Sorcery and Fortune Telling

www.bosnianmagic.blogspot.
com
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SORCERY AND FORTUNE
TELLING IN BOSNIA AND
HERZEGOVINA

Bosnia-Hercegovina, like its Ottoman, Habsburg,
and Yugoslav predecessors, is a multinational
state. Today, most citizens identify themselves as
one of three Slavic groups: Bosniaks (44 percent),
Bosnian Croats (17 percent), or Bosnian Serbs
(31 percent). In addition to Slavs, smaller groups
Bosnian living in the region for centuries include
Albanians (descended from Illyrians), Germans,
Roma (Gypsies), Jews, Romanians, Turks, and
Hungarians.
Bajanje - magical whisper
The word bajanje (incantation) comes from a verb in
the Bosnian language and it means speak or relate.
The term has its origin in the Azerbaijan language
where it represents folk poetry bayati which is in fact
incantation- a type of magical poetry intended for
sickness, happiness, love, fertility, keeping evil at bay.
The skill of incantation or magical formulas is known
from the pagan times when it was used as a
replacement for today's prayers. In both instances the
magical-religious speech that was expressed poetically
was meant to serve as a contact between humans and
the supernatural in order to procure a benefit. In the
Old Testament it is written: "In the beginning, the
Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word
was God". The same principle is found in the Qur'an
where it says that the whole universe was created out
of two letters "Kaf" and "Nun" which create the word
"Kun" when combined, which means "Be!"
In Bosnia and Herzegovina there are two forms of
magical poetry; the shorter form called basma and
the longer one called bajalica (magical whisper).
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Folklore claims that the whole world (Earth) is placed
upon a basma and if one knew the content of that
magical poem, one would then rule the whole world.
It is believed that a basma is powerful as long as a
small number of people know its content (up to three)
and as soon as a fourth person finds out its content, it
loses its power. The structure of the basma has a so
called triad- repeating the basma three or even nine
times which can be justified as three times three. It is
always whispered during a particular time of the day
or night, on the moon light or next to water or fire.
Some Bosnian witches believe that the world stands
on a basma and the black earth on a prayer Ikhlas and
that's why these two elements are inseparable during
the practice of curing or making spells. Before the
witch utters a basma, she repeats the prayer Ihlas
three or five times, because the 112. chapter in the
Qur'an gives strength for uplifting the basma to a
certain spiritual level.
Love basma are especially popular, and some girls still
use them in Bosnia. It is believed that every basma
works in the course of 7-40 days. When a woman
wants to awaken love for her in a certain male, she
needs to pee on nine white beans and she needs to
throw them into the fire. As soon as the beans start
crackling in the fire she utters the love basma. After
she utters it three times she needs to take an axe and
hit the threshold of the entrance door. It is believed
that the male, on whom the spell is cast, must fall in
love with the girl, or otherwise his body will be
covered with itching and rashes. Besides that the male
will suffer from high fever and a desire to see the
woman that threw the spell.
Other basma that are popular are those against spell
bound eyes, which are based on a ritual of
extinguishing coal fire. The idea behind this ritual is
that by extinguishing the fire one is symbolically
extinguishing the negative effect of the spell bound
eyes.
Bajanje aganist the evil eye:
The evil eye sits on the treshold,
his mate under the treshold.
The evil eye has three eyes:
one eye is of water,
the second eye is of fire,
the third eye us charmed.
The water eye burst
and put out the fiery one
and took the charmed one
to the high mountains
to the broad plains.
The sea has no bridge,
nor a dog horns,
nor the palm (of the hand) hair
nor is here any spell on my -name-.
Witchcraft
n a long tradition of magic practice in Bosnia &
Herzegovina, particularly the practice of love
magic, we encounter various aspects of beliefs in
the power of spirits, planets, herbs, as well as blood,
human secretion, and so on. Alongside it all, an
influence of Slavic and oriental beliefs based on
animalism is evident, what tells us about the ancient
connection between human beings, nature and its
forces.
Only some persons used to practice magic throughout
the centuries; those who were able of establishing
contacts with the invisible entities. Sometimes, such
communication was initiated by spiritual forces
themselves and more often by human beings
performing magic rituals. In Bosnia & Herzegovina, the
most known ritual of establishing contact and alliance
with the invisible forces is sacrilege with the Koran,
in which man or woman denies their faith in God and
accept devil as their master or partner.
Such power was often desired by women aiming to be
successful in love magic practice. In order to acquire
magical power and make an alliance with the world of
demons (jinni), a girl involved in a dark ritual of
initiation must get completely undressed/nude and
step with both feet on Koran and say: Iblis, I
surrender to you my soul and I ask the following By
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such an act of sacrilege she gets in union with
demons.
The benefits of such a pact for a woman are
numerous; a girl (witch) has the power of invisibility,
or power to revenge whoever she wants to, or to cast
love spells. Various magic rituals aiming to get jinni
(spirits/demons) across prove that. One of them is
performed by a girl during the night; right before she
gets in bed, she knocks the walls saying: I knocked
the wall and 3 jinns popped out
Traditionally, every witch performs her magic right at
the sunset time, although the whole night is adequate
for all magic practices, particularly a night before
some important holiday when various fortune telling
practices are performed too. In that way, a night
before Bayram, girls get outside, take a look to the
brightest star at the sky and, being very focused,
repeat for nine times: Tell me star, who loves me, tell
me is it the one I love too? Immediately after this
they go directly to bed and if they happen to dream
about men they love that night; it is a proof that their
love is mutual.
The special attention in love magic Bosnian witches
pay to a herb called milogled (asarum europaeum) for
which they believe it possesses a power to stimulate
erotic desires in a monotonic marriage and to fire up
love in the heart of the wanted person. Milogled is
picked up in the forest in ritual way at the sunset
time, in a way that an herb is first encircled by a
golden necklace and then pulled up from the soil,
along with the root. Since this herb mainly has only
two leaves, one is coated by honey and second with
butter with magic words being chanted. After that
one leaf is placed at one side of the entrance door of
the house and second on the other side, in order to
get loved person passing between them. The moment
beloved person passes through the door; the leaves
are to be immediately glued to each other and carried
along for some period of time. If this magic is
performed for the husband then the mentioned
leaves are to be put in his pillow.
A great power to seduce the desired person,
according to believes in Bosnia, are with the amulets
made by a mullah (Islamic priest). Amulets made for
this purpose are normally kept as talismans or burned
in fire, beloved person is looked at through them or
they are to be buried underneath the beloved
persons threshold. Sometimes, amulet is burned
down and ash is to be poured in a drink or meal of a
desired person. It is believed that this is very powerful
magic. However, its effects often last for 40 days only
after what the magic is to be repeated.
In love magic, human secretions (sperm, vaginal
secretion) are often used. After sexual intercourse
woman picks the sperm of her lower by a kerchief
after what she wipes her vagina with it. Then she
washes a kerchief in a glass of water and she puts that
water in her lovers coffee or soup with magical words
being chanted.
Apart from sperm, menstrual blood is also very much
in use in the whole of Bosnia. Woman gets menstrual
blood fall on the sugar cube (normally 3 drops), and
by chanting magic words she puts it in the coffee of
the desired man. According to beliefs in Bosnia,
woman have got two sorts of blood; one is menstrual
blood that will make a desired man passionate and
obsessed with her, and second; located in the fingers
of a fist, which is used for practicing magic that will
make beloved man obey her will and dominated by
her.
Folk medicine in Bosnia
eople in Bosnia and Herzegovina always
believed that ones stomach (gastritis) can get
dislocated from its natural position, what
further on causes health problems.
Stomach in humans can be dislocated in any of the
following situations: hunger during hard work or a
heavy burden; jumping or falling from a tree or some
highness; nightmare or general stress, which is most
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common cause. It is important to say that stomach
never dislocates because of nutrition/diet.
When a humans stomach (gastritis) dislocates people
in Bosnia say: "strunuo se" or suffering from stomach
(gastritis).From the shifted gastritis patient feels
severe pain in stomach, vomiting, decreased appetite
and often being tortured by insomnia. Although the
very method of treating gastritis is not that
complicated and does not require particular
knowledge, though there are some conditions to
pursue and one of them is that the person (stravarka)
have warm hands.
The people of Bosnia believe that there are nine forms
of struna that differs in color. Blue string (plava
struna) is considered to be the easiest form of the
disease that is easily treated. Red string (crvena
struna) caused by the stress, worrying, emotional
problems; its manifested by weight loss, pallor and
nausea.
