Anna Plotnikova

Traditional Folk Culture of the Bosnian Muslims in the Twenty-First Century

Anna Plotnikova - Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, annaplotn@mail.ru

The article is devoted to the specific folk tradition of the Slavic Muslims of Bosnia ("bosnjak's"), which is only partially exposed to the transformative influence of particular religious affiliations. The eth-nolinguistic fieldwork revealed that up to now the Muslims of Central Bosnia (Belashnica, Treskavitza, the region of Visoko) preserve the most archaic cultural texts, typical for the Southern Slavs in many local variants, regardless of their confessional belonging. The article also describes some forms of religious syncretism and interweaving between various archaic ritual and folklore motives in the folk tradition, which have resulted from the influence of both Christianity and Islam.

Keywords: ethnolinguistics, cultural tradition, religious syncretism, archaic contexts, folklore motives, family rites, the Day of St. George, folk mythology.

The author's work was carried out within the framework of the Program of Fundamental Research of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Traditions and Innovations in History and Culture" (project "East and West in the traditional spiritual culture of Muslim Slavs in the Balkans").

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This article is related to the ongoing ethno-linguistic research of traditional folk spiritual culture of the Slavs for several decades. In the 70s - 80s of the XX century, N. I. Tolstoy and his colleagues at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences founded an ethnolinguistic direction in the field of complex study of the phenomena of language and traditional folk spiritual culture, later called the Moscow ethnolinguistic school1.Within the framework of this school, dozens of expeditions to the Balkans, including to the southern Slavs: Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, and Croatia, were conducted starting in the 199's. We studied the cultural traditions of Christian peoples, usually Orthodox (the area called Slavia Orthodoxa by scientists). The traditional folk culture of Bosnian Muslims has long remained on the periphery of scientific interests of scientists engaged in an ethnolinguistic survey of South Slavic regions. For the first time, the situation changed in 2011 with the beginning of a field survey of Muslims in the vicinity of Sarajevo (Belashnica and Treskavica mountain ranges), which was conducted on the basis of a questionnaire created for the ethnolinguistic study of the Balkan-Slavic area2. In May-June 2012, a second expedition to central Bosnia was undertaken, during which, in addition to fieldwork in the vicinity of Sarajevo, interviews were conducted with residents of villages from the vicinities of Visoko (Poriecani, Podvine, Gine) using the same questionnaire.

It should be noted that in the former Yugoslavia itself, according to ethnographic literature, field studies of Bosnian Muslims, along with the study of Orthodox and Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina, were actively developing. For example, the outstanding Serbian ethnographer Milenko Filipovic, as a rule, studied and described the customs of Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims separately within each sphere of folk culture under study (calendar holidays, family rituals, etc.)3. Thin

1. See Tolstaya S. M. Moscow School of Ethnolinguistics//Opera Slavica. Slavisticke rozhledy. [Brno], 2002. Roc. XII. N2. S. 1 - 9.

2. Plotnikova A. A. Materials for ethnolinguistic study of the Balkan-Slavic area, Moscow: Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2009.

3. See, in particular, his monograph on the life and customs of the people in the vicinity of the town of Visoko-Visochka Haxuja. Filipovih. Belly and obichaji narodni u Visochkoj Nahiji //Српски етнографски зборник. Beograd: SANU, 1949-Kn-61.

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The researcher's observations are still of great value for comparative works in the field of traditional folk culture of peoples of all faiths, as well as in the field of folk ideas related to Christian-Muslim cultural contacts. Currently, there are no such comprehensive descriptions; as a rule, "Bosniaks" (Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina) describe their own customs, while Serbs of the Serbian Krajina study, respectively, Orthodox customs, and Croats-Catholics - their own tradition. In this respect, the field ethnolinguistic study of central Bosnia (the Belašnica mountain range and Visoko region) is quite rare in the scientific community, since it was conducted against a common South Slavic background, from the point of view of various phenomena inherent in all South Slavic traditions - from the Black Sea to the Alps (the territory of Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian dialects).4. All the more interesting was the peculiar discovery of the Muslim folk tradition, in which archaic beliefs peculiar to various South Slavic regions get along with the Islamic confessional belonging of the inhabitants-"Bosniaks".

