Divine bull Tur

From the beginning of mankind the bull was a holly animal which is a part of numerous mythological traditions and cults, due to its physical strength and imposing look. Among the oldest myths where he is mentioned is located in Mesopotamia and the legend about the deity Guagalanni, better known as the heavenly bull or bull from the sky. Gugalanna was the first husband Ereshkigala, deity of the underworld, dark world without light. Gods sent him to exact revenge upon Gilgamesh because he refused sexual advances of the goddess Inanna. During that occurrence, the heavenly bull, whose kick causes earthquakes, was defeated and dismembered by Gilgamesh and his follower Enkidu. In the middle east religious paradigm of killing a bull is frequent and we can find it in the legend about the genesis shaped in the Persian god Mithra, from whose description of his birth and life the mythological legend of Jesus was created, this god hunted and killed a wild bull. From the body of the dead animal, plants started to grow, from the bones wheat sprang up and from his blood grapevine. That’s when the first people were created. Even after the advent of Islam in these areas the bull didn’t lose his divine characteristic which is best confirmed by the Arabian myth, or better said cosmological representation, about the white bull Kujuta which stands on the head of a horrible beast Bahamut and holds the earth on his back.

Bahamut or Behemoth is the name of a mythological giant fish which in Arabic cosmology represented a backbone of earth, and for her mythology claims that she possesses numerous eyes, ears, noses and tongues. Certain myths claim that instead of a fish’s head it has an elephants head or hippopotamus head, and in some versions Bahamut is actually a sea dragon with sharp teeth and limbs. Bahamut holds on his strong body all seven spheres which in Arabic mythology constitute the entire universe. On Bahamut, i.e. on his head, the bull named Kujuta is positioned, which holds a mountain made out of rubies on his back. On top of that unusual mountain the angels are holding the seven layers of earth. Alternatively, on the back of Bahamut is actually a surface made out of sand. Kujuta is standing on that sand, and the mountain that he is carrying on his back has a vast ocean in the middle of which earth is floating. Underneath Bahamut is the dark and mysterious part filled with mist and water. Some mythological data claim that underneath that dark sphere there is a fire world in which the snake Falak dwells.



Bahamut is an original mythological creation of the Arabic mythology, data on it appear in cosmological tones which date since 1291. The name itself in Arabic means “the beast”. About it the ancient Arabic historian, Ibn al-Wardi  wrote, it is also mentioned in the 1001 night where the story about the man named Isa is mentioned, who after seeing Bahamut out of shock and fear loses his consciousness. Once he awoke, Allah asked him if he had seen a big fish. Isa replied that he saw a bull standing on top of the fish’s head. The Jews assimiliated this mythological being, like many other religious-mythological segments, in their mythological traditions.


Arabic Kujuta and Bosnian Tur


Certain segments of the presented legend have connecting points with Bosnian myths about the gigantic bull Tur, which holds the planet on his back, from whose will depends the fate of earth and all people. Generally, the myth about Tur is short and there are not a lot of details which would reveal something more about the wider representation of Bosnian cosmology and the only exception is Rogatica. Namely, in that part of Bosnia it was believed that underneath the land there was an endless sea, on its surface swam a giant fish, on the fish’s head a bull stood and on his back earth. When that bull moves slightly his ear, the earth shakes, and when he would move his leg or something else, the entire earth would plunge into the sea, but it was believed that Allah created a small fly which constantly flies around the eyes of that bull and he is so afraid of her that he literally can’t move. (1)

As among the Turks there is no recorded legend not about Bahamot nor Tur, we can conclude that there was no transfer of myths during the Ottoman occupation of BiH, instead it is a rudiment of an ancient pagan cult which was inherited by certain Mediterranean people, and among them the Illyrians. There is a logical probability  that Illyrian soldiers serving in the Roman Empire transferred the legend of Tur to the territory of Syria and further, or vice versa, inherited it and brought it to the Balkans. But, no matter how it happened we’re talking about a very old legend from the old, ancient times. The bull had a very significant place for the Illyrians in the religious-magical sense and even if we don’t have many written data about the Pagan rites of our ancestors, we discovered through archeological findings that they preferred to hang the horns of Bos primigenius at the front of the house which had a magical function to protect the family and give it fertility. Also we shouldn’t forget to mention the traditional custom among Illyrian tribes of offering sacrifice, gift of blood and meat to the gods for a successful harvest of wheat, when they would slaughter a bull during august up on a hill.