Black string (crna struna); women often suffer after
childbirth, and men from carrying heavy burden; it is
manifested by sudden weight gain, abdominal
distension, pain in the stomach and intestines.
Stravarka pays full attention to diagnosis to which
direction stomach (gastritis) dislocated, as, according
to their believes, stomach can move/dislocate all the
way up to the spine or legs. This is why the most
important part of their treatments is massage.
In order to find out whether the patient really suffers
from that disease Stravarka touches patients skin
located between thumb and forefinger. If, during such
a diagnosis attempt she senses a small ball
underneath her fingers/palms it is seen as a definite
sign of the stomach (gastritis) disorder. Then, she
starts massaging the patient up his/her arm all the
way up to his/her shoulder until she locates
stomach and bring it back to its place.
There are several more methods of bringing gastritis
back to its place using massage; stravarka puts a cup
(in up-side-down position) onto a patients belly and
massages patient from the hips to the navel. While
she practices this routine she constantly chants the
following magic words: Come Hazrat Fatima take
your feather and remove from this patient all his/her
pain, and return his/her gastritis in place! Then she,
using a scarf or bigger piece of cloth, wraps up a cup
around patients stomach and leaves the patient to lie
down in that position for half an hour or until the
patient get well.
After the treatment patient is recommended to follow
a strict regime of diet for the next seven days; to eat
only cooked food, fruits and vegetables and avoid
meet, greasy meals, canned salads, fried eggs and so
on
Bosnian divination with 41 grain of beans
he Bosniak women (fortune-teller) selects
forty-one white grain beans, and divides them
roughly into three heaps. She then takes four
at a time from each heap, until only four or less
remain in each. The remainder she also divides into
three heaps, and again takes from each by fours.
Three more heaps are thus made, so that at last
there are three rows of three piles in each. What is
left she divides by four, and sees whether the
remainder be one, two, three or four. The varying
numbers and positions of the grains of beans can be
explained by an experienced fortune-teller to the
intense satisfaction or to the disappointment of the
one who consults him.
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One of the most popular methods of fortune-telling in
Bosnia and Herzegovina is certainly divination with
beans. The origin of this technique comes from
Turkey, where there is an equivalent method called
fasulya fali or kumalak. Among the people there
are stories that demised Hazrat Fatima secretly
performed divination with beans, hiding it from her
father Muhammad. On one occasion while Hazrat
Fatima predicted the fate of her friend in the room
suddenly entered Mohammed. Hazrat Fatima in shock
and rush managed to hide under her dress only half of
the beans, which were located in front her, therefore
since then it is believed that in every divination lies
half truth and half lie. It is interesting that one
combination of divination is named after her name
Hazrat Fatima fal. It is a combination of 333, which
represents happiness, marriage and the fulfillment of
whish.
In Bosnia, a person dealing with the divination in the
beans is called faladija* or *faladinica* (falajiya or
falajinica) if it is a female person. For divination in the
beans fortune teller needs the red patch on which he
or she lines up 41 grains of white beans. Before she
starts placing the beans on the patch she takes the
beans into the right fist , places the fist close to her
mouth and recites the prayer: Rabbi yesir vela tu'asir,
rabbi temmim bil-hayr three times and then blows
into her fist three times.
Then she divides the beans into three smaller piles
and from each takes the four seeds making a figure of
three rows with nine beans pile where each individual
pile can have 1, 2, 3 or 4 seed. The left vertical line
represents a female person and the right male person.
The vertical line in the middle is called the house or
heart. In addition, females and males lines are divided
into three symbols: the head, arms, legs and the line
in the middle is divided on: the cushion, fireplace and
doors. The method of divination in the bean is
extremely broad and requires much effort and space
for an explanation, however there are several shorter
versions of divination which people mostly use to get
the answer to a specific question.
In simpler form of divination 38 grains of white beans
is used a piece of bread, one coffee grain and a metal
coin. Before deviation can begin a grain of bean is
highlighted in red paint which will represent the
person who asks the questions in the process of the
divination. Then the fortune teller takes all beans into
her hand and person who has come for the fortune
telling raises the question she would like to have
answered. After that fortune teller blows into her fist
and throws the beans on the floor. With this is the
first part of the divination is completed. After that the
analysis of the position taken by a grain marked in red
starts. If the grain fell nearer to the piece of bread it
represents a symbol of happiness - the wish will be
fulfilled, in love ones will marry, work will progress
and etc.
On the other hand if the red bean fell nearer to the
coin, that person can expect the cash gains in near
future. If the bean falls close to the grain of coffee it's
a bad sign, which represents trouble, tears, or at least
unfortunate event. This sign also represents a
negative answer to asked question.
D'ira - circle of ghosts
n the past of Bosnia and Herzegovina there was an
exorcist ritual named d'ira ; used for treating
mentally ill persons by releasing them from ghost
possession. D'ira is the Arabic word, and it means
circle. In this case, it is a magic circle which mullah
(hoda) droves with knife around himself and a child
before the ritual start.
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In his book "Zapisi i Hamajlije" from 1940yr.
Muhamed Garevi mentioned unusual manuscript
from year 1303yr.written in Arabic language, in which
the world of demons, number, places where they
dwell and ways and modes of attacking human beings,
is described. As a result of their attacks people get
following symptoms/diseases; epilepsy, partial or
complete paralysis, headache, nigh mares,
hallucinations and so on
In Bosnia, demon attack is called ograma. Hodja
with amulets through the ritual of daira treats the
patient.
D'ira represents dangerous ritual that requires a
vegetarian nutrition, great devotion, purity of the
body and spirit, and a blue-eyed medium boy or girl,
under 12 years of age. Ritual is performed in clean and
isolated room. Hodja draws circle on the floor with a
knife around himself and medium, then burn
frankincense, place a cup filled with black ink to what
the child will gaze constantly during the ritual.
Then hodja begins with chanting prayers from the
Qurans selected citations. When the child reports
seeing small figures/silhouettes of dwarfs appearing in
a long line on the surface of the ink, thats a sign of
ritual on its way in right direction. The moment when
a child sees the monarch of dwarfs; usually demon
that is dressed differently from other dwarfs, child will
let hodja know about that so that he could stand up
and show respect to the king. When the monarch of
the demons sits down, hodja sits down too. Then is
the time for conversation to begin with hodja
intending to convince the master of the demons to
order his servants to leave the body of the
victim/patient. If the ritual succeeds patient faints for
a moment and wake up well and healthy. D'ira is, as
already mentioned, very dangerous ritual that can be
performed only by spiritually strong individuals.
In some ethnological records, there are cases with no
happy ending; when some mullas hodzas obsessed by
the demon remaining paralyzed or mentally sick.
Ethnological records say that during the ritual of daira
strong winds used to blow, sometimes uprooting trees
from the ground and blowing away roofs from the
houses.
There are over 10 ways/techniques daira is
performed, as follows; using cup of coffee, palm,
mirror, water, nail, and other...
Melting the fear - salivanje strahe
travarka Aia from Sarajevo practices a form of
ethno-medicine characteristic for Middle East
and the Balkans, a method called salivanje
strahe or salivanje zrna melting the fear in Bosnia.
This method consists of ritual behaviour and a special
text known as a basma (or bosnian magic poetry),
used together with the aim of healing the patient.
Another part of the technique is the melting of lead
(or 'melting the fear'), which consists of the ritual
melting of a small piece of lead, by means of which
stravarka Aia ' sees' the cause of the illness. This
piece of lead represents the condensed illness and its
cause as well. The shape the melted metal assumes is
interpreted by the conjurer (stravarka). At the end of
the interpretation, the conjurer gives this piece of
lead to the patient and he must liberate himself from
it by throwing it ritually back over his shoulder
without turning back his head, while pronouncing a
charm.
That ritual can be performed by man or woman, but
women perform it more often, as they used to,
traditionally, care about their family's health. Women
who does that ritual in Bosnia is called stravarka or
"stravarua", and she is usually older lady who has
been passed through menopause. The illness which
stravarka Aia heals and from which the term 'melting
the fear' originates are defined in the folk speech as
straha or strava - a terror, a fear, a spell, or evil eyes.
These are different psychic crises, neurosis, states of
stress and nervousness.
Stravarka, in the process, uses a few props; metal
spoon, bowl for water, 3 or 4 pieces of lead and red
towel or scarf. Ritual follows the strict religious
pattern and therefore Stravarka, before she starts
performs abdest (muslim religious washing).