According to historical evidence, Muslims living in Bosnia and Herzegovina are South Slavs (Serbs and Croats) who converted to Islam during the Turkish yoke in the Balkans.5 Turkish rule in the Balkans has left its mark on all regions of the eastern part of Southern Slavia6, which is reflected in various aspects of people's lives, including at the cultural and everyday level, for example, in the family life of Serbs south of the Danube in Serbia.

In this article, I would like to focus on stories from the sphere of folk mythology, as well as on the family and calendar traditions of the Muslims themselves from the villages of Bosnia,

4. See my monograph (Plotnikova A. A. Ethnolinguistic geography of Southern Slavia, Moscow: Indrik, 2004), based largely on my field research in various South Slavic regions, regardless of the religion of the inhabitants of a particular region, although it is the Muslims of Bosnia who have come to the author's attention to a lesser extent.

5. For more information, see, for example: Vyazemskaya E. K. (with the participation of Karasev A.V.) Confessiya i natsionalnost ' v istoricheskom razvitii Bosni i Hercegovina [Confession and nationality in the historical development of Bosnia and Herzegovina].-

6. See Gilferding A. F. Bosnia, Herzegovina and Old Serbia//Collected Works of A. Hilferding, vol. 3-St. Petersburg, 1873-

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about how "it was before" and how "now"has become. Oral legends and legends of antiquity, as a rule, are saturated with traditional folklore motifs, sayings, verbal cliches, specific dialect vocabulary of traditional folk culture, which invariably conveys the atmosphere of life in a rural environment. There are also specific sentences-spells pronounced in order to have a beneficial effect on certain events in a person's life. The distant past also makes itself felt in the beliefs that still persist about mythical characters who supposedly" long ago " lived in the forests on the mountain slopes and did not give a peaceful existence to a person in the surrounding world. Much of what happened before is preserved in the memory of Bosnian Muslims, passed down from old residents to young ones in their stories. Globalization, advanced technologies, new trends in agriculture, construction, trade, etc., certainly lead to some changes in the minds of rural residents, especially the younger generation. At the same time, archaic features are preserved in all areas of family and calendar traditions.

Located in a small hollow surrounded by rocky spurs (Belashnica - Bjelasnica mountain range), the village of Umoljani is remote from the city and other villages (the nearest high-altitude village of Lukomir is a four-hour walk through the mountains). In the village there is an etiological legend about a dragon dangerous for people, the image of which is supposedly captured on one of the rocks high in the mountains: indeed, the rocks on the side wall of the rock were formed in such a way that you can see the image of a huge snake with an open mouth. It is for this reason that the village is well known in the district - in other villages of Belashnitsa, for example, in Lukomir and Lukavac, where residents retell the legend of the dragon, which is also associated with the name of the village. According to the most common version of the legend, the dragon (azdaha) walked along the canyon of the neighboring Rakitnitsa River, then got out of the rocks and began to meander, making a path in the mountains, which formed the Cold stream (Student potok). The water in the stream flows in a zigzag pattern (cik-cak) all the time, which is explained by the curves of the dragon's body as it makes its way up. At this time, the people gathered on the mountain celebrated Bayram ("or some other holiday"-teferic), danced - performed a circular dance (kolo kolalo). And the dragon, as the legend says, went to the people to devour people. Someone (according to one version - hodza) informed people about its appearance,

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so they prayed to avoid danger, and as a result, the dragon was petrified, because the people's pleas were heard, and only the memory of this miracle on the rock remained. The inhabitants prayed very diligently (molili se), so the village is called Umoljani (or Moli).

In all the villages surveyed around Sarajevo, Muslims especially stand out in stories about mythological creatures known throughout the territory of the Serbian-Croatian dialects as viles7. Beautiful girls, "one more beautiful than the other", with long hair, loose or braided, allegedly danced in a circle (kolo ko-lale) in forest clearings near springs. At the same time, it is believed that each fork had its own stream or rivulet. According to one of the legends, people accidentally learned from the pitchfork how many natural springs are located on the neighboring Treskavica Mountain: tired hunters went to bed in the forest, turning their legs to each other, while the surprised pitchfork, having stumbled upon this "miracle", exclaimed: "I swear by 363 springs, I have never seen one body with two heads!"(Dachshund-mi 363 vrela, nisam nikad vi-djela dvije glave ajedan trup!) Allegedly, the third hunter overheard the words of pitchfork, and people found out how many springs there are on Treskavitsa. A special feature of the Islamic stories about pitchforks can be considered the fact that, according to the beliefs of residents, not everyone could see them, only good and faithful Muslims(ro islamu) possessed the ability to see or hear these supernatural beings. In other South Slavic (Orthodox and Catholic) regions, there is a belief that not everyone can see the pitchfork, but this is usually not associated with the traveler's religion.

