Bosnian fairy

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

Faeries are in a nutshell ancient ghosts of nature or personifications of their strengths. They were known to the old Illyrians, Romans, Greeks... The belief in faeries is found along the entire Europe but also of Middle East. In Iran and Turkey the faeries are called periler and have identical functions and descriptions like the ones in the European tradition. They are described as eternally young girls of stunning beauty, with long red and golden hair. A large number of faeries has wings.

According to Bosnian mythology the faeries are born out of dew which falls on the leaves of the great tree which grows on a mysterious, unknown hill. It has magical powers which can be used for good and bad which is witnessed by numerous events sung in folk songs where it is described that faeries became to certain heroes, such as Alija Đerzelez, Mujo Hrnjica or Halil, mothers, sisters or lovers. If a faery took on a motherly role towards the hero, she would grant him enormous strength and intelligence, but if the relationship was that of siblings, they would heal all wounds that the hero received during battles with herbs and magic or the faery would tell him all about the enemy's plans. If the faery falls in love with the hero then she would become his lover and the mother of his future child which she would leave with the father after birth and she would go back to her faeries in the nature.

It is this belief about the abandoned faery children resulted with the birth of a humane practice of taking care of orphans which saved thousands of children abandoned at an early age, from a certain death. Namely, the Bosnian folk believed that abandoned children after birth were children from a faery and that's why it was gladly taken in and raised as their own. It was believed that those children brought good fortune and bliss to the family which was from then on protected by the faery. In the past BIH didn't have an orphanage or another government institution which would take care of abandoned children, this belief largely helped in taking care of countless orphans which were abandoned in forests or streets by irresponsible parents.

As we already mentioned the faeries took great interest in Bosnian heroes, they helped them in combat, healed their wounds, grieved for them, became their lovers and mothers of their children and sometimes sisters. However, from the preceding text we can see that faeries didn't only help folk heroes but also common people, especially children. Their help was particularly valued by the people which can be seen by numerous epic poems like the one from Jablanica called "Halil searching for Mujo's horse Đogat" in which out of 347 verses, 41 of them were dedicated to the faeries participation as a helper. Their specialty, besides magic is healing with the help of herbs. It is considered that most of the knowledge about medicinal properties of plants the humans gained thanks to the intervention of these beings. In one poem how the mother of Omer Hrnjica following the advice of a faery finds the plant kunica (Achillea millefolium L.) and drains its juices above her son's wound and covers it with cloth. In folk songs the wounded Mujo Hrnjica is being healed by faeries which live in forests and mountains. Besides such a way the faeries, wanting to help the greatest hero of Bosnia, perform various spells such as the one that gave his horse Đogat wings and helped him win every race.

The faeries usually live on mountains and large forests near lakes. They spend most of their time flying from tree to tree, bathing, combing hair and dancing in circles. The hair which contains all of the faeries power was often depicted in folk stories as a great danger to the faery itself since it could get tangled in a bush and she became an easy prey to passers-by. Apparently, whosoever helped a faery untangle her hair from a bush could ask the faery to help him with something or to even become his wife. She couldn't reject any wish. Faeries, especially the ones living in mountains or forests, easily fall in love. There are dozens of stories in which a faery fell in love with a man and then kidnapped him and lived for several years in a cave or forest with him.

Evil faeries

Unlike them, the water faeries are hostile towards humans. They reside next to sources of rivers, streams or seas. They spend almost all of their time bathing and they have fun by enchanting with their song the one that they want to drown. That's why people carried ember with them when they would approach a river or creek during the night in order to protect themselves from the faeries.

In a few folk tales about Mujo Hrnjica and Alija Đerzelez, they are depicted as brothers even though in real life they weren't brothers. We hypothesise that the idea about them being brothers was created based on the information that both of these Bosnian heroes were fed by the milk of the same faery, they are considered "foster brothers". According to Bosnian belief if a mother loses her milk and another woman breastfeeds her child that woman is considered to be his other mother or "foster mother" and it's forbidden for that child and children of that woman to get married.

In a folk song about Mujo and Alija it is mentioned how they went hunting birds from the family of ducks known as utve zlatokrile (Tadoma ferriginea) which are, as mythology claims, the form in which faeries like to transform into. After they finished with the hunt they sat down next to the lake to rest and they eventually fell asleep. During that time they were observed by three white faeries which were angry since they killed a few of their favourite birds. The oldest one of them offered to the others hundred ducats if they manage to alienate the two of them. The youngest faery appeared next to Mujo and started to cry. Her cry woke up Mujo who saw a beautiful young girl next to him. He immediately woke up his brother Alija saw instead of one, two beautiful girls and he answered angrily that it's not fair that he has two beautiful girls and he has none. They got into a fight and Mujo pulled out a knife and stabbed his brother. Then he placed the girl on the brother's horse and he mounted his horse and they rode home. Along the way Mujo saw a black crow without her right wing and he asked her how she lived without her right wing to which the crow replied that she lives like a brother that has no brother. Those words saddened Mujo and he felt sorry for wounding his brother and the faery told him to hurry back since she used to heal the sik and she would heal his brother. However, when they returned his brother was already dead and Mujo punished himself with death.

However water faeries are not untouchable and their constant need for bathing can lead them into dangerous situations. Namely, if a man spots them bathing he can sneak and steal their clothes. According to belief the faery whose clothes is stolen by a man she needs to marry him. In ethnographic books there are records that faeries often met with elf's in a village Seoce near Visoko. Apparently some young men managed to steal their clothes and some faeries married them. Since they are immortal after the death they became free and they would return into nature.

All of the faeries powers are located in her hair which they nurture until perfection. While they are combing their hair the faeries sing and during that they utter mysterious verses which are full of wisdom. The hair that falls off during combing is wrapped around fern (Pteridophyta). They especially like to visit horses that have a lush mane and they like to knit tiny braids which are hard to undo. Such horses are considered to be special because they have been touched by faeries.