Stravarka, over the lead and bowl filled with water,
pronounces some individual Quranic prayers, with El-
Fatiha first Quranic chapter and Ikhlas 112. chapter
dominating.
When treating a frightened child, Aia first put little
pieces of led through the gun barrel and then puts
them in a spoon and melt in the fire. However, when
treating her adult patients she holds a larger or
several small pieces of lead in her hand and rotates
them 3 times clockwise round around the patients
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head saying: Euzubilahi mine ejtanir radim
bismillahir rahmanir rahim. While the lead is melting
in fire, Stravarka, over the bowl with water, quietly
speaks prayers and basma (magic words) that seek
the salvation of God and the health for a patient.
Between the prayers she repeats the following
words:"Dear Hazart Fatima, my dear mother, tell your
father Mohammed that the patient needs help day
and night" - "Draga moja hazreti Fatime, draga moja
majko, reci svom ocu Muhamedu pejgamberu da bude
u pomoi i u danu i u noi". When she pronounces all
the words and prayers due to which she normally
experiences some harmless sensations like
uncontrolled yawning or tearing eyes stravarka covers
patients head with a cloth or red scarf (patient sits on
a chair). Then, while holding the bowl of water in her
left hand over the patients head she takes a right
handed spoon with melted lead and quickly pours it
into the water. On this occasion stravarka says; lead
to break and all evil to bounce from (name of patient)
Amen!, Amen!, Amen! - "Olovo puca i sve zlo razbija
sa N Amin! Amin! Amin!" When pronouncing the
magic words she looks out into a high mountain
intending, in such a way, to positively affect the
recovery of a patient.
Namely, in BIH high landscapes such as mountains,
are considers as symbols of happiness and good
health; this is originating from the old Bosnian Sun-
worshiping Cult. During this ritual, several times
encounter the segments of those beliefs when
stravarka 3 times moves in clockwise direction;
following the path of the sun, when circling lead
around the patients head or during her prayers
chanting over the bowl of water that she, after every
prayer, rotates in clockwise circle.
After she throws dissolved lead in cold water, on
which occasion leads form various shapes, Stravarka
Aia commences analyses of the obtained shapes
what leads her to the cause of problem/disorder. If
lead forms in a shape of a needle or number of them
Stravarka is convinced that the patient was a victim of
an enormous shock of fright. Lead formed in a circle is
a sign of a direct patients contact with the spiritual
world of Jinns, on which occasion spirits harmed the
patient.
After Stravarka Aia performed the analyses of the
obtained forms of lead, she collects all the lead by the
spoon and brings it back to fire in order to re-melt it.
Then, she repeats the same ritual that has already
been described above, with a difference in lead being
melted in water this time over the patients stomach
not head. When stage two is completed the last time
Stravarka melts lead over the patients feet, what is
the final/ending stage of the ritual.
srce or heart
The sign of successful treatment is sought in the lead
itself. Namely, so-called heart (srce) appears in the
very lead (shape of tear), what is a sign of all the evil
being neutralized in the patient. The patient washes
his face 3 times with the water lead was melted in 3
times, drinks a bit of it too, washes his/her hands up
to his/her elbows and washes his/her legs up to
his/her knees. The rest of the water is spilled under
bush of rose.
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Heart or tears of lead is kept for a month time under
the patients pillow and then thrown down the river
stream.
Snijet
n the past in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the
19
th
and half of the 20
th
century among the
Bosniaks numerous strange cases of mysterious
births were mentioned where pregnant women would
give birth to strange creatures called by the people
"Snijet" (Mola hydalidora). In the medical terminology
we are talking about an abnormal product of
conception in which the offspring doesn't develop,
instead it only proliferates the placenta's embryonic
tissue into a timorous formation which is called Mole
by the medical profession. The belly of the pregnant
woman would grow, imitating a normal pregnancy.
Because the Mole is today regarded as a tumor it is
natural that such a state is considered life threatening
for the pregnant woman. Probably because of this
most of Snijet were born during the first three months
of the pregnancy.
Most ethological documents agree that the Snijet
would leave the pregnant woman during the first
three to four months of pregnancy, although some
documents that are found in the National Museum of
Bosnia and Herzegovina claim that the Snijet could be
born after nine months of pregnancy. As soon as the
pregnancy would prolong itself or get complicated in
any way, the midwife would suspect a Snijet, because
in such situations the woman would bleed much more
than usual and it would take longer for her to
recuperate. Even though it was considered a good
deed to give birth to Snijet, it was usually killed with a
broom and buried where horse manure was stored.
According to the beliefs, a woman who would give
birth to three Snijet's would immediately, after her
death, go into heaven.
Midwife's described the Snijet as a living being that
needed to be killed as soon as possible. It had red hue
and it was horrible. In the past, under the guise of
Snijet a lot of criminal activities (infanticide) were
committed, when a woman would want to get rid of
her child that she got out of wed lock.
In certain ethnological documents Snijet was often
connected to dragons. Namely, in Bosnia and
Herzegovina it was believed that dragons could make
love to a woman that was sleeping and as a result of
that children that were born had dragon origins.
Besides women, the dragons impregnated cows. In
both cases the dragon child would fly off as soon as it
was born in fear of human retribution. However, it
would return every night while the woman was
sleeping, to feed itself with the milk of its mother.
Such women would claim that their breasts were
empty in the morning which further sparked the belief
that there was a mysterious birth. According to
written testimony of such women, they claim that
their pregnancy was normal and had all the
accompanying symbols of a pregnancy, until after nine
months the woman would wake up one morning with
an empty belly and her child missing. Such a case
would automatically be considered a Snijet or worse a
dragon birth and such a case would immediately
become a taboo and people avoided talking about it.
People thought this appropriate because they didn't
want to incur the wrath of the dragons by talking
about that event.
Bosnian people describe dragons as winged snakes
that fly in the sky usually on days when rain fell during
a sunny day. Among the Bosnian people the memory
of dragons was relieved through one of its fiercest
combatants for freedom and independence of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, captain Husein Gradaevi called
Bosnian Dragon. Evidence that such beliefs are not
only connected to the glorious past is the National
soccer team which is nicknamed Dragons, because the
dragon is a symbol of power, strength and freedom.

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Bosnian love spells
hen Bosniak girl see new moon then she
whispers three times magic words:
Sarem sokli Sarajevo,
ibrishimli hirayevo,
hane bishi yaterishi,
of mine N. (name of lower) chifderishi,
anihi pyanihi you are drunk N.sichumihi.
(Sarem sokli Sarajevo, ibriimli hirajevo, hane bii
jeterii, mome N.ifderii,
pijan si N.siumihi.)
This three basme (love magic words) repeat 3 times
and blow in the direction from the person you love:
Elif elif etti
you to my meti
what I'm speaking
may you speak it too.
Ehum vehum chulli lehum
chulli salli sallellahu
kulhuvelahu.
Evretna sabretna safretna
what I'm speaking
may you speak it too.
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Amulet or Hamajlija
In Bosnia and Herzegovina there is a long tradition of
wearing amulets, which are called hamajlija
(amulet). They are shorter or longer texts from the
Quran written on a piece of paper where a picture of
a magic square is present (wafq) and at the end of the
text the name of the owner is written. Amulets were
worn for various reasons such as the protection from
sickness and as a cure but mostly because they
provide immunity to the wearer.
When someone wants to get an amulet they go to a
hodja (mullah) who uses the system of Arabic
astrology and numerology, also known as ebjad
hisab, and turns the name of that person along with
the name of his mother into their numerical
equivalents and divides it by the number 12. When he
receives the final number he then writes the
corresponding text.
Every amulet begins with the words: Bismilahir
rahmanir rahim and continues with some prayer,
usually it is the first verse of the Quran, El-Fatiha. The
constituent part of any good amulet is the magical
square or wafq whose content is made up of a
sequence of numbers, Allahs names or short
quotations from the Quran.
In Velika Kladua an amulet is written for nine days
before the appearance of the new moon. When the
whole text is completed the paper is folded into a
shape of a triangle and sown in a red fabric.
Beforehand a leaf of rue (Ruta graveoles) or a piece of
yew (Taxus bacuta) or three beans of coffee are
placed inside the amulet. In the past the amulet was
encased in metal and sown inside of a rabbits skin.It is
interesting to mention that the amulet has a
fascinating effect on the wearer. If the wearer is
under the influence of black magic, soon after he has
started wearing the amulet around his neck a harmful
sensation will befall him, for example chest pain,
nightmare, etc. That is a positive sign that evil has
been neutralized. Also this is the crucial moment
when the amulet and the wearer have bonded.