There are also common ideas for many South Slavic regions about the traces that the pitchfork left after its dance (vilsko kolo) - circles of grass, somehow modified, and in these places-blue. It is also believed that a person who saw a pitchfork dance would not have been able to survive - they would have "devoured" or killed him. It is obvious that the traditional ambivalence of the image of the pitchfork persists in the beliefs of Bosnian Muslims: on the one hand, according to the interlocutors, beautiful pitchforks do only good, help people, on the other

7. For more information, see: Plotnikova A. A. Etnolinguisticheskaya geografiya Yuzhnoi Slavii [Ethnolinguistic geography of Southern Slavia], Moscow: Indrik, 2004, pp. 614-621.

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(especially if they cause any damage) - they can take revenge on the person. In connection with this belief, stories about the collision of a person with a pitchfork stand out in particular. So, a certain man, a neighbor of the informant in the village of Umolyani, was returning home from a neighboring village, which is located lower in the mountains. At the same time, "he did something that you can't do in any way - go at night or in the evening" (according to the narrator herself, she never does this, because the ban "sits in her head"). And then the pitchfork "found him" and attacked him: as if the wind knocked him over, they flew, and he fell (kao vjetar nosi, naletele, on je pao). After that, he was ill for a long time and told how he heard the rattle and rattle of chains in the wind (land, kaze, kucaju land; zvukovi, ko da land, tutnjave). Since then, he was very scared and never went out at night. This story, in addition to the motive of punishment for violating the ban, also actualizes the archaic idea known in the eastern part of Southern Slavia and Herzegovina about the movement of pitchforks in the wind or together with the wind.8
Another story is related to causing damage to the pitchfork itself and the need for subsequent punishment. According to one version, the boy, while playing, threw a pebble into the abyss between the mountains (the interlocutors point to a certain place near the village of Umolani - Mount Slevacu), a fork appeared and said that he was in the cradle with her child, so he must pray to God that he was wearing a talisman, otherwise he would be in trouble: "Pray to God that your mother has girded you with a green belt, because below you threw a stone and hit my baby in the cradle "(Moli - kad ti je majka opasa zelenijim pasom, a dolje kad se bado, kaze, udario si mi dijete y besiki). According to another narrator from the same village of Umolani, it was not a boy, but a twenty - year-old boy who had previously girded himself with a green wool belt, as boys and young men used to wear-10 meters long, and tried to hit the fork to kill it, because he did not know what kind of creature it was. Vila told him: "I would have devoured you if it wasn't for the green belt! Thank God... you were lucky, the green belt saved you! "(Tebe sadprozdrla, da nije tebi tog zelenog pasa!Hvala Води... blago tebi, spasio te zeleni pas!). In the ideas of various peoples, there is a strict prescription to gird the baby.

8. Plotnikova A. A. Etnolinguisticheskaya geografiya Yuzhnoi Slavii [Ethnolinguistic geography of Southern Slavia]. Moscow: Indrik, 2004, p. 718.

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In Slavic archaic representations, the belt was an important component in the number of objects-amulets 9.

Bosnian Muslims used to make a special belt out of yarn of different colors (S. Gine) so that no one would jinx the child and no one could cause any other damage to it (put something on it, etc.). Moreover, they believed that the belt should consist of an odd number of colors (three, five, seven), at least three-green, red, and blue or white: "it must be green and red," they say. And some third one in addition" (Obavezno, kaze, da bude zelena i crvena. I sad ona kakva treca doc). It is interesting that in this case, even the combination of "mandatory" colors reflects the Muslim religious affiliation of the inhabitants (green) and the archaic color of the amulet, characteristic of all Slavs (red). At the same time, the words of the Muslim prayer from the Koran written on a piece of paper were inserted into the woven amulet belt, which was always read "from the evil eye" if the child cried a lot. According to informants, there is always a woman in the village who can read the words of the Muslim prayer (zna oducit); the priest could do the same (hodza); such a prayer was called urocna dova. A note with the words was folded in a triangle as a talisman, tied in a red cloth and then stuck in the belt (Pise na papirce, smota se, na trokut, na hamajliju i zaveze se y crvenu krpicu i onda se stavi na pasic). If the child wore a note with the words of prayer in his belt, it was considered that he was doubly protected: "and then after that no one's "evil eyes" can harm him, no one can jinx him, no one - nothing. That's how it used to be! " (/ to onda da mu ne mogu nicije oci naskodit, nikoga urec, niko nista. Eto, tako je prije bilo!).

