of stravarka Alija from Velika
Kladua. On one occasion, when she went to her neighbour's house, Alija met a black snake laying on
the road and observed her. Seeing the snake on the road Alija stopped and started uttering all Bosnian
female names that she could think of: Mejra, Bejza, Hanifa, Fatime, Senada,. and only after she uttered
the name Katka the snake reacted and started moving towards a nearby meadow, disappearing in the
tall grass. According to Alija's belief each snake has its own name, which is identical to a human name,
and as soon as one guesses it the snake will disappear.

Even though people avoid close contact with snakes from fear of their attack we should mention that a
snake bite is not seen as a large unfortunate event. Namely, it is considered to be a heavenly gift since
the person which is bitten by a snake, will according to belief, gain magical strength - it will gain the
power of the curse. Alije, which was bitten by a snake at a very young age, claimed that she possessed
the power of the curse which she never wanted to demonstrate sine "it is a great sin!".

All those Bosnian beliefs are the result of a tradition over a thousand years old, whose Illyrian origin is
evident in all of its parts. It is especially recognizable in beliefs tied to Tuesday - holly day of snakes
but also of Bogomils. That's why this day has a special meaning for understanding numerous
segments of Bosnia's past but also mythology. Tuesday is a holly day which is in accordance with that
marked by various taboos, especially the ones that have to do with men, which can point to an idea of
a "female" day i.e. that in the past it was dedicated to a goddess, probably the goddess of moon. There
is some evidence for this fact, namely, in Visoko it is believed that a deer fasts every Tuesday and that
it refuses to feed its young on that day. In order to understand the hidden meaning of this belief we
need to reach out to mythology of those people which had a significant influence on our Illyrian
forefathers, and those people are the Celts.

In Celtic mythology the goddess of moon was transformed into a deer by magic and in that form she
is taking care of her son Oisin. Moon goddess is at the same time the ruler of the dead which is
analogous to the Bosnian belief that on Tuesday men shouldn't shave or that their clothes should be
washed "since the dirty water is poured into the eyes of the dead". In the background of this belief we
can notice the cult of the moon goddess Arianrhod, depicted on a Bosnian tombstone, which is taking
care of warriors and their souls.

The connection of a deer i.e. a roe with the underworld, especially in combination with the depiction
of a bird, was relatively a constant occurrence on tombstones, efik Belagi claims in his book "Steci-
kultura i umjetnost" (tombstones - culture and art), which means that he belief in the fast of the deer
on Tuesday is not accidental and it is only a small segment of a once large cult of fertility in Bosnia
and Herzegovina. We shouldn't forget the fact that without death there is no new life, no new fruit
unless a seed is buried in the ground, and that the entire concept of the cult of fertility and cult of the
dead is based upon that principle. And in other cultures one addresses the ancestors when one wishes
their intervention in the form of protection for the family, facilitation of fertility and new-borns.

Since we are talking about a lunar deity, which has an arbitrary role over water and weather
conditions, it is logical that all gathering of Bosniaks on Tuesday on high places, had in their
background the cult of the moon goddess, water and fertility. Their location is besides a place which
were geopolitically important in the thousand year old history of Bosnia. All dovita (pilgrimage site)
are located on clearings and plateaus with lush vegetation and undergrowth, forests and local
streams. The most important characteristic of all dovita is that they are former worshiping places of
Bogomils, where they gathered and prayed together to god to send them rain and ensure a bountiful
harvest, successful defence from enemies, protection of the home, fertility of women, etc. However,
ethnologists found out that ritual sacrifices of sheep at those places are proof that dovita are not
exclusively a part of the Bogomil tradition but that they only continued to observe much older Illyrian
cults, especially astral cults and the cult of god of streams Bindu.

One of these places of worship dovite Dobre vode (good water) near Foa which is connected to the
tomb of two "dobri" (good), i.e. a father and son that a stepmother wanted to kill with the help of a
snake, is an ideal example of the cult of water. Visit to medicinal streams which are located there and
where prayer is done during the first Tuesday up to Hidirllez and first Tuesday after it.