Amulets were mostly worn by children, according to
the ethnological data collected during the end of the
19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the
majority of Bosniak children wore an amulet sown on
the top of their fez, shaped like a triangle and sown
inside a red fabric, so that it can protect them from
spellbound eyes o which children are most susceptible
to. In such an amulet a standard prayer that was
written in it was a prayer from the Quran called
AliImran, using an ink made out of rose water mixed
with musk and saffron.
Amulets were also worn by pregnant women so that
they can be protected from spellbound eyes and to
prevent a possible loss of the offspring. Besides this a
red sting was tied around childrens arms or a small
shell was sown on their hats to annul every influence
of spellbound eyes. A classical amulet was often worn
in a triangular metal box which is called Mahfaza
whose shape also had a symbolical meaning. Namely,
each side of the triangle symbolized a verse from the
Quran: I am God", "There is no God but me, No
one truly knows what I am. In Bosnia and
Herzegovina since the old ages amulets connected to
war are also known, they are called Enam, named
after the same prayer in the Quran, these amulets
were worn by soldiers going to war.
Besides written amulets in Bosnia we find various
objects- amulets; a wolfs tooth was worn by feeble
and scared children, a figurine of a frog made out of
11
silver were worn by women who wanted to be
protected against gynecological issues or they wore a
silver plate on which it was written Mashalla. Out of
herbal amulets, garlic, leaf of rue or a piece of yew
were used, and from the animal amulets, thorns from
a hedgehog, a rabbits foot, a wing from a bat, etc.
Besides the need to protect himself from evil, man
also wanted to protect his animals.
For protection purposes a red fabric was tied to a tail
of a cow, a wooden spoon was used for horses, or a
small amulet was written and placed on the horns of
the animal. Besides people and animals, material
goods were also protected from evil. In the past in
Bosnia and Herzegovina a lot of attention was given to
the protection of the house from black magic and
spellbound eyes, to keep peace and happiness inside
the house. Along time ago the practice was to write
Allahs name Ya Hafiz, which means God
Protector, on the house doors, especially in Sarajevo.
The name was written in Arabic in golden letters on a
dark background.
The amulet doesnt only have the power to protect a
human or a house from black magic, its scope of
action is much larger and it can, among other things,
protect its owner from negative propaganda and
crooks. For that reason an owner would write the
following on his house: I said, and swore to Allah that
I will do X. After that he would take four pieces of
paper and write on each one of them, one name of
the four great Angels: Azrail, Jibrail, Israfil and Mikail
and he would place these papers in four corners of
the house.In Bosnia we encounter various beliefs
about amulets, and these are the most popular ones;
it is believed that an amulet can lose its protective
power if it is punctured by a sowing needle. In the
same manner the amulet has no power of protection
if its owner drinks or eats a spell in his drink or food, it
protects man only from external influences, whether
they be material or astral origin.
Sedef or Sedefil
nother plant used specifically for protection
against the evil eye was rue (Ruta graveolens)
or Sedefil. Since newborn children were
believed to be most susceptible to the evil eye, the
Bosniaks used to put a branch of rue in the baby's
clothes but and associated it with birth as well as
death (it was placed above the head of the deceased)
The most famous plant among the Bosniak people
which is by tradition connected to the sacred and the
mystic elements is rue (Ruta graveoles). The word rue
(sadef) has its origin in the Arabic language and it is
commonly called in Bosnia "sedefil", "sedefat" etc. It
is commonly believed that this plant has strong
apotropaic powers, the old Egyptians, Chinese,
Romans and Celts were aware of this fact. In Arabia,
Peganum Harmala is a plant that is credit for annulling
negative effects, especially spellbound eyes, in Bosnia
this role is performed by nacre. Its worth is perhaps
best understood by the old adage of grandparents
who say "one should cater for nacre more than its
own child."
In alternative medicine in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
nacre was mostly used for heart diseases. Tea was
usually made from this plant or a dry mixture of it
would be combined with honey and eaten as such.
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Prophylactic characteristic of nacre should be sought
in its original form, namely one leaf had five smaller
leaves which associate us to five fingers or Khamsa
(Hand of Fatima). Except the fact that the plant was
placed under children's pillows to protect them
against spellbound eyes, girls usually wore a bundle of
the plant in their hair for the exact same purpose.
Besides being able to protect one from spellbound
eyes, the plant possessed a characteristic which
enabled it to annul any and every magical or hostile
effect and therefore it was usually found in front of a
house, a bush planted near the entrance door or
perhaps from both sides to prevent evil from entering
the premises. These are the reasons why this plant
gained popularity amongst the Bosnian people who
see nacre as their national amulet.
Also the practice of using nacre is common in Bosnian
spiritual healers, especially "stravarka" (ocakli kadin).
One of them, "stravarka" by the name of Bilka, puts a
bundle of the plant on the Qur'an and a piece of led
over it to annul evil as soon as she begins the ritual.
Bilka explains the usage of this plant: nacre is a
heavenly plant which wards off any and every
evil.Nacre is successfully used to annul black magic,
this is one of many Bosnian recipes. It is necessary to
take nine flowers, nine leaves and nine branches of
nacre and place them inside a bottle which was
beforehand filled with clear spring water. After that
one must repeat the following nine prayers: El-Fatiha,
Ikhlas, Falaq, Nass and Tebetyeda. After this is
completed the bottle is closed and left closed
overnight. The following day a person which has
problems with negative energy has to first take a
bath, and then when the body is clean it needs to
wash himself with the water from the bottle taking
care that every part of the body is washed with this
water. One should not dry his body with a towel, but
wait for it to be dried by itself and after that the parts
of the plant need to be thrown out in a place where
people don't trot.
Iblis, help me!
or a woman to become a sihirbazica
(witch) and gain magical powers she needs to
take the holly Qur'an and throw it on the
ground and stomping it utter: Iblis, help me, I give
you my soul, help me in my intentions (or wishes)".
In Bosnia it is believed that after this blasphemous act
she becomes a witch: she can cast love spells, exert
revenge on her enemies, become invisible...
In the past, according to ethnological writings, young
women often became witches in order to become
attractive with the help of magic, so that men would
want them. Similarly, a woman would become a witch
in order to bring her man back, who left her or to
separate him from his beloved girlfriend, her rival.
In their practice the Bosnian witches used various
ways to cast love spells on men, and the most famous
one is the one with white beans. The ritual was
performed as follows:
At night, when no one is around, the witch would take
an axe and place it behind the entrance door along
with nine white beans on which she urinated on. Then
the witch goes to the fire place inside the house and
places the beans in the ash near the fire. She would
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13
then utter: "the beans crackle, bah bahti, the axe
behind the door and X in front of it. Die, burst until
you come to me, with Gods power and my merit,
veledalin amin".
She would then blow three times in the direction of
the man and then she would swallow her spit. The
witch stirs the beans in a circle with a metal spoon,
takes the axe and brings it and places it next to her
feet, and then she stirs the beans with the spoon one
more time and brings the axe back behind the door.
While doing this she utters:
"I am placing the axe behind the door; I am not
placing the axe but the brain and wits of X behind the
door. Die, burst until you come to me, with God's
power and my merit.Veledalin amin".
After that she repeats the following words three
times: "basmice, basmice sisters as ordained by God,
bring me X there is the dark and the cloud, I am his
shining sun and moon. Dark all around him and I am
his only light, elzalif amin".
At the end she blows down her bosom three times,
turns around and goes to bed.
It is believed that after this ritual the man who was
the target of the ritual becomes plagued by an
unexplainable longing and wish to see the woman as
soon as he can. Because of the love magic the man
cannot sleep nor concentrate on anything else. If he
resists the urge to visit the witch strange blisters
appear on his body and he suffers a high temperature
for days. When he visits the woman, and as soon as he
lays his eyes on her, all of the symptoms disappear
immediately.
Istihara
rayers of istihara are said specifically to predict
the future. People, usually women, will come to
the bula and ask if she can pray istihara on their
behalf to find out whether a certain project will
succeed, for example. Before going to sleep the bula
will pray for a dream that will reveal whatever it was
the person in question wanted to know about her
future. The bula will then interpret the dream. The
istihara is said to demand intense concentration and
be mentally very tiring; not every bula can do it. While
shari'at-oriented Islamic scholars consider much of
the divination practiced by Bosniaks in Bosnia to be
against the spirit of Islam, the bula I spoke to
emphasized that the istihara is a practice referred to
in the Qur'an.