According to beliefs from the same village of Gine (near the town of Visoko north of Sarajevo), those around the pitchfork could replace the newborn with their child. This is a typical Western belief, but very rare for the southern Slavs, in a changeling (pitchfork child who cries a lot and gets sick) Bosnian Muslims were also found to have a small child in a cradle in the village of Gine, protected by mothers so that it would not be stolen and replaced with its own weak child by Vila.

9. For more information, see: Levkievskaya E. E. The belt / / Slavic antiquities. Ethnolinguistic dictionary/Under the general editorship of N. I. Tolstoy, Moscow, 2009, vol. 4, pp. 230-232; Plotnikov A. A. The Belt//Slavic mythology. Moscow: EllisLak Publ., 1995, pp. 321-322.

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The fact that such a belief was recorded specifically among Muslims in the center of Bosnia confirms the exceptional preservation of archaic ideas in this ethno-confessional environment against the background of the tradition of Orthodox and Catholics, who may have lost such ideas long ago. Of course, to avoid "substitution" of the child, he was not taken out of the house for 40 days and was not left alone, and also protected with a belt and a Muslim rosary tied to the belt, if the mother was forced to leave the house with the baby, as in all other South Slavic regions, regardless of the religious affiliation of the inhabitants (Catholics, Orthodox), here it was also forbidden not only to go out with the child in the yard at dusk, but also to dry baby diapers: for the sake of the baby's health, it is impossible to allow "darkness to fall on children's clothes" (ne sme mrak past na bebinu robu).

The woman in labor herself, before the expiration of forty days after giving birth, in order to avoid any unrighteous actions of evil forces, also did not have to leave the house without objects-amulets. She was instructed to take something iron with her: a key or nail, or "something"10. In addition, during the first forty days of sleep, the mother, lying next to the newborn, left a Muslim rosary (tes-pih) or a key or scissors "for 40 days" under her pillow next to the child, making sure that no one touched it (da se to ne mice od deteta).. In the village of Podvina, a mother who goes out with her child for the first time takes with her not only any iron objects (usually a key or nail), rosaries, but also when crossing running water (a river stream). be sure to throw bread or bread crumbs into the water (supposedly to fish, but without this "sacrifice" to natural forces, she has no right to leave the house with a child).

As in all other South Slavic regions, immediately after the birth of a woman in labor, women came to visit, and a few days later a women's holiday was organized on the occasion of the birth of a child, called babine11. When visiting a child, women behaved in such a way that involuntarily

10. About apotropaic properties of metals is known to all Slavs, see Levkievskaya E. E. Metals / / Slavic antiquities. Ethnolinguistic dictionary/Under the general editorship of N. I. Tolstoy, Moscow, 2004, vol. 3, pp. 245-248. 11.

11. Compare the wide spread of the term and custom on the territory of the Southern Slavs (Plotnikova A. A. Ethnolinguistic geography of Southern Slavia, Moscow: Indrik, 2004).

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do not jinx the baby with admiration or emotion; at any words of this kind, each of the guests said: "Masala!". It is believed to this day that nothing can harm a newborn if this magic word is said (I kad kazes "masala", onda nista mu ne skodi!). Moreover, it was believed that the first time you see young animals, offspring from livestock or pets, etc., you should repeat this word. In A. Shkalich's dictionary of Turkisms in the Serbo-Croatian language, masalah (as is known, the final h in the Serbo-Croatian dialects is often lost) is indicated in two meanings:: l) expression of admiration, joy at the sight of a guest (here the author also explains that, according to popular belief, you should say this word so as not to jinx it when you see something beautiful, especially if it is a bride at a wedding, a beautiful pet, etc.); 2) a Muslim amulet against the evil eye, which they are attached to children's hats or other clothing so that they are not jinxed 12. According to my interlocutors, gold jewelry is used as a masala amulet on a child's headdress (Ima masala i na kapicu-zlato se uzme). In Podvin and the surrounding villages, "mashala" is a small coin, an old dukat, which is given to a child by his mother as a talisman for life, and while a small one wears this coin on a cap. In these villages, women who have come to their homelands (babine) also put a coin on the child's forehead to protect him from evil forces.