With the advent of Islam or better to say with the conversion of Bogomils to Islam besides Tuesday,
Friday also gained the characteristic of a holly day and because of that fact we have numerous
common beliefs and taboos connected to them. The most dominant belief is that during these days one
shouldn't wash clothes, especially male clothes, in order to avoid lightning striking a home or even a
homeowner dying, which is a clear influence of the cult of the snake, the protector of the family and
home. In Rogatica and epa it is believed that on Tuesday and Friday it is not good to neither wash
clothes nor do anything else on the river or stream in order to avoid stirring the water since it can
cause hailstorm.

Snake in the Bogomil legends

In numerous Bogomil legends the snake plays a main or supporting role like the one about
Grandfather Ravu or Did Ravu, which folk tales describe as an old man with long white beard who
performed his regular prayers, like all the other Bogomil priests, under a linden tree.

The daughter of bey Dafer, a Bogomil nobleman who converted to Islam, was a girl given for
marriage. On one occasion the suitors came to ask for her hand and a beautiful young man from
Duvno succeeded. The marriage was planned for a Friday, and the day before that the girl went to the
meadow to pick some flowers with which she wanted to decorate the wedding procession. However,
her niece was very jealous of her and her marriage and she was looking for a way to hurt her and
seeing her jovially walking towards the meadow to pick some flowers she came up with the idea to
plant some snakes which will bite her. Approaching her cousin carefully without her noticing it, she
dropped a snake and walked away. As soon as the snake saw the girl it started to move towards her
but at that moment out of nowhere Grandfather Ravu appeared and made a circle around her
uttering a few words which turned the snake into stone.

In another legend from Middle ages the snake is tied to two holly men so called evlije for which a
tomb was raised which later became a pilgrimage site. When Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror,
conquered Bosnia, all Bogomil population converted to Islam in a very short time period. New
religion and customs were not as strange to them as much as Christianity was rigid to which they
never wanted to surrender. We know little today about the events that took place during the medieval
Bosnia, since legends hide the truth. One of them is tied to a father and a son which converted to
Islam, and they lived in a village Kolun near Foa. The father was a man of exceptional physical
strength, while the son was of a more gentle constitution. The reason for that is that at a very young
age the boy lost his mother and he grew up on food that his father procured.

As he could not manage without a woman, the father re-married after some time to a woman which
didn't show care and respect to his son, which she also secretly tortured. On one occasion, while he
was sleeping, she placed a small snake in his mouth which entered him and all that the boy ate the
snake would swallow. The boy ate a lot but he was pale and skinny regardless. His body became ever
weaker. At night after he said his prayers, he asked Allah to help him and that evening he dreamt of
his deceased mother, who told him in his sleep to enter the room where they keep yoghurt, which his
stepmother forbid him.

Tomorrow, while the stepmother was out of the house, the boy entered the forbidden room, found the
yoghurt in a wooden plate and drank it. At that moment the boy fainted. A miracle happened.
Disturbed by the yoghurt the snake left the boy's body and hid under a shelf with cheese. Soon after
that the boy woke up and escaped from the room. He was very hungry. As soon as the stepmother
came into the house he told her that he is hungry and she replied that she will give him some food.
She entered the room where she kept the cheese, and the snake jumped and bit her by her face. The
stepmother died and the snake escaped. When the father came, he realised what was going on, and he
promised his son that he will never get married again.

Bosniak women - the women that gave birth to dragons

One of the most mysterious Bosnian traditions is the one about the birth of snijet. Tabooed and of a
holly status, this tradition existed in Bosnia for centuries, until today where it only exists in stories and
sayings of older women. Some of them claim that they themselves gave birth to snijet or dragons.

The beginning of this tradition should be sought in the forefathers of the Bosnians, the ancient
Illyrians who saw the snake i.e. dragon as a central animal of their national and also religious cult. In
favour of this the ethnological records can be found among the Bosnians living in Montenegro and
Albanians on Kosovo and Albania, lands that once made up the vast Illyrian empire. We also need to
mention another tradition which is specifically connected to the Bosnian people and that is the one
that mentions snakes entering and living inside humans who happened to fall asleep outside, in the
field or under a tree. This clearly points to the ancient belief that snakes or dragons are directly
connected to people and that physical permeations and mergers are possible.

