These creatures have reportedly been sighted in Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. 3. Habitat also determined their character, which fit the ancient mythological image of the world, in which good is in heavens, evil is underground, and the peoples world is a place of an eternal struggle between good and evil. A baby born with such a mark is told to be a krsnik, the guardian from trigas, illness and other misfortunes. The first documented use of the word vampire is for a person by the name of Arnold Paola (probably: Arnaut Paul?) The vila are mostly benevolent but can be quick to anger. The Croatian word for a giant is Div. Malik can usually be found in forests and mines. Nowadays, the collective memory of these beliefs is preserved in the ancient texts and oral traditions. window.ezoSTPixelAdd(slotId, 'stat_source_id', 44); Divovi would often help people with their housework in return for some food and shelter. Croatian Folklore Stories and Legends The Curse of King Zvonimir This Croatian myth, based on the legend about the assassination of King Zvonimir, is extremely interesting. Due to lots of similarities with the famous stone blocks from England, France, Ireland and Scotland, the Istrian megalithis called the Croatian Stonehenge, and also represents the most eastern stone circle (horseshoe) in Europe. They speak the Croatian language, which is the official language of Croatia, and one of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Croatoan (also referred to as Pamlico) were an Algonquian people who populated the islands on the outer banks of North Carolinajust south of Roanoke. Find out more about these beings from folk tales of Istria and Dalmatia, and then come to LegendFest tomeet them. So, a better heading for this part of the article would be Vedi and Divovi (plural for Div). According to Poganik, and other supporters of this idea, the people who settled in Mordele and Picugi during the Bronze Age wereresponsible for the construction of other megaliths in Europe. She sacrificed her chastity, and when he fell asleep, she slipped out. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Baba Yaga can ride through the airin an iron kettle or in a . trigas are harmless until the age of 24, when that they become malicious towards people. Often benevolent and kind-hearted, giants can also be cruel, stealing humans they come across and keeping them captive. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The rooster who crows with the break of down does not only represent the morning, a new day. Werewolfs arrival is always accompanied by strong wind on which he floats, which makes him difficult to catch. In these places a man can be recharged with good energy, food spoils more slowly, and some are deepening their inner senses so they can see and communicate with the spirits. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. It is said that our folk would give up on a belief in any creature, but never fairies. Over night it tears down buildings under construction, runs and dances around houses and doesnt let people sleep. Ban Dragonja was ploughing a third river in the most difficult part of the terrain, near the city walls. Croatia has some wonderfully unique legends from mythological pre-history times to as recent as the 16th century. Most often depicted as a giant with one eye, the cyclops (which means 'circle-eyed') first appeared in ancient Greek mythology. Encouraged by such a discovery some peopleeven todayon Picugi arrange small pieces of stones in a spiral form according to the Fibonacci sequence a matrix that is woven into the whole natural world. The people believed that krsniks had the power to heal people and domestic animals cursed by trigas and other demons. ( Dieter Holstein / Adobe Stock) The Legendary Kraken . A krsnik is born in a white placenta, or, as some people used to call it, a white cap. This is where Malik comes in. Among them are the bones of Brachiosaurus, one of the largest dinosaurs and land animals alike. We cant imagine a better way to learn about it than through traveling so thats what were doing. Different religious and mythological philosophies of newcomers merged with those of the indigenous people. 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 Croatian people is a South Slavic ethnic group with a long history, whose roots can be dated back to the 7th Century. 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. At the site of the megaliths allegedly sacrifices were offered and priests conducted magicand prophesied the future. The Plitvice Lakes National Park is probably the most famous national park in Croatia. This is one of my favourite Croatian legends! Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. He took pity, and rushed back to help them. Zmey The Lamya's mortal enemy, the Zmey is a dragon which in Bulgarian myths is mostly considered to be a creature that helps people, rather than being a menace to them. Some people also say that trigas have the power of leaving their bodies during sleep. People in Croatia also used to believe it is very hard to see a fairy at all, because they are invisible, and can be seen only by those with a pure heart and without a sin. Antique Croatian folk costume, hand embroidered traditional Slavic costume from Transylvania , ethnic antique peasant attire ,size L-XL 5 out of 5 stars (211) $ 413.21. Mostly evil. Nevertheless, God left them with their beauty and wisdom, so they kept living in woods, giving birth to their offspring. This means that some myths and mythical creatures are Slavic, while others are found only in certain Croatian communities. The people say that orco is a kind of a spirit cursed by God, which appears as a fairy horse and can be transformed into other animals as well, such as a dog, kid, mouse, and sheep. He wondered what became of them, so he went to Earth to see how they were doing. Their spirit leaves through their mouth in the form of a black fly and goes far away, where it can turn into some other animal and harm people. Such a method of killing a werewolf was usually done by priests at dawn or in daylight, when it is believed werewolves return to their graves to sleep. When working on building towns, they would throw hammers from one hill to another. The village has changed, the country has changed, and most of all, the relation towards fairies has changed, so stories and dreams about them became less and less frequent. Every year they would have a battle which would always end in Veleses death. One of the peasants then charged at her with a hawthorn stick and she started to shriek and fight. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Perhaps most strikingly though, these fairies have animal legs hiding beneath their white dresses. The belief in werewolves, or people coming back from the dead to do evil, is very widespread inour lands, including Istria. Interested in more myth content? If youve liked this article and would like to read more about Slavic mythological creatures, be sure to check out this one about a Slavic woodland fairy. Eventually, the last bit of food that remained in urevac was a skinny little rooster. Perhaps the most widespread belief is that fairies steal the best, mostly white, horses from stables and ride them all through the night. Fairies were one of such creatures. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". At the same time this was a punishment for the ruined village, which had allowed a girl to die ungracefully and turn into a fairy. A short guide through traditional fairy beliefs. They are considered to be mainly water creatures. This is one of Croatias most famous legends, and one thats cause for celebration every year, the annual Picokijada. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. This is pretty obvious in the fairy tale of Snow White. Apartfrom putting Istria on the world paleontological map, dinosaurs are probably responsible for the existence of legends about dragons. People used to say that God felt pity after having banished Adam and Eve from Paradise. They were originally from Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. He would punish people who break oaths and would bring diseases to their doorstep. In such cases, people believed that fairies left their hoof trails in rocks and trod the surrounded grass during their fairy dances. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. In Europe the myth of vampires is the most widespread among the Slavic people and their close neighbors (Albania, Greece, Lithuania). Like many other Slavic nations, Croatia developed its myths and legends that in some ways diverged from the overall Slavic mythology. In some tales, these creatures represented hill, forest or field demons, or souls of non-baptized, aborted, killed children, sometimes even small devils. In the period between ancient times and the Middle Ages, a number of variants of beliefs in various supernatural beings were created. But her family would not have it, and her father said he would turn them both to stone before he allowed her to leave. We have all heard about magical horses (right?). No matter how hard we try, we cannot tell our personal history, or history of a community, word by word, exactly how it happened. Youve got Pegasus, from Greek legends, youve got Unicorns, and so on. The young man asked her what he could do to make her dance with him, and she told him to give back her wings. This peasant was known all over the country as a good man. Although he is seemingly friendly and prone to joking with an occasional traveler, arent all of us today a little like aimless riders on Orkos back? After that night, a young woman came to his door and asked to borrow a kilo of salt. In the old tales he had already been known not only as helper, but also the one who knows where the buried treasure lies (a very frequent motif in the legends of Istria). These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. One of the peasants quickly raised his pick to hit her, but she only laughed tauntingly. While the country naturally has dozens, if not hundreds, of legends and folktales, Ive put together five of their most famous tales.