During ethnolinguistic expeditions in central Bosnia, you could also hear stories about another mythological character-the so-called mora (toga), which attacks mainly infants, sucking out their life force (variant: blood), which causes the child's chest to swell and he becomes very weak. In Muslim villages, they said about such a child:" Mora sucks him! " (Doji da toga!). One of the interviewees said that they put something silver, yew wood (tiso-vina) and garlic in the baby's cradle, because a certain mora knew how to suck it out (jer je znala nekakva mora dojt i doit yes). Garlic was smeared on the child's chest, and the remains were placed under the head. The narrator herself said: "I also did this for both children, because I heard from my mother how to do it. I wove a green belt with my own hands,

12. Skaljic, A. (1979) "Turcizmi u srpskohrvatskom jeziku" [Turkish loanwords in the Serbo-Croatian language], p.448. Sarajevo: Svijetlost.

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when my son was born. I sewed a piece of yew wood in one end and silver in the other. I tied garlic in a bag and put it under my head. Because this pestilence will smell a pungent smell and won't come." When asked if Mora is a woman, the Bosnian woman said that she does not know this, only that she" comes and flies to the newborn " (mora dolazi i ona led na dijete), because the baby body is the sweetest thing in the world, has a special smell, it is a bird of paradise (rajska pticica). Mothers in Umoljany and other villages in central Bosnia also often referred to such a child as "being suffocated by a pestilence" (dusi mi ga mora). In the village of Gina, to protect the baby from the arrival of the pestilence, prickly branches of wild rose were stuck in the windows, some hammered a knife into the threshold of the house at the entrance. In the village of Podvin, a strip of dried goat skin is tied as a belt to protect a mora child from being attacked, and a cross made of red and white threads is embroidered on the breast of the newborn's undershirt, which, according to the interlocutors, should drive away the mora. In addition, garlic (bijeli luk), a magical herb called "defender of the house", was placed in diapers(cuvarkuca), and in the house itself they plugged all possible holes through which this supposedly demonic creature could get inside (da ne ulazila mora).

The main function of the mythological character, called mora / zmora and known to both southern and Western Slavs , is to strangle, crush a person, mainly an unmarried man (among the Western Slavs), while toga is presented as an unmarried girl who acquires these abilities, often regardless of her desire. 13 It is curious that the toga is not a single person, but rather a single person. This image of the mythological character in question is reflected in the folklore stories of Bosnian Muslims. It is said that the following incident once occurred in Umolyany. Once in the autumn they were threshing grain. The men, as usual, were sleeping on straw in the cowsheds, keeping an eye on the grain as well, so that it wouldn't get wet in the rain. And a young man named Hassan (who is said to have been strong, stately, and good-looking) once complained, " I'm being sucked by a pestilence! My breasts are growing " (Meni doji mora! Meni nesto prsa rastu). So I decided to go to Hoxha for help. It should be particularly noted here that hodza, a Muslim cleric, is among Bosnian Muslims

13. For more information, see: Levkievskaya E. E. Zmora / / Slavic antiquities. Ethnolinguistic dictionary/Under the general editorship of N. I. Tolstoy, Moscow, 1999, vol. 2, pp. 341-344-

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he appears as a healer, healer, and expert in various magical ways of getting rid of adversity of any kind, but in some cases also as a person who uses his knowledge to the detriment of people, that is, he acts as a local sorcerer. So, one of our interlocutors in the village of Poriecani (near the town of Visoko) was called hodza in the district because he knew how to pick herbs for various diseases, helped people with advice and knew the plot from mora. Khoja, who was addressed by the young man from Begging, told the victim not to be afraid of anything in the evening, but to lie down on his back, lean against a beam so that he could see the entrance to the cowshed, and make sure that he did not fall asleep, so that he kept watch for anyone who came to him. The man obeyed him, did everything as he was told by Khoja. I lay there for an hour and heard an old lady outside shouting to someone to give the cattle food. When suddenly a girl appeared in the doorway, entering through the keyhole, all dressed up, in jewelry, silver and gold, and bells. The girl, beautiful as a pitchfork, began to suck it out (whitefish, ko vila, i pocne me dojit). Then he gripped it firmly in front of him with both hands, doing exactly as Hoxha had told him. He grabbed her, and she couldn't get away - she was caught. And he recognized her immediately-a neighbor! I came to destroy it. She tells him so: "Hassan, I beg you, do not betray me to anyone, I implore God, do not betray me, I will give you everything I have! I'll give you a dowry!" Dowry, or wedding gifts of the bride (boscaluk), is shirts, trousers, hats, everything. So this man, strong and diligent in his work, died in old age, and never told anyone who this girl was. He said to her then: "I won't betray you, but you don't ever dare to do this to anyone again, so that it won't happen again!". She answered: "I won't, and I can't do it anymore, because you saw me and recognized me, so I can't do it anymore."