Mola hydatidosa or infanticide

The legend about dragons and their descendants which is called among the Bosnian folk snijet are an
inalienable part of the fascinating world of mythology of this country which sometimes seems so real
and tangible as in this sense. A long time before the twentieth century, when the ethnologists started
gathering ethnological data around Bosnia and Herzegovina, among the Bosnian folk one could hear,
through an oral tradition, a story that a woman gave birth to a snijet, a mysterious creature which was
considered to be a baby dragon. Since the ethnologists never saw a birth of a snijet they concluded that
this is a phenomenon which is called hydatidosa in medicine, a disease of the placenta where there are
degenerative and proliferative process's in the placenta, specifically in the part that stems from the
fetus.

However the medical explanation doesn't mention the possibility of mola hydatidosa and the child
being born together or the possibility that the embryo develops into a fetus inside the diseased
placenta. The same way, when we look at the pictures of mola hydatidosa from a layman's
perspective, we quickly ascertain that the appearance and description of that disease have nothing in
common with the claims made by the ethnologists during their field work. The only similarities to the
medical claims are the accompanying symptoms of profuse bleeding after birth of the snijet, yet that
phenomenon is common for most normal births, especially those in the past. Namely, up until the last
few decades of the past century, most childbirths were done at home, individually or in the company
of an experienced woman which is called a midwife, far from the hospital and the doctor.

In such completely unprofessional conditions the tradition about the snijet was misused and women
and girls used it to hide abortions or the birth of deformed, retarded or extramarital children which
they would kills right after birth. Since the snijet has been tabooed from its beginnings each infanticide
went unpunished. If someone showed some interest for the childbirth the midwife would claim that
"she had a snijet!" and that would stop any further discussion.

But, such criminal behaviour and attitude recorded in isolated cases is not a justified reason to cease
the investigation about the snijet. Especially since the author of this text had the opportunity to meet
an old lady who vividly described her experience of giving birth to a snijet, which leaves little room
for doubt.

God's punishment or blessing?

The ethnologists equated the word snijet to Ustilago maydis, because of the appearance, white colour
and shaped like a corn parasite. However, in some places there is a different opinion based on the
white colour of the placenta which uncommonly resembles an egg shell. The women usually
described snijeti jaje i.e. carry down an egg. With this interpretation we are getting close to the
mythological theory of the birth of a dragon, for which many legends claim that he actually came from
a large egg.

There are a few versions of how a snijet is brought to this world. According to one of them if the
woman has intercourse during her menstrual cycle, and a child is conceived, God will punish her for
that blasphemy and she will give birth to a monstrous creation known as snijet. In the second version
the woman is impregnated by a dragon, when he sees her resting somewhere in the field after work or
when he visits her while she is sleeping. In a few ethnological publications we come across a few
contradictions when it comes to the birth of snijet, namely, while some parts of BIH experience snijet
as God's punishment, others don't see anything bad in it and claim that each Bosnian woman has
given birth to snijet at least once in her life.

A woman can be pregnant with both a child and a snijet, which has catastrophic consequences for the
fetus. There were cases that a woman gives birth to a child with a dead snijet on its head, after which
the child would also die soon after. In the same way, if both are born alive, the folk belief is, that the
child will die when the snijet is killed or when it dies.
The dread that a woman will give birth to a snijet appeared if the birth process took longer than usual.
According to folk belief, snijet is delivered much harder than a normal child, the woman bleeds
profusely and recovers slowly. Influencing the woman's psychological state depended on the climate,
especially if she gave birth to a dead child. If the woman who gave birth to a snijet belonged to the
part of the country that thought it was punishment from God, she would go into deep depression and
psychological crisis, spending most of her days in bed. However if her surrounding saw snijet as a
good thing (sevap) then her recovery would be much faster and her psychological state stable.

Snijet can be born along a child or by itself. If that happens in most cases the baby would be born dead
or would die soon after birth. There were cases when the child survived but that happened only if the
snijet didn't come to life inside the woman's womb. When the snijet is alive inside the womb, it then
attacks the child and eats it, that's why the child is born with a deformity or disease. Apparently, the
snijet bites and eats the child's head, arm, leg or bites it on its back "and eats its entire lungs while it is
still in the mother's womb".

According to the confessions of women that gave birth to a snijet or that witnessed such an event, the
child leaves the woman's body first followed by a snijet. Each woman, no matter the geographical
location inside Bosnia, describe the snijet identically: "Snijet resembles a mole, it's the same colour and
size, except it doesn't have any hair" or "Snijet mostly resembles a mole, it's black, has no hair on it, but
everything else resembles a mole, the nose, body and legs". This description is also interesting: "it
looks like a black piece of liver that has skin".