Unique Tur  


Other bypasses in the legend itself are evident, namely, as the Arabic mythology claims Bahamut will when judgment day comes be destroyed by its creator i.e. god, to whom this beast is only subjugated. Among the Bosnians it is narrated that judgment day will take place on the day “when Tur shakes his body”, i.e. there are no claims about the classic notion of Judgement day where everything happens by god’s will, which gives us ample space to conclude that Tur holder of the earth is the ruler of the planet and people.

Similarly, while in Arabic mythology the bull Kujuta is depicted with totally white skin in Bosnian mythology he is black, and is truly connected to an actual animal (Bos primigenius) which died out in Europe in the middle ages. The best proof of its presence on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina are toponyms which give a deeper historical connotation to everything. Tur in Bosnian tradition is without a doubt a deity and in that form it is not seen anywhere else on the Balkans, nor in Europe, which in and of itself implicates that we’re talking about an ancient supernatural being. In the past it was assumed that his name Tur comes from the abbreviation of the Latin word Taurus but it is clear that the original name stems from the actual name of the wild bovine Bos primigenius.


Divine plowman Vidasus

In the traditional life of Bosnia and Herzegovina a castrated bull i.e. ox was an integral part of a village household and it replaced the horse, which had a higher market price and that’s why he wasn’t owned by numerous village households. Researching ethnological build and oral tradition of the belief of Bosnian people about the ox it is noticeable that he was treated with care and attention primarily because of the existential but also holly purpose. When the summer plowing begins to the ox which was on the right side people would wrap around his right horn a red knit (thread), a chicken egg would be cracked on his forehead and his neck would be covered with butter. All of these ritual measures were undertaken with the goal of protection from evil and summoning good luck and fertility.

In folk astronomy the constellation out of seven stars so called pleiad is called the Volovi (oxen). It is interesting because the pleiad (Messier 45) is located in the constellation of the bull. Though Wikipedia claims that pleiad is represented in all mythologies from the southern hemisphere it is evident through legends about Tur, but also other folk beliefs and traditions, that we can notice a mythological connection with the pleiad in Bosnian mythology. Segments of the divine cult of Tur are hinted out of the two folk names of the constellations which are located one next to the other and they are Orion, assembly of three stars, which in Bosnia were called Štapovi (sticks) and the already mentioned Volovi (oxen). (2) In the spring, when it is time for sowing, when the Štapovi are visible on the sky, it is a sign that dawn occurred, morning is nearing, and that oxen must be fed and harnessed so they can plow.



Together these two constellations represent the one which operates the oxen i.e. ploughs the land i.e. represents the mythological divine sower, which could be no one else than the Illyrian god Vidasus, known as Žeteoc – the one that reaps (wheat). In addition to that goes the data that the plough was invented by the Illyrians.


Seven oxen – seven stars

According to folk tales from Velika Kladuša in ancient times lived a greedy man which had seven oxen. As he had an uneven number he yearned for another ox in order to have eight of them i.e. to have an even number. One day he remembered that in the neighboring village there was a poor man that owned only one ox. –When he has only one he doesn't need even that one, he concluded and he came up with a plan with his son to go there after midnight and steal the ox. What they conceived off they undertook. When they came half way home some unrest caught the father and he told his son they should stop so they can rest. Seeing a bale of hay close by he ordered him to bring hay and put it into nine small heaps, one next to the other, once this was done he let the stolen ox feast on the hay. But, instead of eating from the first pile the ox hesitated, he sniffed and only stopped at the seventh pile where he started to ear. That horrified the father and he said: “Can you see that, my son, what a sin we made by stealing this ox from that poor man, his curse will follow us up to our seventh generation!”. But, greed in him overcame his fear and he continued his way home. Somehow at that time, since dawn was nearing, the poor man awoke and headed towards the barn to feed the ox but as soon as he entered the barn he had seen that the ox was gone and that someone stole him. From sorrow and pain he started crying and he cursed the thief, let God punish him and take from him what the thief took from this poor man. Soon the father and son, together with the stolen animal, came close to their house. When they came next to the barn, the father was surprised by the silence that he noticed in the barn, he hurried to light a candle. The pale light of the candle shone light on the barn quickly. The barn was completely empty. There were no oxen. The father ran out wildly and he held his head out of torment and pain. He then looked to the sky wanting to wallow to God to what had happened to him and before he opened his mouth he noticed in the sky seven shining stars flickering together and wide eyed he realized that he cannot cry out to god, since he punished him because of his great sin that he did towards that poor man. That’s how, according to folk tales, the constellation of oxen (Plejade) came to be, as a warning to all that you shouldn’t steel from other people especially oxen. (3)