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14
Salijevanje strahe
he same was not, however, said about salijevati
stravu or salijevati strahu which can also be
performed by less religiously educated Bosniak
women, as it requires less knowledge. The central
item in the ritual is a lump of lead which is heated and
then thrown into water, where it forms a pattern from
which the supplicant's troubles are interpreted. Apart
from the local bula there was one other woman in the
village who performed this ritual. She had learned it
from an old bula from the district, who decided to
stop performing it because of pressure from her
children who complained that it was primitive
superstition. She taught the woman from Dolina how
to perform it and gave her the lump of lead ( which
should be handed down from one bula to another). I
observed salijevati strahu on several occasions. It was
always performed at the request of women who had
either been bereaved by the death of a close relative,
or had been upset by other events in the immediate
family and were anxious and unable to sleep, though
they did not know the reason why. The casting of the
lead and the Qur'anic recitation were believed to help
define the problem and thereby relieve the anxiety.
The ritual could only be performed by devout women
who could recite Qur'an verses. The pattern formed
by the lump of lead was always interpreted as an
indication that something had upset the patient, and
suggestions were made as to what this might be and
what the patient should do. She may be advised to say
specific prayers regularly od perform other religious
duties. The lead ritual might be repeated a couple of
times over the next week or two, until she felt calmer
and less worried.
The Writing of Amulets
he most common and popular form of help
Bosniaks in the village sought in times of
personal stress (particularly when was believed
to have been caused by negative influences such as
sihir) was an amulet, popularly called zapis (note),
written by a hoda. A zapis may more rarely be
referred to as muema (the Arabic word which
describes the wrapper around the note). Then more
general term hamajlija (from the Arabic term for
amulet) is also used. A zapis is a small piece of paper
with a verse or phrase from the Qur'an written in
Arabic and carried as a charm or amulet. Worn for
protection against spells and indirectly therefore
against illness, it can also be worn as an amulet to
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T
15
secure happiness and good fortune, or to ease anxiety
and physical pain (such as headaches). Such problems
are not untypically brought on by life-cycle changes,
such a marrying and becoming a bride and new
member of a household, the birth of a child, or the
death or illness of a close family member. The paper is
wrapped into a triangle in a small piece of red cloth
which has been oiled or waxed to make it more
resistant. (The Arabic word muema means oilcloth).
The zapis is attached by a safety pin as close to the
person's body as possible, usually to the undershirt.
Only a trained hoda is considered competent to write
zapis, the few who actually do so are well known is
rural areas, especially among Bosniaks. The hodas
who write amulets must know to write Qur'an verses
in Arabic, and to able to choose verses appropriate to
each case. They are often retired religious instructors
with long experience and good psychological insight
into local life. Some hodas, however, think the
practise is not in the spirit of Islam and is immoral
(because of the money involved). The official Islamic
Association was rigorously against it and would teach
young medresa students to preach against it if posted
to rural areas.
The verses written on the zapis are chosen according
to the problem it is supposed to remedy. After the
zapis has been written and wrapped there are several
possible procedured: it may be worn immediately
without any further measures being taken, or it may
be put through various magical treatments. (It is
important that the zapis not be worn or left in unclean
places such as the lavatory if unprotected, that is, not
oiled.) The magical treatment also varies with the
nature of the problem the zapis is supposed to protect
the person from.
One of the hodas told me that fewer people asked
him to write zapis for them today than in his younger
days, since today there are more doctors around, so
fewer people come and ask us (hodas) to write zapis.
Besides, young people nowadays do not believe in
praying. Villagers and hodas alike told me that in the
late eighties fewer hodas practiced forms of faith
healing and divination such as the writing of zapis.
This was clearly related to the younger hodas' more
formalized and more shari'at-oriented Islamic training,
rendering them critical of such practices.
Nevertheless, judging from the number of case
histories I collected of people who had sought the
help of a hoda and who had had a zapis written for
them at least once, it was still a much used strategy
for coping with misfortune. However, people tended
to seek the help of one of the more prestigious sufi
hoda, in contrast to the local ones, reported an
increase in the number of people who had come to
them with health or personal problems over the last
few years.
Bosnian healers
mong the most common problems healers are
asked to remedy are chronic illness, marital
difficulties, infertility, prolonged bachelorhood,
and mental problems such as anxiety or depression. I
knew of three people, two woman and a man, who
practiced healing as described. They are usually called
by their first names and the name of their village. All
three lived in remote mountain villages. People came
from all over central Bosnia and from Sarajevo to see
them. One of the villagers' favorite stories about one
of them was that during the Olympic Winter Games in
Sarajevo (1984) this hoda had visitors from distant
countries who took the trip all the way from Sarajevo
to seek his help. The story was always told to establish
this man's importance. However, the real medresa-
educated official hodas dismissed these healers (and
diviners) as illiterate because they mixed Qur'anic
knowledge with what the official hodas considered to
be non-Islamic folk beliefs.
The second category consists of bulas who do faith
healing and divination and hodas who write amulets.
I will deal with both in turn. Female faith healers are
typically middle-aged, and are bulas of the traditional
rather than the medresa-educated kind. Generally,
female healers use fewer written sources and
concentrate on reciting Qur'anic verses, praying and
divination. They are particularly sough after for
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16
salijevati strahu (to pour/cast horror) and the praying
of istihara, traditional healing practices and
divination accompanied by Bosniak prayers and
teachings from the Qur'an.
Bewitched or nagaziti, ograjisati
ord which does not exist in any dictionary,
and my Sarajevan informants did not
understand it. They suggested it was
supposed to be nagaziti (na sihir or jinns), which
means to be bewitched, or alternatively nagrajisati,
which mean to get into trouble or fare badly. It is
believed that a person may be bewitched by what
most informants referred to as something, or more
rarely as a devilish brew, which may attach itself to
breadcrumbs, nails, blood, wood chips, or rubbish
which has been left outdoors by humans. This stuff is
believed to be used by sorcerers when making sihir.
This devilish brew containing malevolent spirits may
thus be transferred deliberately by sorcerers to
people who are thereby poisoned. Again, a person is
most vulnerable to such attacks at akam(sunset). If
going out after sunset he or she should always say
bismillah as he or she may unknowingly step over
rubbish of the type described, left by humans on the
ground where agents of the devil gather. The best
protection, however, is to wear a zapis.
W
Witchcraft in Bosnia
hanks to Bogumils who at one period of the BiH
history used to be dominant religion and, in the
same time, worshipers of Nature, the old cults
managed to survive. By their credit we can, today,
follow the leads of old days witchcraft performance,
which, after so many centuries still exist through
various beliefs and practical performance.

Witches and their religion of Nature; worshipin
God and Goddess through the Sun and the Moon,
have their deep roots in the beliefs of many nations
across the Balkans and the rest of the Europe. These
days, analysing ethnological data, as well as
traditional beliefs from Bosnia; dozens of extremely
interesting details can be disclosed showing us that
old religion of Nature managed to survive both time
and monotheism. However, in order to present data
on witches performance it is necessary to write so
many pages with so many data enclosed. Since, eve
single journey begins with a single step well
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17
hanks to Bogumils who at one period of the BiH
history used to be dominant religion and, in the
same time, worshipers of Nature, the old cults
managed to survive. By their credit we can, today,
follow the leads of old days witchcraft performance,
which, after so many centuries still exist through
Witches and their religion of Nature; worshiping of
God and Goddess through the Sun and the Moon,
have their deep roots in the beliefs of many nations
across the Balkans and the rest of the Europe. These
days, analysing ethnological data, as well as
traditional beliefs from Bosnia; dozens of extremely
interesting details can be disclosed showing us that
old religion of Nature managed to survive both time
and monotheism. However, in order to present data
on witches performance it is necessary to write so
many pages with so many data enclosed. Since, every
single journey begins with a single step well
commence the story on witchcraft along with this very
text and end it sometimes/somewhere in the future.
Time of the ritual
In Bosnia, the most powerful and the most dangerous
days are considered to be those between 30
and the 13
th
of May in which, accidentally or not, the
witches holiday Beltane (1
st
of May) happens to be. In
this very period the regeneration of Nature is at its
peak, as well as farming works. In the middle o
period there is a Hidirllez (6
th
of May) Christian
Moslem holiday of Pagan origin that is traditionally
put in the context of Nature and water which is under
the influence of the Moon. The worshiping of water as
one of the manifestation of the Goddess is well
reflected in two customs that are practised even these
days in some parts of Bosnia. This is about the
celebration of the first Tuesday that predeceases
Hidirllez Holiday called Boni Tuesday
entirely devoted to the water treatment (of the sick).