Escape from the mother

As mentioned earlier, snijet can be born by itself, or with a child, in a white placenta. If the pregnant
woman is only carrying snijet in her womb, then her pregnancy doesn't last for nine months, but three
to four. But, nevertheless, all through that short pregnancy she feels standard accompanying
symptoms which are similar during normal pregnancy.

In most cases snijet was born alive and as soon as it came out of the woman, it showed strength and a
developed instinct for survival, because according to the testimony of numerous women, "the moment
it comes out it runs away from people, you can't catch it, it runs like a mouse and climbs walls". If the
pregnant woman would give birth by herself, without anyone's help, which was frequent in the past,
then the snijet escaped without much problems and later it transformed into a dragon.

According to the statement of an old lady from epa, who gave birth to two snijet besides her eleven
children, sevap (good thing) is when someone gives birth to a snijet "it's as if the woman gave birth to
two healthy children". The same lady said the following: "a woman who gives birth to a snijet three
times, has all of her sins forgiven and after death she will go straight to heaven, that proves how
happy God is when a snijet is born!"

Even though the birth of a snijet was tabooed for fear of judgement or ridicule of the environment, it
was treated with respect, besides the fact it was killed, which can be seen in the fact that it was
forbidden to throw a dead snijet into the garbage can, one needed to bury it wrapped in a cloth
together with the placenta, under a young tree or farmyard manure. Behind such a rule one can see
the human fear of a dragon retaliation because of the death of its cubs, therefore the wrapping inside a
cloth and burying needed to hide such a deed.

CULT OF THE FROG

Thanks to ethnological materials present today around museums in Bosnia and Herzegovina and
partially present oral tradition, at least among the older population, we know of the more important
cults which were present among the Bosnian people since ancient times. Their peculiarity was based
on worshiping nature and its divine manifestations. Presumably on the basis of that all, or most of,
Illyrian deities were in a zoomorphic shape so that later on, under Roman influence, they gradually
got their anthropomorphic shape.

But, it would be wrong to conclude that cults of snake, frog, zvidenjak or even trees, water, fire, caves
or hills and mountains, were the only cults that existed. Authenticity was the key element of existence
of the above mentioned cults since otherwise they would be lost in history, especially because of
foreign influences and new religious dogmas and tenants.

The continuity of worshiping these cults outlasted all breaking events in the long history of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, from the Roman empire all the way up to the advent of monotheism, but also the
Communist system which was based on atheism. An especially fascinating data is that these cults
existed successfully in parallel with Christianity and Islam, transforming itself into that which is today
referred to as "folk religion" in which pagan and cult beliefs are intertwined with elements of
Christianity and Islam.

In my personal opinion the most merit for the survival of old Illyrian cults is credited to the most
dominant cult among them - cult of fertility. Namely, in each of them, elements of cult of fertility were
present in its widest sense, regardless of its particularity. An ideal example of this is the cult of the
snake which nurtured not only the cult of fertility, but also the cult of the dead (ancestors) and so it
connected an entire community into a whole. Snake as a holly animals and a totem became one of the
holders of an identity of a people and in the following centuries and periods it found its place in
folklore and art of all those countries that once constituted parts of the Illyricum, especially Bosnia and
Herzegovina.

Representation of the snake in various forms on tombstones presents a continuation of Illyrian sacral
art, but it is important to mention that this animalistic motif is found on outside walls of numerous
Bosnian houses, especially next to entrance doors, such as the old house of Beglerovi family in
Repovci near Konjic. Snake as a figurative motif was regularly carved onto fiddles and numerous
other artistic artefacts.

The thing which is especially characteristic for ancient cults is fatalism, which is intensively present in
all cults which were recorded in the tradition of the Bosnian people. It is surely a logical summary,
especially if we take into consideration the traditional propensity towards superstition and magic in
everyday life of our ancestors.

In the cults of our forefathers, which were permeated by strong influences of animism, shamanism
and fatalism, certain animals, and in this case a frog, had their religious function since they
represented an incarnation of a certain deity or they included its spirit through which they influenced
the environment. The most famous example of a divine role of the frog we find in ancient Egypt
where Heketa was worshiped, goddess of fertility, protector of mothers and children, usually depicted
as a goddess-frog. She represented life in its fullest sense and that's why she can be considered to be
the Grand Mother, which was later replaced by Izida. But, the origin of that symbol was not originally
Egyptian, but a component of the religious-magical system which was shared among the old cultures,
among whom were the Illyrians.