Note

(1) It is interesting to mention that at one time the people from BiH represented the earth as a big foursquare slab, which in the edges on a hair of the bull leaned on four pillars, and it seemed that she might tip over at any moment. But it wouldn’t, the people claimed, since she stood there according to god’s will and mercy. That slab was of an even length and width. Pillars were oily, tall and thin, they were bending, so that it seemed that they might break off at any moment. They were made out of white marble and planted in an unmeasured sea depth, since under that entire slab (earth), an endless sea was located, which cannot be seen since it is underneath us. This is a vast sea and all others are small compared to this one.


(2) In Bosnian love magic a girl, if she is casting a spell with walnuts, looks at the oxen in the sky, since they’re numerous and powerful, and if she wishes to see (dream) her future husband then before going to bed she looks towards the pillars and utters the following: “Illuminate me Žarinko Nasiba, set me on fire Planinko Nasiba, so I can see my future husband. To see him tonight in my dream as in real life, or to see his face, or to hear his name. Until I see him he shouldn't walk nor work!"

(3) Motif of teleportation of a terrestrial occurrence which symbolizes a great sin onto the sky, which represents the worldly stage, is common in Bosnian traditions. Another famous folk tale about divine intervention and public punishment is the one in which god immediately put to death a disobedient son, when he swung his axe towards his mother, wanting to kill her, and his body, together with the axe, god teleported to the surface of the moon, so that it serves as a warning to all people that mothers must be respected.

 

How to get a wife and have a secured marriage

Write Sura Yusuf (12) the entire chapter) on a Wednesday and wash yout body with it at sunrise as you sit on a stone. This should be repeated on Sunday before sunrise as you sit on a stone.  The sura should also be written and rubbed on the leg; and you should also rub it into some meat winch you will cook and eat. The one who does this will have a wife, by the Grace of God. If you do this with your wife, the two of you will never divorce and have a secured marriage.

A Charm to Bring Your Lover Home

Take an aromatic mixture of Cloves, Cinnamon and Cardamom and place in a large jar. Over this read seven times backward the Yasin chapter of the Qur'an. Fill the jar with Rosewater and a shirt of your beloved. Add to this mixture a handmade piece of paper inscribed with the name of the wayward lover and the names of the four angels (Mikail, Azrail, Jibril, Rafail). Place the jar over the fire; and as soon as the mixture begins to boil, the wandering lover will be on his way home.

-from an ancient Persian formula

Bosnian Stravarke – travelers between two worlds

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

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



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

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

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

Blowing and yawning

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mother gave birth, mother healed

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.

How nature and herbs came to be

On one opportunity when Muhammad travelled, he was covered in sweat from the long journey, and from him his sweat dropped onto the earth. Where ever a drop from his forehead touched the earth a flower would grow. Sweat from other body parts that fell onto the ground became herbs that cured various illnesses. Bosnian people claim that among the first herbs to grow were dwarf elder, rue, alecost, basil and others. From the sweat which fell from his neck and hands small and large trees would grow. From the sweat from his the body of his horse made the hills, rocks and mountains grow.



Bosnian mythology

Four holly books

In folk stories about four Indžil, holly books, it was claimed that they came from the sky. In all of those books Allah wrote the first prayer, and God’s messengers continued. One of Indžil, the first one was written by Adam, and they say that it is as old as Earth itself. It is the oldest of them all. As the story further claims, Adam when he could no longer write due to his old age, an angle held his hand so he could continue. Half of this Indžil was carried away by angels, “and it was very big, so big that not all people from earth could move it”. Adam restlessly continued writing, without taking a break, and as the story claims, he wrote it his entire life. The second holly book is from Moses. It is not as old nor as big as the one from Adam. Third book was written by Jesus. Fourth by Muhammad and he said that holly books will no longer be written, since in his book everything is contained, since the creation of the world and until judgment day.