According to the interviewees, witches, elderly women who set out to do evil with cattle, were treated differently when caught. They were called si (h) irbasice (sihir "evil"), less often-vjestice, and also sought to ambush, catch, recognize and punish. Such women could supposedly transform themselves into any animal or object, and they could also crawl through a keyhole: they would only shake themselves and take on the appearance of a woman again (g samo se strese i izadje van, strese se-onaje zena). The witches ' activity occurred on St. George's Day, called Jurjev(o) by Bosnian Muslims, on the eve of the end of the year.

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which performed various magical actions to protect the house, people, and livestock from the witch. They collected and plugged up the grass called vratic (from vratiti, "to return, to return"); three times they went around the barn and house, sprinkling grain or flax seed around with the words of prayer (option: with the words of a plot so that the witch "could not do anything to me, nor to my children, nor to my cattle"). In addition, they went to Khoja to make a "note" (amulet) under Jurjev day for livestock health (ra hajde da pravi zapis hodza na Jurjev da bude ajvan zdrav). A cloth with a note was tied to the cow's horn, saying in rhyme: "Nothing will happen/harm the cattle during the year "(moze hajvanu za godinu danal). Hoxha also used to incense water on the eve of this day and gave several bottles with different notes inside: for sheep, for cows, for people (Ovo tije za ovcu, ovo tije za kravu. Ovo tije na kusu). Early in the morning on St. George's Day, it was necessary to sprinkle water from the appropriate bottle on family members, livestock (especially horns and ears).

On the eve of St. George's Day, the owners of the cattle were on duty to catch the witch. So, the uncle of one of the narrators complained that something was always happening to his cow - no matter what cow he bought, it would either die, or get sick, or become barren... He changed the cows, changed them, and then he says: "That's it, I'm going to see Khoja!" Khoja, who, of course, knew what was going on, said to him: "When it is Yuryev, guard on Yuryev, hide in front of the cow, someone will come who destroys your goods." And, he says, I was hiding in a manger, when suddenly a woman appears in the doorway, and the doors are closed! But she still comes in, naked as hell! And she says she started doing something near the cow, and I jumped out and jumped on her, but you can't grab her - she looks like she's smeared with fat. Wherever you grab it, it slips, and your hands get sticky. But she had braids. And he twisted her braids around her arm and beat her hard. The next day the news is spread through the village: Zineta's arm is broken. I went out at night and broke my arm. And it was he who broke her arm. And she hadn't done it since, couldn't, and didn't dare. But then she also implored him:"Don't tell anyone about me." But he did, he didn't want to cover it up, he wanted to tell everyone about it. And she was his next-door neighbor. It happened a long time ago, and she was definitely at least 6 years old at that time. According to other stories, the owner who was hiding in the pen, whose sheep and lambs were dying, saw a black bird among the sheep. He swung the axe and chopped off the bird's wing. The next day in one of the nearest

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a woman with no arm showed up at the begging villages. Almost every one of our interlocutors knew one of these stories.

