Raif Esmerović

Mysterious Bosnia and Herzegovina –

between legend and reality

History of a people, especially in the distant past, ancestors Illyrians, probably came to our area from
can be studied and perceived from various aspects today’s Iran and India, following this creature during
and directions, which can be summed up in one its migration towards the European lands. Namely,
whole or studied individually. Mythological according to research of the Paleontological
legends and beliefs are one of such approaches, museum at the University of Oslo, first examples
since we cannot ignore the fact that often legends appeared in the area of today’s India two million
and myths are real descriptions of events to years BCE from where they migrated to the Midlle
which folk imagination has given a mystical East and other parts of Asia. They reached Europe
around 250 000 BCE. Since prehistory Tur was an
thread and has impressed upon them human
important animal for the survival of humans, our
hopes of the time. Because of these reasons it is a
ancestors as well, which is evidenced by drawings
real pleasure to research the history of the
in pre-historic caves but also the above mentioned
Bosnian people which is contained in myths,
legend.
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.

Although a several ethnologists mentioned the

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
1 “Then, from an old lady, Puhalovka Alijaginica,
shoulders, according to legends . 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
1 the name for the hearth, and signifies fire. It is possible that
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.
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:
which lived in Čebedžije in Sarajevo, I recorded the
following: „On Wednesday one would pray noon
2
prayer and bow to : Oganj and Ognjev Pir , Tur,
Hadži Dedi, Hadži Kasapi, Sitoj Nefisi, Vejsil
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
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.

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 Raif Esmerović
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
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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.
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
3
spread across the once desolate land .
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.
 Raif Esmerović
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.
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
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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
 Raif Esmerović
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
4
only when it can pronounce the word – egg . 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.
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.
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
5
haptovina (Sambucus ebulus) 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.

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
Odoljen is a name which comes from the term “to
tornadoes they rose into the air. Such sudden
resist something”, and in BiH folklore it is considered
apparitions “souls which are calling for help”
a plant which has apotropaic strength to protect the
happened in places of death, where soldiers, but
human being from all evil spirits and magic –
also civilians, violently lost legs or arms. Bosnian
negative energy – which prejudges the theory
people considered the appearance of Prepasti as a
according to which the creation of the first human,
search of ghosts for their lost limbs. Allegedly,
which was a man, was not possible until the first
Prepasti would disappear without a trace only when
odoljen has appeared, probably the plant totem of
the rain would wash away all the blood and when
our ancestors, which should be added to the already
the plough, ploughed the bones into the earth. It
existent list.

4 5
We shouldn’t forget the traditional Bosnian ritual of giving a Haptovina or shortened hapta is used in the cult of the dead,
chicken egg or an egg to a new-born as a symbol of health namely, in the past there was a custom of placing a knife on
and life which is connected to what has been written. the chest of a dead body and above his head a steam of rue, if
Background of this gift giving can have a kind of magical motif one couldn’t find rue it was exchanged with ćabarska trava or
“gifting of the soul” or its strengthening. Sumbucus ebulus.

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 Raif Esmerović
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.
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
Garlic and the secret of
and live in his womb for some time. Namely, as the
eternal life
villagers claim that in the past it happened that a
person would fall asleep outside, on a meadow, or
In Bosnia it is believed that every disease has a
under a tree, and a snake would enter into his body
cure, only death cannot be cured, though people
through the mouth. Such a person would be
claim that it could be cured if someone could catch
recognized by sudden loss of weight and a pale
the seed of garlic. However, the cunning faeries
face. According to the villagers, everything that he
would pluck the seed and take it with themselves,
would drink or eat, the snake would eat and it would
for centuries they prevented humans from attaining
take away his strength and food. If the snake would
their desire for immortality.
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.

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

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 Raif Esmerović
Birth of a dragon

Snijet or Snit got its name among the people by the

soft membrane of the chicken’s egg which the
Birth of dragons in Bosnia
chicken can lay when lacking calcium. Numerous
ethnologists often made a mistake connecting this
Among the Bosnian people since the ancient times
folk name of a dragon cub with a corn snijet (corn
a belief about dragons was present, the dragon not
smut) /Ustilago maydis/ not realising what the
only existed but it sexually assaulted women, but
informants were trying to tell them.
also cows, and out of this unholy union dragon cubs
were born – snijet. This unusual belief is traditionally
A few elderly women from which I had an
present among the Bosnian people while among
opportunity to hear about the birth of snijet had an
Bosnian Christians it doesn’t exist or appears in rare
identical description of its birth. Namely, since all of
instances.
them were illiterate and they didn’t know the name
for a placenta, they used a folk name for it, what to
According to people the dragons loved to stay in
them seemed to best describe what they see and
woods or hills, flying from one tree to another,
that is snijet according to the soft membrane of the
sleeping inside caves or bathing in rivers. Namely, it
chicken egg. But, it is an important detail which
occurred that random passers-by near a river, would
reveals how snijet was constantly born in a white
hear sudden trashing on the surface of the river and
placenta, unlike a normal human baby whose colour
would experience drops of water falling on them.
of placenta was always dark red-blue or maroon,
For such sounds it was believed that they were
out of which the snijet would exit as soon as
created by a scared dragon which feeling
possible, running out of fear from human contact.
someone’s presence would fly away. Allegedly,
According to the informants if in the woman’s
while in the water the dragon would go in circles and
stomach only a snijet was present, they would often
once bathed it would erect its body and would fly
give birth in their sleep, in the morning they would
towards the sky.
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,
Gaze of emerald eyes
such a woman would go to bed with her breasts full
of milk and in the morning she would awaken with
People describe the dragon as a long snake, over
breasts completely empty.
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.

As we can conclude by studying the ethnological

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 Raif Esmerović
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
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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,
 Raif Esmerović
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
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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
 Raif Esmerović
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
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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
 Raif Esmerović
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.

Velika Kladuša, 2017.

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