In Sarajevo but also in the rest of BiH, until the end of the last century it was believed that every
house, besides a snake, had its frog which had a beneficial effect on cow's milk, namely, it made it
tastier and of a higher quality. A special respect was shown to the frog which would choose its place
of dwelling in front of the doorstep, which directly links this animal to the Grand Mother, primarily
because of the role of the doorstep in the cult of fertility, but also milk. Another belief which supports
the thesis of a frog, protector of the household and family and holly symbology of the doorstep as a
symbol of the Grand Mother which we find in Velika Kladua. If a frog comes to someone's doorstep,
or a frog is found there in the morning, it is believed that such an event warns the inhabitants of that
household that their house has become a target of evil and black magic.

A house frog is considered a member of the family, just like the snake. In accordance to that it was
forbidden to kill it, because otherwise cows would stop giving milk. If a housewife sees a frog inside
the house, she doesn't disturb it, on the contrary, she lets it go any direction it pleases. But, if she finds
it dead inside her house, she immediately places her hands on her ears, and with tight lips in the
shape of the letter O she breathes in air in order to produce a sound similar to a mouse and utters
before that and after that "God be with me!" The described prophylactic ritual has the goal of
neutralising bad luck which could affect the house because of the death of the frog, because after the
loss of its protector, that home and especially the cattle are subject to attacks from demons.

Frog - the Grand Mother

The frog which personifies the Grand Mother, or one of her manifestations, even by her physical
appearance, i.e. its back part, resembles a woman with a protruded back side and pronounced hips,
which is usually the main attribute, along with large breasts and stomach, of the Grand Mother whose
physical representation in numerous drawings and statues we can follow since the Neolithic period.
Consistency of the symbology of the frog as a divine manifestation of fertility is for that reason can be
examined chronologically from the earliest human history until today and determine her significance
in development of religious consciousness on the territory of BiH.

In a recorded story about women from Dizdarevi family from Gradina which one Ramadan day,
right after sunset, went to visit other women in the city and one of them met on the road a large
bloated frog, which she named "baba", clearly emphasising the story about a pregnant woman and
childbirth. Since the frog jumped in front of one of them, a young bride, she kicked it with her foot
and spotting that she is bloated, she told her out loud "You hear baba! When you give birth call me to
babine!" Later the story tells of how after some time the bride was abducted by devils who took her to
a cave where the frog gave birth for her to assist her during birth, threatening her that if the child
happens to be a female, woe be upon her but if the child is male she will receive a huge reward. The
young bride was forced to assist during the birth of the frog and since a son was born they rewarded
her plentifully and organised a large feast.

In colloquial speech a frog was named baba or babetina, which in etymology is connected with the
term zbabna, a folk name for a pregnant woman, or babine - a period of 40 days after birth when the
young bride is subject to various dangers and taboos. That period is also a time of visits by other
women when the mother and child are bestowed with gifts.

In Rogatica and epa it is believed that in front of a small child one shouldn't say "aba (frog)" but
"baba". That taboo hides within itself the fear of revenge from the frog, since she is connected in folk
tales with demons and witches which were traditionally tied with childbirth and babine. Their
primary task was to harm the mother and child in any way possible. In Rogatica that fear was
camouflaged by the belief that "a frog can resurrect inside the child" which is again very similar to
another belief about the snake, for which it is said that she can enter a human's body and live in it for
some time.

A frog is a common motif of numerous beliefs dedicated to children. Namely, small children were
always scared to open their mouths in front of frogs, out of fear that the frog might count their teeth,
because, if that happened that child's mother could die. This taboo is not coincidental but it stems
from the classic respect of people towards the gods. Scaring children to keep their mouths closed in
front of a frog is a sign of showing respect towards the Grand Mother.

