Croatian folklore is very much tied in with the Slavic tradition. Weve put together a list of Croatian folk creatures, along with some of the most popular and widespread Croatian legends. Another legend that stands halfway between reality and myth is the story of Mila Gojsali. Clearly the Croatian people had a thing with flies. The vila are mostly benevolent but can be quick to anger. All the gold, shining in the sun, would immediately turn to a hard rock. They also awarded heroes with the best of horses, they built towns and ships people had never sailed in before. Those who managed to see her say they were unable to resist her. Peasants frequently found strange semicircular forms in rocks, and trodden or burned grass around them. It is connected to the words air, wind and to blow, which undoubtedly indicates that fairies should be creatures of the air and skies. Every year they would have a battle which would always end in Veleses death. In some stories, Vedi are as tall as a mountain (which makes them difficult to miss). According to old tales, fairies deserved their hairy and unattractive legs because they kept bragging of their good looks, which they used to seduce boys, while they were jealous and arrogant towards pretty girls. Before leaving, he cursed the people, calling them picoki (roosters), feathered heroes who fought their battles with roosters. They speak the Croatian language, which is the official language of Croatia, and one of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Fairies play a special role here, as they have often been the main excuse for someones good or bad luck, a cover for not telling some unpleasant details from ones life. Welcome to our blog! Similar to fairies, they also resorted to building several towers, or even whole towns, such as Motovun. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. No matter how hard we try, we cannot tell our personal history, or history of a community, word by word, exactly how it happened. We are the most comprehensive English language resource dedicated to educating the world about ancient Slavs and modern Slavic nations alike. The mystery ofhills Mordele also extends to a nearby set of three hills called Picugi. On the frontier between the old life and the new one there had to be a mysterious helper able to bring together the best of both worlds. In Peroj, outside Pula, people witnessed the creation and killing of a werewolf. As lovely as fairy horse sounds, an orko is a malicious creature. One of these lesser known legends is the myth of Coprnice.. To simplify, Coprnice are witches and warlocks, but mostly not the good kind.They are thought to be old women, or men, followed by the tragedies they inflicted on themselves, by meddling with dark magic . She was so beautiful that he put off his attack, spending the night with her instead. Baba Yaga can ride through the airin an iron kettle or in a . ins.style.width = '100%'; The fortified town of urevac was under attack by the Turkish army in the 16th century. It is believed that the formation of the vampire legend is associated with Slavic animistic cults. In the caves of Slovenia and Croatia lives an animal that's a cross between Peter Pan and Gollum. But there are some really unique elements to their mythology as well. These two dogs will start to fight and he should throw a rock on the black one. Werewolfs arrival is always accompanied by strong wind on which he floats, which makes him difficult to catch. Instead, we could try to dodge an ideological interpretation through a reversed, twisted view. When Andre dismounted, he turned to thank the little donkey, but it was already gone, turned into a small dwarf with a red cap, running back towards the forest. In some places, people believed that during the summer, a mother gave birth to a fairy on a beech branch and covered her in green leaves. Out of shame, they escaped to thick woods, where they are still hiding today, ashamed of showing their legs when dancing with other girls. He can leave his human body, and travel the world as an animal spirit (it was never specifically said which animal, but nevertheless, so cool). A short guide through traditional fairy beliefs. The vampire according to the folk belief, the vampire is a dead man who rises from his grave at night to suck peoples blood, and has magical and supernatural powers. However, it was only when Slovenian researcher Marko Poganik presented his thesis on the dragons grooves energy flows which intertwine the whole Istria and whose nodes are located exactly in the Mordele and Picugi, that the hills became of a wider interest. In order to prevent dead people rising from their graves, when suspecting someone could turn into a werewolf, the people would cut their tendons behind the knee, or hammer nails into their heels. Azhdaya The Azhdaya is a version of the mythological dragon known as Zmay or Zmey. Such ill-fated features gave Orko a number of possible uses in peoples beliefs. He can control orko and ride it across the sky wherever he wants, but only until the dawn, when the magic is gone. Surprisingly, the townspeople resisted. Fairies live in various and unusual places. 