Among the Muslims in the vicinity of Sarajevo, on St. George's Day, it was necessary to guard witches in the stable if the cow did not give milk, and the local hodja warned the person who turned to him about this: "When St. George's Day comes, wait for St. George, hide in front of the cow, someone will come to you who destroys you" (Kad bude Jurjev, cekaj na Jurjev, sakrij se pred kravu, doci se peko ko te nisti). It was believed that on St. George's Day, a witch saddled a spinning wheel made of yew wood (women sometimes swear to each other: vjestica napreslici, "witch on a spinning wheel") to go on their harmful business for people and livestock. To protect themselves on this day from the harmful actions of witches, they went to a local khoja so that he would use an amulet - written words from the Koran on paper (zapis)-to protect the cattle on St. George's Day: "...And come on, let him make a note of khoja na Jurjev, so that the cattle are healthy" (...ra hajde da pravi zapis hodza na Jurjev da bude ajvan zdrav). To protect themselves from damage from certain persons in the village, the girls on the eve of St. George's Day plucked nettles for one, another, third witch, "planted" plants in front of the threshold of the house and said that the nettle stung that, that and that... In the vicinity of Visoko (the village of Gine), protecting the house and stable from the arrival of a witch at night, on the eve of St. George's Day, they showered the premises with grain or ashes, believing that the next day the footprint left on the ashes would be able to recognize the witch. Sprinkling ashes around the house, sty, be sure to say a prayer-words from the Koran (uci se i pospe se oko stale, oko kise). The use of religious objects and sacred words is known in the ritual and magical practice of various peoples, among Muslims in Bosnia it is the Koran, rosaries, and writing words from the Koran on amulets in Arabic letters.

The first washing with water on St. George's Day, especially with water taken from under the mill wheel, in order to acquire health and beauty in the new year is known to all Muslims with whom the conversation was conducted (villages of the Belashnitsa and Treskavitsy mountain ranges, Visoko region). In this case, the semantics of the first washing (known in various South Slavic regions, regardless of the religious affiliation of believers) takes on a sacred meaning, but the timing of this custom to an Orthodox holiday emphasizes the interweaving of festive motifs from different religious creeds.

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As a rule, early in the morning, before sunrise, the girls washed their faces with water taken from under the mill wheel, and also washed their hair in it, so that the hair was lush and grew well: "Wash your face, wash your hair so that your hair grows, wash your face to be beautiful; there was no cream and powder like now, but everything was natural "(Umij se, open kosu, da ti kosa raste, umij se, da budes lijepa, nije bilo krema i pudera, kao sada, nego prirod-no bilo) (S. Umolyani). At the same time, water was taken in advance, on the eve of St. George's Day. There was also an order to throw her first work into the rapidly spinning water at the same time: the girl learned to knit and, so that her hands worked as fast as the water turns under the mill wheel, threw her first tiny piece of wool into it.

In the village of Poriecani, in the vicinity of Visoko, on the eve of St. George's Day, people went to the water mill in the village of Grdjevac (three kilometers from the village) to collect water splashing from under the wheel. In the morning before sunrise, the girls had to wash their faces with this water to be beautiful; the mothers sprayed it on their children for the same purpose.

In the village of Gine, water from under the mill wheel, which was brought on the eve of St. George's Day, the next day before sunrise, everyone in the house took turns washing: both adults and children, in order to be beautiful. The mother had to bring this water for her children secretly, hide it in the yard, in no case bringing it into the house - if someone finds the water and starts using it in any way, the water will lose its healing and magical properties. Other interviewees said that the water from under the mill wheel should be hidden, otherwise it will definitely be stolen, wanting to use its healing properties.

The custom of beating children with a dogwood rod early in the morning before sunrise on St. George's Day is also known to Muslims from the vicinities of Visoko. The mother brought a rod and lightly whipped the children with it: "a few <children> will be beaten with that dogwood, so that they will be strong as dogwood" (malo napucaju onim drijenom da budu cvrsti ko drijenovi). Ritual beating with dogwood rods on spring holidays is generally common among the southern Slavs (cf. the saying: Serb. - horv. zdrav kao dren "healthy as dogwood"). This was done before the ritual washing with water prepared the day before from under the mill wheel. Magic rituals before sunrise on St. George's Day were also described as a series of sequential actions: girls and boys went the day before

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In the morning, the children were washed and doused with this water in order to collect the water gushing from under the wheel. Then they took a dogwood rod and beat the children so that they would be healthy like dogwood, then they stung them with nettles so that they would be healthy like nettles. After that, each child washed with this water when he wakes up to be healthy.

According to the ideas of the Muslims on Belashnitsa, on St. George's Day one could see a miracle-the designation of a hidden place near the village. The ability to see the flame once a year on St. George's Day is not given to everyone, but only to special people: on the night of St. George's Day, a fire burns over the grave of the deceased, when you get closer, everything disappears. This is a sign that there used to be a building there-either a church or a mosque, and someone is buried there as well. In the vicinity of Visoko, it was believed that on St. George's Day or Annunciation, you can see the glow of buried treasures, money, and treasures. Of course, informants sometimes confuse the dates of these two holidays, but in this case the so-called folk etymology plays an important role in the popular consciousness: blago "treasure" and Blagovijest "Annunciation" sound similar in the language of Bosnians, Serbs, Croats: "and they say that on the eve of the Annunciation (like May 6...) they look where the fire is burning, because there lies buried gold " (S. Gine).