During Boni Tuesday, healing springs in the Nature are
being visited; the sick drink the water and wash their
bodies with it. The first Tuesday after the 6
called Dovni Tuesday (Dovni utorak) and on this day
prayers are to be chanted for the wellbeing of
individuals and the community as a whole. Clearly
speaking; the believers used to pray or, better to say,
thank to the ruler of the water (the Moon) for its
support, aiming to get its protection throughout the
year. Of course, by the appearance of Islam all that
referring to the old Cult had to be suppressed and
assimilated into the new religion. The Goddess had
been changed to the prayer to Allah, although it is
clear at the very first glance that those rituals have
nothing to do with the Islam.
commence the story on witchcraft along with this very
text and end it sometimes/somewhere in the future.
In Bosnia, the most powerful and the most dangerous
considered to be those between 30
th
of April
of May in which, accidentally or not, the
of May) happens to be. In
this very period the regeneration of Nature is at its
peak, as well as farming works. In the middle of this
of May) Christian-
Moslem holiday of Pagan origin that is traditionally
put in the context of Nature and water which is under
the influence of the Moon. The worshiping of water as
one of the manifestation of the Goddess is well
t are practised even these
This is about the
celebration of the first Tuesday that predeceases
Boni Tuesday (Boni utorak)
entirely devoted to the water treatment (of the sick).
ealing springs in the Nature are
being visited; the sick drink the water and wash their
bodies with it. The first Tuesday after the 6
th
of May is
(Dovni utorak) and on this day
prayers are to be chanted for the wellbeing of
s and the community as a whole. Clearly
speaking; the believers used to pray or, better to say,
thank to the ruler of the water (the Moon) for its
support, aiming to get its protection throughout the
year. Of course, by the appearance of Islam all that
erring to the old Cult had to be suppressed and
assimilated into the new religion. The Goddess had
been changed to the prayer to Allah, although it is
clear at the very first glance that those rituals have
18
Light and the darkness
Even today in the 21st century the Bosnian witches
follow the ancient guidelines in their magic
performance. The part of the day when the Sun is
setting and the night falls down between Aksham and
Jaci ( izmeu akama i jacije ) is still considered to
be the best period for the magic performance,
especially for the love magic.
Analysing in detail the information why the sunset
period is the most important period of the day to the
Bosnian witches for performance of the magic ritual,
is to be sought in the very roots of European
witchcraft history. Two of the most important
holidays Beltane and Samhain celebrates the
beginning of the shiny & dark part of the year. Both
holidays are the moments of the most celebrated
celebrations and most powerful rituals related to the
divinity of the Nature. Similar to that, the end of the
day and the beginning of the night represents the
miniature alteration of light and the darkness, Beltan
and Samhain. According to Bosnian believes ,
immediately after the sunset Jinny get the power,
they wake up and go active, what is coincided with
the belief that in the night of Beltan and Samhain the
door of the spiritual world open from which various
spirits and demons come to he world of human
beings.

The Moon Cult
lthough small number of ethnological data on
magic inheritance of Bosnia & Herzegovina can
be found today, from what such data disclose it
can be clearly found that in the past existed several
types of cults among which the Sun and the Moon
cults dominated.
Even these days, when they see a New Moon, some
Bosniak women perform the ritual in which the
influence of Islam and the old days Moon cult
interlace with each-other. While gazing to the moon, a
woman, lifts her arms to the chest level, with her
palms pointing the sky, chants 5 Qu'ran-s prayers,
after what she wipes her face with the palms. In the
continuation, a Moon Cult ritual follows; a woman
points her right forefinger to the Moon saying: The
way you Moon grove and transformso renew my
form (existence). Apart from this ritual there were
dozens of similar rituals amongst Bosniak women that
were passed from one female generation to another.
In another ritual woman prays to the New Moon for a
good health of her children, in which case she directly
alludes to the Goddess of the Moon; the protector of
fertility and children. Another interesting belief
alludes to the old times idea on divine characteristic
of the Moon, namely; it is believed that when the
New Moon is seen for the first time the formula: I
see New Moon, Mashallah! should be chanted, as in
contrary a bad magic of evil eyes can strike the
person. In traditional Bosnian beliefs small kids are
most vulnerable to the influence of the evil eyes what
leads to the idea that in the old days the New Moon
has been considered as a divine child,i.e. freshly
(re)born Goddess, which her followers need to
protect; in the faze when she has no enough strength
and power.

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The Bogomils in Bosnia
hen Christianity commenced to spread in
the East and West, in the 2nd and 3rd
centuries AD, it intermingled in the East
with the learning of Zoroaster, which reigned in the
Persian Empire as the official religion of the state. By a
mixture of both creeds, the Persian prophet Mani
(216-276) fashioned a new teaching, known after his
name as Manichaeism, and adopted the the
principal ideas of Zoroaster, as for example, the old
Aryan dualism, and rules for foodstuff. Thus when this
new creed began to spread speedily through the
Byzantine Empire, it was severely opposed by the
powers of state which caused a dispersion of the
religion and atomization into many sects. One form of
persecution of the adherents of the new religion took
the form of sending them to western confines of the
Empire to be used as cannot-fodder against
invading Bulgars, who menaced the Empire from the
6th to 10th century. But the heretics, instead of
waging war against the Bulgars, fled to them and
spread amongst them the new creed. Thus, during the
first half of the 10th century there appeared in
Bulgaria a man named Jeremija, who found a new
religion, based on Manichean teachings and old Slavic
customs. Jeremija took the name of Bogomil
meaning Dear to God; it was he who named the
new religion Bogomilism. It soon spread all over
Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia and finally reached
Bosnia. Bogomils thus came to Bosnia directly from
Bulgaria and established therein a powerful bulwark.
HAMAJLIJE AND ZAPISI
mong the Bosniaks (as everywhere else in the
Muslim world), the religious amulets are
written in Arabic characters, but sometimes
also by means of various secret writings. Most of the
time, they appeared on small pieces of paper (in
general rather white), even on rollers (from 5 to 10
cm broad,of variable length, up to 50 cm and
sometimes much more, up to three meters), or on
varied materials (various kinds of leather, stones,
sheets of trees, egg shells, etc.). They contain either
Qur'anic quotations, prayers, magic triangles or
squares, usually written with a pen made out of reed,
the kalam, but some times also with a gold or iron
pen, if not with special grass. An amulet can be made
for medical aims (fever, tooth ache, psychoses, to
facilitate childbirth, etc.), or for practical or emotional
aims (to have children, to obtain the love of someone,
or the separation from someone, to make the beloved
one returns, to know the situation of a absent person,
to know the thoughts of someone, to predict the
future...).
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Apotropaic scriptures (zapisi) also belong to this
category. These are shorter quotations from the
Koran, written on pieces of paper usually by Moslem
priests and given to members of the congregation for
protection from particular diseases. The hodzas wrote
special notes in ink: for healing, for success in
business, and to counteract evil spells. These notes,
called zapisi, were worn around the neck in a special
locket, or sewn into the inside pocket of a shirt, or
braided into the hair. Sometimes they were soaked in
water and drunk.
If the patient was not cured by the amulets,
sometimes, when the conditions could be met, one
tried another magic ritual, in particular a form of very
peculiar and spectacular magic, that of the d'ira, or
djinns convocation .
.
OTHER AMULETS
"Ruica hazreti Fatime" or "Hand of hazreti Fatima" -
(Anastatica hierochuntica) is a shrub that grows in the
deserts of northern Africa and southwestern Asia. It is
very hygroscopic and can live without water for a long
time.When a piece of the shrub is put into water, it
suddenly gets alive and spreads its twigs like the
fingers on the hand. The hand of hazreti Fatima was
used in difficult childbirth, when it was put in water,
because according the principles of imitative magic it
was believed that at the same way the mother's
womb will widen and the baby will be born more
easily.
Oman (Inula helenium L.) is the name of the plant the
root of which was used as amulet. Pieces of the root
were worn on necklaces by deserted women in order
to regain the affection of their husbands.
21
Amulet (hamajlija) from a village near Biha, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, start of the 20th century. Three
pieces of yew wood, one cowry shell (Cypraea
moneta) and two mother-of-pearl buttons sewn on a
red silk ribbon. Such amulets were onto children's
clothes in order to protect the child from the evil eye.