An animal of mysterious power

We mustn't forget to mention that a snake and a frog have identical mysterious powers. Namely,
among the Bosnian people it is believed that a frog eats dirt, and for the snake i.e. dragon it is believed
that it attacks and devours the sun or the moon. In the same manner, both animals have mysterious
powers to blow up a human or cow, sheep, or some other domestic animal which causes an unusual
state among them. Besides being connected to a snake in such a way, the frog also possesses identical
power which is attributed to zvidenjak - a power to make a man go deaf. In one recipe of love magic
a young man or woman which wants to win over someone's heart must first catch a live frog and
bring her to an anthill and burry her in it. The frog is covered with a pot to ensure that it doesn't
escape while the ants eat her. As soon as the frog is covered with the pot the girl or boy have to run
away because if they hear the frog croak they might go deaf.

A frog is an ambivalent symbol: lives in water and on land, it is tied to the cult of fertility but also for
the cult of the dead. She is usually connected to agriculture through various folk beliefs i.e. the
beginning of field work but also as a fortune teller of a fruitful year. Namely, the frog is a climatic
indicator - maize sowing in the past was always determined by the beginning of the croaking of frogs.
Namely, from that day on (when the croaking is heard) it was considered that it is the safest time to
sow since after that there will be no more frost and cold weather. In Mostar and its surrounding it is
believed that croaking of frogs in the early spring predicts sunny spring and good yield of wheat in
that year.

In Bosnian mythology the frog is deeply connected with nature and its spirits, and that's why it can be
called a medium. Her ability is manifested in a few ways: from climatic prognosis, connection with the
human spirit all the way to spiritualistic interactions. In one of the folk tales it is said that during the
Ottoman occupation of BiH there was a pretty girl named Aja, daughter of Bosnian nobleman, she
was supposed to marry Sali effendi, a young man that she loved. But, their plans were disrupted one
of the numerous battles that her beloved faience had to go into. After a difficult parting Aja spent
many days waiting for the return of her beloved Sali effendi but instead of him the news of his death
arrived.

From shock and pain Aja ripped up her expensive clothes and spent three days closed up in a room
crying and abstaining from food and drink. To stop her suffering a maid talked her into seeing a
famous soothsayer, in order to find some comfort and a ray of hope for her aching heart. Arriving at
the soothsayer's humble home, Aja placed a rich gift in front of her and begged her to do the thing
that no one else can - call forth the ghost of her dead fianc to ask him if he is still thinking of her.

Since she was a daughter of rich parents, the soothsayer couldn't say no to her and at the same time
hoping for a plentiful reward if her efforts yield results. And she also felt sorry for the young , broken
rose. -Allah will forgive the sin if it's done in the name of love, the soothsayer thought to herself, and
took out a frog out of a pot with water. After she placed it into a copper casserole, she placed it onto a
slab full of hot coal and she began her ritual. Rhythmically swaying front and back the soothsayer
started to murmur an unknown prayer while watching the movement of the frog. As soon as the
casserole began to heat up the frog disturbed by the heat started to croak. Then the old woman said to
Aja to start praying since the ghost of her fianc is on the way. As soon as she heard that the girl
started to shake from fear and happiness and together with the soothsayer she started to pray. After
that the old woman clasped her hand and swaying around the casserole she started to ask the frog
some questions:

-What is your name o summoned spirit? The frog croaked.

-Is Sali effendi alive? The frog croaked again.

-Thank you heavenly Lord! Aja, your faithful fianc and future wife, is she in your heart?

The frog croaked for the third time. -Sali effendi is alive and true to his Aja, soon he will come to
comfort her, the soothsayer uttered out loud. She immediately turned to Aja waking her up from her
half-sleep and told her what the frog had said. The girl hearing the good news took of her golden
necklace and gave it to the old lady and with quick steps and teary eyes she left her house. She ran
outside to breathe in some fresh air and free of her burden she decided to share her happiness with
her parents. She felt like the happiest woman in the world, which she was at that moment.

After three weeks a miracle happened. One beautiful summer evening Sali effendi rode right in front
of her fiancs house on his steed. Alive and well, wanting to see the face of the one he loved the most.
A few days later in front of an Imam they got married and they rewarded the soothsayer with a fez
full of silver.

Illyrian gods and goddesses

In order to grasp the pagan world of our ancestors, especially the one connected with their religious
life, we need to gather all the names of the gods and goddesses of the Illyrian pantheon from the
entire area of Illyricum from Albania across Bosnia and Herzegovina to Slovenia. Individual deities
had several names but an identical function which is the reason why the Illyrians failed to establish a
unique religion across the territory of Illyricum and why it was divided into many cults. But,
according to all available data, worshiping the snake, the reincarnation of the Grand Mother, Thane
and Vidasus were common to all Illyrian tribes mostly because these deities were connected with the
cult of agriculture and fertility.