Bosnian mythology

How an owl shamed God’s messenger Solomon

People say that to Solomon’s wife out of wrath came a crazy idea, and she commanded her husband, to build her a tower out of bird’s bones, since she hated birds. God’s messenger Solomon since he knew bird language called all the birds for a meeting to arrange a deal with them how to build the tower. To his command all the birds came, only the owl was running late, Solomon got angry at the owl, and once she arrived he asked her why she was running late. The owl told him that she spent her time counting the hills and valley, men and women. To that Solomon asked whether there were more hills and valleys, to what she answered that there are more valleys, since small hills are counted as valleys. Then god’s messenger asked her are there more men or women to which she replied that there are more women “since I counted those men to whom women command, such as you, among the women!” Hearing that Solomon was disappointed that the owl shamed him in front of all the birds and he decided to give up building a tower.



This story was often told among the Bosnian people in front of that man for which it was known that he is afraid of his wife.

Bosnian mythology

Tattooing in the Bosnian tradition

Beginnings of tattooing can be located in the ancient history when man of that time placed various paints on his body in order to camouflage himself for hunt or to scare an enemy during a conflict. Beginnings of that existential practice is best noticed in the prehistoric drawings on walls of caves when the primitive Homo sapiens wished to capture strength and speed of animals by depicting them, since what his eyes could see and his hand could touch was no longer strange and impossible to catch. Accidentally or not, that primitive iconography through the following periods shaped art and religion and gave a strong incentive to talisman magic, especially among the Arabic people. Namely, in numerous amulets we can see drawings of certain animals such as a snake, scorpion, lion, around them were placed prayer words, with the aim of the barer of the amulet to be protected from their attacks. Magical symbols were not necessarily only written (drawn) on paper or animal hide, they were also depicted on clothes, especially shirts, and the naked human body. Of course, besides depictions of dangerous animals in the content of the amulets and talismans numerous depictions of squares were noticed, of circles, hexagrams, pentagrams, eyes, hands, various beings but also picturesque magical letters. All of those motifs today, and numerous others, we can see in tattoos around us.



Tattoos of women in Morocco and Algeria


Karl Steiner in his anthropological work “Bosnian folk medicine” describes the tradition of tattooing among Bosnian Catholics:

“That entire community is happy and in a good mood, there is singing and laughing on all sides and some older women were working, to “tattoo by puncturing some crosses” the young men and women, along with silly conversations and quips, according to the reports of Greek and Roman writers the old Illyrian pagans, Skit and Tarčani in ancient times tattooed on their children emblems, nobleman’s symbols and other ornaments and pictures. In a mixture of soot and saliva, in Indian ink, watered down gunpowder or wooden coals, carmine, indigo, cinober, light paste (pinus nigra) and resin, a point of a larger needle is placed in the mixture and it is used to draw the ornament on the forearm, upper side of the arm, on the chest, forehead or upper arm. When the paint starts drying, the old lady will use it to puncture their skin. That dipping of the needle in the mixture and punctuation of the skin is repeated numerous times, then the punctured place is wrapped after three days with certain, medicine herbs or linen thread. Often the tattooed places will quickly heal, so no scars are left, but it happens often, that the wounds get pussy (Sclerosis) and for lystatory or septic blood poisoning (Lymphengioitis) with knots under the arm pits. More dangerous are those cases, when the saliva from the mouth of a woman, which performs tattooing, transfers syphilis to the tattooed. To this “out-of-genital” transfer of syphilis not much attention has been paid so far, since the person infected in this way didn’t pay much attention to the initial signs of the diseases, which starts with glands being swollen, but often the secondary signs were also ignored. However, this poison spreads epidemic disease and other diseases, and it often happened that the entire family is infected and based on that we can conclude in which ways this disease spread in this area. Often for tattooing a motif of a small cross was used in a simple or ornamented form. On the top part of the arm a cross in a circle (kolo) would be tattooed, jeličin križić, old Arian circle and semicircle (fence), on the forearm a bracelet."

At one time among certain local anthropologists there was a theory about the tendency for tattooing of Catholic women in BiH, during the time of Ottoman occupation, especially depictions of a cross on the hand, based on the assumption that with such markings they were protecting themselves from a forceful marriage to a Turkish soldier, however, that thesis doesn’t have logical validity. There are a few reasons for this, the first and most important one is that tattoos on women for the Turkish soldiers didn’t represent an issue nor a hindrance to abducting her or forcing her to marry him. Also, today we know that tattooing wasn’t a taboo among the Ottomans, Arabs and Armenians, moreover, among the Turkish people it was claimed that even Hazrat Fatimah, daughter of prophet Muhammad, had a tattoo on her body. Besides, tattooing a cross which was, as we all know, a pagan symbol, present among numerous civilizations before the advent of Christianity, and usage of it as a decorative motif on the body is first and foremost a continuation of an antique tradition, especially since women were the ones to tattoo it wanting to secure fertility, since the old days the ost desirable and vital attribute of any woman in this culture.