Zazor or Evil Eye
The evil eye is a belief that Bosniaks share with
Turks and other people of the Balkans, and the
Mediterranean, and the Middle East.
odern man, though having a higher level of
consciousness and living in a society much
more developed than his ancestors, is still
afraid of evil eyes (or urok, zazor, urokljivo
oko) more than all other diseases combined. The best
evidenced for this is a belief in the nation that more
people have died as a result of evil eyes than all
diseases combined.
Belief in the power of evil eyes was found even in
ancient Persia (Iran), the culture for which it is
assumed, based on the discovered historical sites, that
is older than 7.ooo years, where she was embodied in
the form of the female demon named Agas.
Now days, there is no nation in the world where there
is more or less expressed belief in the power of the
human negative view, whether we talk about Hindu,
Muslim, Christian or other religion. With the arrival of
Turks and Islam in Bosnia, belief in the evil eye
suddenly escalated, therefore in line with this whole
series of rituals and beliefs about the protection and
eliminating the negative effects of the evil eyes
were developed.
Evil eyes, is a reflection of the negative energies of
one's soul (psyche) triggered by uncontrolled
emotions such as jealousy or a great admiration. It is
believed that every man has this power even those
blind, because the spell is created with the help of
views and words. It is believed that the green eyes are
evil eyes, especially if that person is born under the
sign of Scorpio. This category includes persons who
cut their nails with scissors, etc.
M
22
While the evil eyes are considered primarily children's
disease, since they are most affected, also adults are
not immune to them especially the young, beautiful
and successful ones. Spells are subject to pregnant
women, patients, animals and etc. At least resistant to
the spell are children especially in the first 40 days of
their lives, therefore caring mother stick to the
various prophylactic rituals of placing amulets, garlic,
or leaf of rue (Rute graveoles) under the pillow or a
piece of wood tisovina (Taxus baccata),or around his
hands she ties the red thread on which is tied 40 knots
and etc.
For the purpose of prevention in Bosnia we usually
can hear the word universal Mashallah which is
believed to be the strongest protection from all forms
of evil eyes.
When a child cries for no apparent reason and is
restless, mother immediately suspects on the effect of
the evil eye, especially if this happens after departure
of guests from the house. In order to neutralize the
effect of the evil eye mother pours some water into
hers mouth but does not swallow the water and
stands behind the door and looks into the angle
between the door and the wall. While standing in that
position she recites the prayer Ikhlas and then
water from her mouth spills into her right hand and
throw it over her left shoulder and with her wet right
hand wipes the child's face.
Once the power of evil eye has been neutralized, she
ties around his hand red or silky thread for his
"health.
Your courteous Bosniak or Iranian will not take a
compliment without "Mashallah;" the Italians will
not receive one without "Grazio a Dio! while the
Irishman almost always says Glory be to God,
and the English peasant Lord be wi' us, the
idea in every instance being to avert the danger of
fascination by these acknowledgments of a higher
power.
Bosnian folk calendar
he Bosnian national (agricultural) calendar
spans back to the old era. The maker of the
calendar is unknown. It is known that it was
created and used by a farmer. Some dates from the
Julian calendar, which was created 45 years BCE, can
be recognised in the Bosnian calendar. After
Christianity came, some of these dates received
names of saints. With the arrival of the Slavs, pagans,
people known for agriculture, the dates had different
names, but they always remained the same. The folk
calendar was used continuously, it was used during
the time of the Bogumil's, it was also used during the
Ottoman period, and it even serves a purpose today.
Besides this, in Bosnia the Hijri calendar was also
strictly observed. It was done by the Imam's and other
religious scholars, in order to be aware of the
important religious dates (Ramadan, Bayram, New
year, etc.). The Hijri calendar was impractical when it
came to agriculture, since it moved forward ten days
every solar year, however it was practical when it
came to fasting during the month of Ramadan since it
moved through all the seasons. We need to mention
that the Hijri calendar was the official calendar in
Bosnia during the Ottoman period, until the Austro-
Hungarian period when they brought the Gregorian
calendar.
The Bosnian folk calendar begins on December 21st,
the folk belief holds that on that date, the day extends
as much as a rooster can jump from a doorstep. From
T
23
this date on comes the Zehmeriya (Turkish: Zehmeri)
the coldest part of winter that lasts for 40 days. While
Zehmeriya lasts people avoid drinking cold water in
fear of catching a cold.
January: the folk call January the longest moth in the
year. From January 17th the counting of the weeks
until Hidirlez begins (May 6th), 17 weeks total. This is
what determines the sowing.
The period from January 31st until March 20th is
called Hamsin and it represents the second part of
winter.
February- from February 14th until March 14th is
Veljaa, the folk belief is that if snow falls in the
beginning of the Veljaa that the year will be fertile,
and that wheat will have a good yield.
Djemre (Turkish: Cemreler), the meaning of this word
is "burning charcoal", it is believed that Djemre is the
sun's heat which starts to have an intense impact on
the land and it starts awakening the nature.
-The first Djemra appears on February 20th and heats
the air. That's when the Southern wind starts blowing
and it becomes milder.
-The second Djemra appears on February 27th heats
up the water and raises its level. The water in the river
doesn't freeze from this point on.
-The third Djemra appears on March 6th and heats up
the land. The snow melts fast and the first grass starts
sprouting.
(Right after the first Djemra the people have a custom
to notch the roots of the birch and put a glass bottle
so that the juices of the birch flow in it. The bottle
stays in that position until the third Djemra. The
collected juices are used for medicinal purposes,
especially kidney diseases)
March: the agricultural works begin during this
month, the potatoes, onions and salads are sown.
After the third Djemra the fruit trees are notched and
inoculated.
Grandma (Baba)- from March 15th until March 21st is
the period of the grandma, the unstable period when
a couple of weather phenomena change in one day.
Grandpa (Did,Djed)- from March 21st until March
28th is the period of the grandpa, the folk beliefs are
that it is more merciful and people start sowing
potatoes during this period.
(Did or Grandpa is a name (title) of each Bogumil
priest in Bosnia and Baba (grandma) is the name of
his wife who helped her husband and the community
by healing with herbs, assisting in births, or foretelling
fortunes. Since the Bosnian people were Bogumils
before Islam came, it is then no mystery why they
kept some of the memories of their old religion.
Among the folk there are numerous stories, mostly
comical, about Did and Baba and their adventures. By
them, we can discern that they commanded great
respect among the Bosnian people.)
Kablii- March 29th until March 31st
Stablii- April 1st until April 3rd
tapii- April 4th until April 7th
(All three names are connected to the past of Bosnia
when the winters were very long and they usually
lasted until the middle of April. During that period the
cattle used to die because of lack of food)
Muenjaci- period from April 8th until July, this is the
period when people suffered (hence the name) until
the sowing of the wheat.
April: during April the corn is sown. The old Bosniaks
would wait for the frogs to start making noise, which
would be a sign that the climate is optimal for sowing.
The people also followed other signs of the nature,
and therefore it is believed that when the beech tree
starts sprouting leaves that one can begin sowing
grain without fearing frost. During the middle of April
the grapevine was notched and a bottle was placed
underneath it for the juices to drip in it until Hidirlez.
This juice was used by women to smear on their hair
so it would be healthy and grow quicker.
May: in the first quarter of May the sowing of beans
begins.
Hidirlez or Jurjevo (May 6th)- according to the
national calendar from this day forward, the summer
begins and the swimming in lakes and ponds can
begin. In the period from May 6th until May 13th the
first swarms of bees are let loose.
June: the first seven days of June are called "bijela
nedjelja or white week" because the white
mushrooms ( Cantharellus cibarius) are picked in the
forests at that time. In the beginning of June ,
pumpkins, turnips and radishes are sown.
August: it is believed that this month gives diarrhea to
children and the elderly. To prevent this from
happening, the mothers would take some clothes of
their children and throw it under the wheel of
carriages that carry wheat bundles. In the first days of
August the onion and garlic are picked.
Aliun- August 2nd: the folk belief is that from this
day on, the summer loses its heat and slowly turns
into autumn, the water in the rivers begins to cool
down and there can be no more swimming.
September: during this month the potato is reaped,
the corn as well and the grapes start ripening. If some
strawberries sprout in September, then it is believed
that the autumn will be long and mild.
24
October: in the first and second week of October
wheat is sown.
Kasum - November 8th: from this day onward, winter
starts. On this day, all loans are settled, and leases of
land end.