Dracon and Draccena: divine couple.

Nutrika: goddess, protector of children.

Sentona goddess tied to the cult of agriculture.

Ika goddess of fertility.

Histria goddess, protector of the entire geographical area of Istria.

Boria god of wind.

Nebra goddess of storms and mist.

Trita goddess of health. Her name has no connection to the Istria area, instead it can be recognized in
the names from Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the form Tritan, Tritanon or Traitano. It is believed that
the name of the goddess has an Illyrian-Celtic heritage.

Melosok local Illyrian god, protector.

Anzotika, Irija or Prende: goddess of love.

Boa: divine snake.

Verbti: god of fire and the north wind which causes fires.

Beautiful celestials (in Albanian: Bukuri and Qiellit) in ancient Illyrian times, three gods which
divided the world into the heavens, sea and underground.

Thana, Tana, Thiana or Zana (Albanian): Illyrian goddess equated to the Roman Diana. She is
followed by three goats with golden horns. In Albanian mountains Zana lives as a faery adorned by
bravery and beauty. Among the Bosniaks Zana or Tana is a forest faery (Zlatna) which lives in
Bosnian forests and helps great warriors, such as Mujo Hrnjica. Deep connection of the goddess Tana
is evident through folk songs where the scene of Mujo Hrnjica meeting with the faeries is described,
the fairies were disguised as goats, with his shrewdness he manages to unmask them and subject
them to his will. Even though in Bosnian mythology it is considered that the forest faery and Zlatna
are actually two different faeries i.e. mother and daughter, we are probably talking about one faery
which probably has a different name in various parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Identification of the
Illyrian goddess in the name of the queen of faeries Zlatna (Zlatana) is more than evident in the name
itself, namely, if we subtract first three letters from Zlatana we will get the name Tana or if we subtract
the second, third and fourth letter Zana.

Zlatna is called forest or mountain faery in north-western part of Bosnia with clear meaning of
mountain i.e. forest faery or forest mother. Her epithet of queen, confirms her privileged position
which she has as the goddess of our Illyrian forefathers.

Medauros or Armatos: god of war. Depicted as riding a horse, with a spear in his left hand.

Redon: protector of seafarers. God in the form of a boy next to which a dolphin appears.

En: one of the three supreme gods.

Perendi or Shurdi: god of thunder, husband of the goddess Prenda. A curious similarity appears
between the Slav name of the god of thunder Perun and the Illyrian Perendi. If we take into
consideration that the Illyrians, besides the Greeks, are the oldest people in the Balkans then it is easy
to conclude that Perendi or Perin is nothing more than an ancient Illyrian deity which is wrongly
connected with the forced Slav pantheon.

Vidasus or Vidas: one of the names of this grand god of the Illyrian pantheon is Messor or etalac
which clearly alludes to his dominant role in the cult of fertility i.e. agriculture. Time of harvests was a
period dedicated to him.

Altar of Vidasus and Thana from Topusko, Archaeological Museum in Zagreb

Altar of Vidasus and Thana from Topusko, Archaeological Museum in Zagreb
VidasVidasus (Silvan)us (Silvan)
Cult of the god Bindu

Ancient beliefs of the Illyrian tribes which inhabited Bosnia and Herzegovina remained present in
folk beliefs, mostly connected to the cult of water healing, in which the god Bindu is clearly
manifested. When one analyses the folk cult of healing and the practice of it, which is essentially
pagan in nature, then it is difficult to explain how that ancient system managed to survive in Bosnia
especially in the midst of a strong expansion of Christianity and later Islam?! However, the answer
should be sought in the fact that Christianity, especially after the appearance of Bogomils, or Islam
had enough influence to fully assimilate the Bosnian people and to fully disengage them from the
ancient Illyrian religion. And that it is true is perhaps best shown by the cult of god Bindu.

As it is known god Bindu was the god of springs of the Bosnian Illyrians whose spring-temples were
found all over modern Bosnia and Herzegovina and the neighbouring Croatia. One of the best
preserved holly places was found in Privilice near Biha which is located in nature, next to a spring.
At that location dozens of dedicated sacrifices to Binud were excavated, as well as a chapel with
numerous animal bones sacrificed in his honour.