It should be added that on St. George's Day, the ritual of bathing near the mill wheel is also well known to Orthodox Serbs: Serbian families living in the Visoko region also took this water before St. George's Day to wash early the next morning. Moreover, according to the Serbs, if the girls only washed with this water, then adult men bathed there early in the morning on St. George's Day. Regardless of religious affiliation, this custom on St. George's Day is still preserved. Near the famous Grdjevac water mill (three kilometers from the village of Poriecani), people gathered in a crowd from early morning on the eve of St. George's Day to pour water and bring it home for the morning wash on St. George's Day.

Orthodox Serbs have a happy St. George's Day (Serb. Durdevdan) is also associated with ideas about some protective functions, for example, to fumigate the house from snakes and lizards should either be on the Annunciation or on St. George's Day; to collect medicinal herbs and give them to cattle crushed with salt against the evil eye, damage and against the malicious actions of witches - also on St. George's Day. In M. Filipovich's monograph from the middle of the last century

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Both Serbian and Muslim folk beliefs on St. George's Day are widely represented in the Visok region, with an indication that Muslims here "have many similarities with the Orthodox" 14.

The convergence in the traditions of Muslims and surrounding Christian Serbs recorded in central Bosnia is largely due to the common archaic basis of such beliefs. Important concepts in beliefs are not only sacred objects and words of prayer, but also natural objects (water, fire, herbs, metals, etc.). The tradition also preserves beliefs that have been influenced by both the Christian faith and Islam.

Bibliography/References

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Gilferding F. Bosnia, Herzegovina and old Serbia//Collected Works of A. Hilferding, vol. 3, St. Petersburg, 1873.

Levkievskaya E. E. Zmora / / Slavic antiquities. Ethnolinguistic dictionary/Under the general editorship of N. I. Tolstoy, Moscow, 1999, vol. 2, pp. 34-1344.

Levkievskaya E. E. Metally [Metals]. Slavyanskie drevnosti [Slavic antiquities]. Ethnolinguistic dictionary/Under the general editorship of N. I. Tolstoy, Moscow, 2004, vol. 3, pp. 243-248.

Levkievskaya E. E. The belt / / Slavic antiquities. Ethnolinguistic dictionary/Under the general editorship of N. I. Tolstoy, Moscow, 2009, vol. 4, pp. 230-233-

Plotnikova A. A. The belt/ / Slavic mythology. Moscow: EllisLak Publ., 1995, pp. 321-322.

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Plotnikova A. A. Materialy dlya etnolinguisticheskogo izucheniya balkanoslavyanskogo areala [Materials for the ethnolinguistic study of the Balkan-Slavic area]. Moscow: Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2009.

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Филиповиh М. Живот и обичаjи народни у Височкоj Нахиjи // Српски етнографски зборник. Beograd: SANU, 1949. kœ. 61.

Filipovich, M. (1939) "Zhivot i obichaji u Bisochkoj Nahii" [The Life and Customs in the Region Visoko], Srpski etnografski zbornik. Beograd: SANU.

Gil'ferding, A. F. (1873) "Bosnija, Gertzegovina i staraja Serbija" [Bosna, Herzegovina and Old Serbia], in Sobranije sochinenij A. Gil'ferdinga [Collected Works of A. Hilferd-ing]. T. 3. Saint-Petersburg.

Levkijevskaja, E. E. (1999) "Zmora" [Mora], in Tolstoy, N.I. (ed.) Slavjanskije drevnosti. Etnolingvisticheskij slovar' [Slavic Antiquities. Ethnolinguistic Dictionary]. T. 2, s-341 - 344- Moscow.

14. Филиповиh М. Живот и обичаjи народни у Височкоj Нахиjи // Српски етнографски зборник. Beograd: SANU, 1949. kœ. 61. P. 136.

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Levkijevskaja, E.E. (2004) "Metally" [Metals], in Tolstoy, N.I. (ed.) Slavjanskije drevnos-ti. Etnolingvisticheskij slovar' [Slavic Antiquities. Ethnolinguistic Dictionary]. T. 3, s. 243 - 248. Moscow.

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