Illyrians and tattooing

Illyrians were prone to tattooing as we know and that practice among the Bosnian people is the legacy of their forefathers. Why did it persist the most in Herzegovina, among the Catholics, is not hard to conclude. Namely, it is enough for us to mention that according to genetic research the Illyrian gene is mostly present in Herzegovina where it is present up to 70%. Similarly, analyzing the depictions on grave stones, ancient tombstones in BiH, it is evident that to the Illyrians various forms of a cross and swastika are the most common motifs as recognizable characteristic of a solar deity. There is a belief that the cross, circle and swastika are magical-religious depiction of one or more snakes, otherwise ancient symbols of fertility. Besides, a snake in Illyrian religion is an impersonation of a progenitor and protector of each family, which further strengthens her holly role. As Augustin Kristić mentions in his ethnological work “Urežnjaci iz narodnog liječenja Bosne I Hercegovine” (remnants of folk healing from BiH), snake as a motif for tattooing was primarily present among women. The author writes: “Not a lot, but on the hands of the women I saw (not so much in men) across Bosnia “punctured” – tattooed snake. On my question: why did you puncture a depiction of a snake? – nowhere did I receive the same answer. Often it was said, that they don’t know why they did it. These three answers are what I presume the meanings of the snakes: It carries luck – shields from spells – It will prevent a snake bite”. Besides the motif the answers given as a complete opposition to the depiction of the symbolism of a snake in Christianity are interesting, the snake is thought of as being the representative of evil. With that it is clear that we’re talking about an ancient tradition, Illyrian one, since a snake and tattooing belong to a culture of our forefathers.



Tattoos of Catholic women in BiH

I’m sure that the practice of tattooing since the Ottoman occupation of BiH was present among Bosnian women, and probably a few centuries after that, when puncturing of the body was substituted by a less aggressive method called kinanje. K’na, more popularly called kina or Hena which women used not only to die their hair and nails, wrists of the hand, fingers and individual parts of the face, i.e. everything that was visible by the observer. Since childhood I remember the older women that came to our house, or lived in the neighborhood, that they had on those body parts the color Kana. We need to emphasize that tattooing was considered as a protection from evil and disease, identical to what exists in the Islamic tradition in relation to hena. Therefore a logical conclusion imposes itself that the so called Kinanje among Bosnian women was a substitute to tattooing. Tattooing a dot on painful places on the body or pressing a finger dipped in kana onto the painful place, with the goal of stopping the disease, is an old healing practice alongside the Mediterranean. Besides its prophylactic and healing function the tattoo had a psychological effect. This is evident in the practice of Armenian women which had the custom of tattooing wrists in order to have greater strength to milk cows and sheep.



Wedding rituals with hena in Islamic tradition

In the end we could conclude that the practice of our forefathers was never completely lost among the Bosnian people, since even before today’s trend of tattooing, from the beginning of this century, it was a standard rule when serving military in the former JNA, for young men to tattoo classic symbols of that time such as a rose, five-pointed star, names of loved ones, numbers and the like. And what is more interesting, especially among the Bosnian people, there was no opposition from the elderly to this practice, especially if take into consideration the conservative nature of our society as a whole.

Note

Certain Illyrian tribes represented graphically their solar deity with a circle inside of which is a dot. Among the Turks and Armenians during tattooing of “son’s children” it is depicted by a circle inside of which is a dot and along the circle there are more dots. Circle was especially popular among the Armenian women as a representation of sun and moon and as such symbols of fertility. Tattooing of a small circle on the breast represented a status symbol among these people and it was carried only by beautiful women.

MISCELLANEOUS FOR EVIL EFFECT

Following cartographic chart be prepared and burnt in a brand new carthen lamp with mustard oil. The person under influence be asked to gaze it. When it is burnt off completely keep the lamp safely. Repeat thid action second and third day also. Suitable time for this action is after Maghrib or after Isha. And the place where this action is conducted be aloof or secluded.

Amulet against jinns / devils