In the ritual practice of pilgrimage towards springs one can notice the influence of three religious cults
of the Bosnian Illyrians: cult of the sun, cult of the moon and cult of Bindu.

Cult of the sun: the largest number of holly and salutary springs are located on the east side of the
settlement. One would visit it exclusively at dawn, before sunrise, in order to pray, wash one's face
and drink water. In such a way the diseased would expect the blessing of the sun which would shine
the light and warmness on the person once it rose from the east.

Cult of the moon: the holly springs were visited in the first week of the new moon, precisely on odd
days i.e. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Cult of Bindu: after washing their faces and drinking water or placing it into vessels and carrying it
home, the diseased would leave some money next to the streams, usually coins, food, eggs or they
would hang some of their clothes on the nearby branches.

In the mentioned descriptions of rituals one can notice influences of three deities, which could point to
the fact that Bindu was the son of the sun god and moon goddess and as their son he represented the
perfect example of vitality and health which gives life and defeats evil, in this case over diseases. The
sun that would appear in the east in the morning, according to folk belief the sun was "born", and the
first seven days after the appearance of the new moon undoubtedly point to the idea of renewal of life
energy, health and generally luck and prosperity. The sick would ask for blessings from the heavenly
deities who again resurrected in their eternal cycles and the manifestation of their divine power was
exactly the water over which Bindu had patronage and power.

During the beginning of the 20thcentury, Emilian Lilek, a professor from Sarajevo, recorded a dozen
examples of spring worshiping in Bosnia, the springs were equated with healing powers. His
ethnological work has been published in the National Museum BIH under the title "Religious
antiquities from Bosnia and Herzegovina" in the chapter "Water worship". Examples that professor
Lilek gathered and recorded have, besides their ethnological value, a historic significance because they
confirm the long practice of worshiping the cult of god Bindu, deity of the Bosnian Illyrians to whom
spring were dedicated i.e. natural temples.
It is clear that the Bosnian people haven't forgotten about the religious practice of their ancestors
which survived despite numerous restless decades which were characterised by the arrival of the
Slavs and monotheism. In all of the descriptions one can clearly see the practice of pilgrimage towards
the streams whose water was considered to have healing properties as well as the practice of leaving
money as a gift, food or a piece of clothing which was a substitute for human or animal sacrifice.
Behind such a ritual there existed a belief in a supernatural being, whose name was forgotten by the
people, and to whom a sacrificial offering had to be made in order to get help i.e. help from disease.

The following are only some of the examples given by professor Lilek:

On the left side of the river Miljacka there is a spring Pie-water, from which you mustn't drink until
you leave some money next to the stream or a piece of one's clothing. Bosnian women visit Pie-
water before sunrise, leaving money next to the spring, and tying pieces of clothing onto the branches
of the willow next to the stream.

Catholic women visit the stream above Kovaevi before sunrise and leave some money there.

In Teanj there is a stream outside the city where the Bosnian women bring their sick children, and
bathe them in that water. When they head home they leave some money next to the stream, or they
take off a piece of clothing from the child and leave it next to the spring.

In Travnik there is a spring called Safa's source and it is visited by Muslim's and Christian's alike,
especially around May 6th, in particular those that have headaches or fever. They bathe themselves at
the spring. When they head home they throw some money in the water or leave a piece of clothing
there.

In Pritoka next to Biha there is a spring which is visited by sick people in order to bathe in it. If a
diseased arrives who is also a sinner, the water from the spring disappears immediately, but if a man
without large sins comes the water appears in order for him to bathe in it. The spring is gifted with
money, clothes, etc.

Next to Modria there is a spring called iara. When someone has a fever, one visits the spring in the
first week of the new moon's appearance, Wednesday or Friday, and it bathes in its waters before
sunrise. One leaves some money next to the spring or hangs a piece of its clothing onto a tree next to
the spring.

In Tuzla there is a spring called Istonik, Christians visit it during Friday or Wednesday, in the first
week of the new moon's appearance. They bathe at the spring and leave some money or some food.
Altar with dedication to Bindus Neptune from Privilica, Territorial Museum in Sarajevo

Altar with dedication to Bindus Neptune from Privilica, Territorial Museum in Sarajevo