Falanje
alanje or fortune telling comes from the Arabic
word fal, to bode, or tefaul which means
positive fortune telling. In Bosnia and
Herzegovina, besides a unique method that is
practiced by some Imam's, a combination of astrology,
numerology and spiritual science known amongst the
people as "opening of the starts" or yildiznama, the
three most popular divination systems are present:
fortune telling with the help of beans, coffee and
cards.
The desire to foretell the future is as old as mankind
itself. The fear of the unknown and generally, man's
need to influence fate has led to various forms of
fortunetelling which served to foretell the outcome of
some disease, to find a thief, to find out the sex of the
baby, to find out whether the year will be fruitful, to
find out if a couple will get married, etc.
According to the beliefs in Bosnia the ideal day for
fortunetelling, especially with the help of beans or
coffee, is Tuesday. This is because it is believed that
Tuesday is the day of magic when each spell has a
stronger effect and each fortunetelling is more
accurate.
To foretell the future using coffee, it is necessary to
fulfil a few simple conditions. First, the coffee cannot
be express coffee but "Bosnian coffee" so that the cup
will contain a lot of sediment. The coffee should be
drank
hot and without sugar.
When the coffee is finished, the person that wants its
future foretold, places some money under the saucer
and spins the cup three times clockwise and covers it
with the saucer. After that one places his/her index
finger from his/her right hand on the cup and in
his/her mind he/she must make a wish or think about
a specific person. The side of the cup from which the
client drank is considered to be a representation of
him, whilst the opposite side is considered to represent
a person of the opposite sex. The bottom of the cup is
a symbol of a home and all the symbols that are found
on that part signify events inside the family.
Before the fortune teller starts, he/she first checks the
situation of the entire cup. If the space around the
handle of the cup is empty and without any sediment,
it is believed that the person is unhappy in love affairs
or is in a bad financial situation.
If the bottom of the cup is filled with sediment that
signifies a period of prosperity while an empty bottom
signifies a bad financial situation, a departure or a
trip.
Bosnian fortune tellers pay specific attention to
interpretation of individual symbols and they connect
them with other symbols in their vicinity. Of course,
there are some other important symbols that every
fortune teller pays specific attention to. If there
happens to be three identical symbols inside the cup,
then that signifies great pleasure...
The following represents some interpretations that
Bosnian fortune tellers use during their fortune telling
F
25
using coffee:
Angel- joy, a wish coming true
Aeroplane- mail, news
Car- happiness
Bull- wealth, money
Old woman- sorrow, sickness
Numbers: 1- decision, 2-sickness, 3-date, 4-you must
be patient, 5-worry...
Flowers: you are in an advantageous period
Pigeon: mail, news
Lizard: change, new beginning
Piano: you will receive an important message
Umbrella- you will meet an old love partner
Wolf: tears and sorrow because of jealousy
Moon: feast, a wish will come true
Bear: sickness
Mouse: beware of a theft
Knife: an end of a relationship or marriage
Eagle: an advantageous change or move
Frog: you will be a victim of someone's scheme and
intrigue
Dots: large dots in the cup always symbolise
favourable news. Large dot on the bottom of the cup:
pregnancy in the family
Pregnant woman: monetary gain, present
Horse: a victory in court or in sports
Chicken: others are slandering you
Pyramid: trouble with a court or the law
Dog: stable relationship or marriage, loyal friend
Ring: marriage
Heron: pregnancy
Fish: worry, disease
Letters: A-new beginning or a new job, T- stress, F-
love...
Heart: the best symbol in love fortune telling. This is a
sign of love. If the heart symbol is white then it
signifies true feelings
Deer: an important conversation with your partner
Cat: a black cat is a symbol of hatred, someone
doesn't like you. A white cat warns you to be careful
with blandishment and mellifluous words
Bird: a symbol for news
Parrot: you will meet a person who speaks two
languages or is a stranger
Spider: be careful of your pride and stubbornness
Rifle or a gun: stress, anger
Dragon: you are prone to saving and keeping money
Snake: enemy, adversary in love
Rabbit: you are having problems sleeping
Squirrel: lack of confidence or bravery
Cross: argument, fight
Fox: be careful or lies and hoaxes
Glasses: you will meet a new person...
At the end of every fortune telling the client presses
his finger on the bottom of the cup and makes a wish
so that the fortune teller can see if it will come true.
The sediment that remains on the finger of a female
client is placed under her tongue so that her man says
her name often and that he thinks about her often.
Fortune telling for marriage: When a girl comes to
26
someone's house for coffee for the first time, she
needs to steal a lump of sugar in a manner that no one
notices it, and then when she goes to sleep she should
place that lump under her pillow. That night she will
have a dream about the man that she will marry.
NEVER DONT FORGET - GENOCIDE IN BOSNIA
1992-1995
Bosniaks as a people traversed the bloody path of
distress, concentration camps, shelling, hunger, they
died from bullets, grenades, torture, blows, rapes,
they were thrown in fires, drowned in rivers, buried
alive. Srebrenica represents only the pinnacle of that
path paved with blood and suffering. Srebrenica is the
horrifying truth for the entire world to see. Srebrenica
continued the tragic story of Nazi concentration
camps where the helpless gaze of the victims testifies
about the brutality that is done by the monsters and
psychopaths. Srebrenica represents all nightmares
about people without a soul and heart, about the
dratted people that kill and torture innocent people
out of sheer pleasure. Whosoever forgets Srebrenica
will become a victim of the same hangmen.
Every year on July 11
th
, Srebrenica receives new
victims of the 1995 genocide. Every year more painful
cries are heard by the mothers who lost their children,
bloody memories are evoked...The graves keep piling
up, they keep multiplying in unrevised rows. They
killed them for the simple fact that they weren't
Serbs. They killed boys, men, women, old people.
Without mercy, just because they weren't Serbs. Just
because they weren't members of the superior race,
sounds familiar?
THE TRUTH ABOUT BOSNIA
Did you know that Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only
country in the world that has two names?! The reason
for it is to stop its national unity in every possible way.
While it was a part of Yugoslavia, which was a
communist and therefore atheistic country, there
were the Muslims as a nation in BIH. Even though we
all know that religious affiliation cannot be regarded
as an affiliation towards nationality, that exact thing
happened to the Bosnians in the hegemonic
Yugoslavia in which the Serbs did their best do
degrade Bosnia and the Bosnian people. At one time
they called the Bosnians "Muslim Serbs"???? We will
understand this attitude if we comprehend the fact
that Serbia had territorial ambitions for the
neighbouring countries, especially Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The attempt of the Bosnians to
assimilate failed despite the fact that they were
forbidden to proclaim their nationality, this ended in
the biggest war crime since WWII. Bosnia happened,
Srebrenica happened.
With the attack on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia
started to openly implement its plan to annex the
territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, this was also
evident when the Serbian politicians called it "The
Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina" during
the start of the aggression in 1992. Even though the
plan failed despite the horrible suffering of the
Bosnian people, mass raping of children and
genocide, the dream of Great Serbia hasn't been
completely destroyed, it has been reshaped into
something that the Dayton agreement calls
"Republic of Serbia" or Republika Srpska. This
genocidal creation which represents a brake for any
advancement of the modern Bosnia and Herzegovina
towards the EU or NATO is one of the biggest world
political mistakes of the 20
th
century. A catastrophic
mistake which the European leaders will have to
correct if they want to have a stabile region.
During the 90's of the last decade, Europe showed is
powerlessness in the face of the Serbian Nazism as it
did in the face of the German Nazism during WWII.
The result of such passive attitude was the creation of
new concentration camps in which the Serbian Nazis
27
undertook ethnic cleansing and genocide over the
Bosnian people. Europe got a new Auschwitz-
Birkenau in Srebrenica, Viegrad, Foa,
Sarajevo...During the period of 1992 to 1995 the
Bosnians survived an attempt of total obliteration that
the war criminal Radovan Karadi announced at the
beginning of the aggression with the words: "one
nation in Bosnia will completely disappear!
(Bosniaks)".
An attempt of the European political elite to calm
their consciousness in front of the whole world is their
attempt to call the aggression of Serbia and
Montenegro on Bosnia a civil war in Bosnia?!
However the real truth is that there was never a civil
war in Bosnia, a well planned out aggression by
Serbia and Montenegro through the army force JNA
took place. That army changed its name during the
beginning of the war and it became the army of the
Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina to
conceal itself and under the pretence of protecting
the Serbian people from the unarmed Bosnian people
it committed such horrific crimes that were last seen
in the Nazi camps.

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