1. In some tales, these creatures represented hill, forest or field demons, or souls of non-baptized, aborted, killed children, sometimes even small devils. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". window.ezoSTPixelAdd(slotId, 'adsensetype', 1); In case someone turns into a werewolf after all, the most common way of destroying them was to find their grave and hammer in a hawthorn stick into their heart. The fact they live far away from people, in nature or in caves, makes them a symbol for events that remain out of reach of a structured speech, i.e., a part of nature. He was kindhearted and happy to help the tiny humans who lived near his home. He is a god of thunder, skies, storms, and oak trees (a sacred tree in Slavic mythology). People quickly called for the priest and started unearthing the grave. So, maybe, Krsnik was some kind of a village protector. trigas lead normal lives by day, just like any other people. His wife disappeared immediately, to never show up again. In nature there are animals and organisms that feed by sucking fluids of other animals, one of which is blood, sothe term vampirism or blood suckingis used in zoology for animals such as leeches, mosquitoes and some bat species. And who were these krsniks? He is a spirit that, kind of, forms from chicken droppings that stayed uncleaned for at least seven years (I dont know). Because of his demise, the power of Croatian royalty diminished exponentially to a point where Croatia was never again an independent kingdom with its own native ruler. This is one of my favourite Croatian legends! Then he dug another river and named it Mirna, after his beloved wife. In Slavic folk stories, Perun is a supreme god (kind of like Zeus in Greek mythology). Even today, youll find them proudly declaring themselves picoki, and the rooster is their town symbol. Her main feature is that she comes to young people, usually handsome young men, while they sleep, sits on their chest, strangles them and sucks on their nipples. The people believe a werewolf possesses enormous strength, he scares people and casts spells on them, especially the relatives that got on the wrong side of him or those with whom he has a score to settle. Many people talked about encountering a mora at sea, or getting attacked by one from the sea while sleeping. What they all have in common is that they are distant from peoples world. Krsniks were the ones who kept them safe from vicious trigas, from droughts, hailstorms, illness and death. They were happy in life and marriage, their children pretty and endearing like violets. ins.id = slotId + '-asloaded'; Fairies are a favourite of Croatian mythology. Andre was first confused, but he still climbed on the donkey, which quickly brought him home.
Croatia: Vampire Country | Croatian Culture | Time Out Croatia As soon as the saw tore his skin, the vampire screamed and blood started to flow from the cut. But when they heard of an overseas war, the unfaithful Croats refused and grew angry, insisting that they would not leave their families and land behind them. Folklore Croatian mythology should be told on a cold winter's night. Drekavac (Drekavac or Screamer) is demon from Southern Slavic folklore, created from dead, unbaptized toddlers. In such condition, as people say, they cannot move or breathe until the morning and some die under moras pressure. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. I'd want specifically Croatian, but I understand that a lot of those eastern slavic countries probably share a lot of folklore. trigas are harmless until the age of 24, when that they become malicious towards people. On the other hand, malik is also responsible for a series of bad things that happen to people. Find out more about these beings from folk tales of Istria and Dalmatia, and then come to LegendFest tomeet them. These myths have been passed on through generations and millennia through stories. A krsnik is born in a white placenta, or, as some people used to call it, a white cap. Sheep farmer Andre tells that while he was herding sheep he got sick and could not walk anymore, so he sat under a tree and started calling for help. In early morning when it rains these grasses have certain formations that give birth to fairies. The nation was aware of the energy flows in the region andhave known how to channel and use these forces through megalithic structures. People said they had seen her coming veiled by night to breastfeed her children and when the children learned to walk, they wondered off to the woods where fairies took them as their own and made them elves. This is pretty obvious in the fairy tale of Snow White. Her fence is topped with human skulls. Hopefully, with these articles, we managed to shed some light around the mystery that is Slavic mythology. A Krsnik, a Witch, a Nightmare (or Incubus), a Dragon, a Fairy, a Malik, a Giant, a Vampire read what our acclaimed Croatian ethnologists have to sayabout them. As is common in folklore, there is no standard set of characteristics, or names, and spirits or magical creatures are referred to by many names, often identifying their function or the place or environment of their activity.