Zoja Karanovi

Jasmina Joki

PLANTS AND HERBS IN TRADITIONAL

SERBIAN CULTURE
Handbook of folk botany

University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Philosophy

01
 Zoja Karanovi

Jasmina Joki

PLANTS AND HERBS IN TRADITIONAL

SERBIAN CULTURE
Handbook of folk botany

University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Philosophy

University of Novi Sad
Faculty of Philosophy
Department of Serbian Literature
Centre for Folklore Research

For the publisher:

Ivana ivanevi Sekeru

Editors: Zoja Karanovi

Jasmina Joki

Rewievers: Nada Miloevi-orevi

Valentina Pituli

ISBN 978-86-6065-172-5
 CONTENTS

smina ki
SACRED AND DEMONIC TREES IN SERBIAN FOLKLORE TRADITION......5

Zoja Karanovi
ABOUT ZDRAVETZ
(MYTH, RITUAL, MAGIC, POETRY)............................................................... 17

Danijela Popovi
THE PEAR TREE IN SERBIAN TRADITIONAL CULTURE AND FOLK
PROSE.................................................................................................................. 29

tjana Vujnovi
WEDDING SONGS IN VUK KARADI S COMPILATIONS:
FUNCTIONS AND MEANINGS OF PLANTS ................................................. 39

Sneana Samardija
FROM THE HERBARIUM OF SERBIAN FOLK
(GENRE SYSTEMS AND BELIEFS ABOUT PLANTS) .................................. 53

Biljana Sikimi
HOW TO READ RIDDLES: EROTIC WORLD OF CULTURAL PLANTS..... 71

Mirjana D. Stefanovi
MAPLE IN SERBIAN CULTURE....................................................................... 85

Mirjana Deteli
A GRAVE IN THE WOODS
(Intertwining of spatial and plant encoding in the epics) ..................................... 95

Neda Mimica Duki

THE HEALING POWER OF HERBS AND PHYTOTHERAPY TODAY........119

EDITORS NOTE............................................................................................... 128

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Jasmina Joki
University of Novi Sad
Faculty of Philosophy
[email protected]

SACRED AND DEMONIC TREES

IN SERBIAN FOLKLORE TRADITION

ABSTRACT: The paper analyses the beliefs and legends related to the cult of trees in
Serbian traditional culture. It especially focuses on the notion of senovitost as a quality of
tree inhabited by a soul or spirit and those the rulers of which are thought to be various
mythical beings (witches, fairies etc.).

KEY WORDS: cult of trees, sacred tree (inscription), witch, fairy, belief, legend, traditional
culture

In Serbian folk tradition, the honouring (cult) of trees is especially reflected in

the belief in their unique magical power, most commonly manifested as senovitost.
One of the first to define this notion was Vuk Karadi: it is said that amongst big trees
(beeches, oaks etc.) there are some sacred ones, that contain such power within, that
those who cut them die immediately or stay ill for many years until death (
1972: 318). Therefore, the presence of some supernatural power makes certain trees
(not all) dangerous and tabooed. In his research, Veselin ajkanovi relates senovitost
to the trees belonging to some soul1 (for example fruit and vines planted on graves) or
to some good or evil demon by possibly being the home, temporary or permanent, of
a demon or deity. He claims that some types of trees (elm, ash, fir and pine) belong to
fairies, while elder and walnut are always associated with evil demons. On the other
hand, some trees are related to deities only: oak to the thunder god, hazel tree and lime
tree to some great female deity ( 1940: 113-115).
However, after analysing wider ethnographic material, much more complex
system of ideas and beliefs presents itself. A common motif that occupies the cen-
tral place in beliefs and legends, no matter which type of trees is in question, is
definitely the taboo of desecration (felling the whole tree or breaking/tearing off
any of its parts etc). In our ethnological literature this is explained in the following
way: it is believed that under a certain tree a man can stay and get ill (
1
In philological discussions, as well, the notion senovitost is connected to the notion soul; see
Mareti 1882: 18-19.

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 Jasmina Joki

1901: 145), and: People believe that there are trees which ought not to be felled. If
they are, usually the one, who did it, comes to grief ( 1985: 138).
What can be seen in all of the mentioned claims are the remains of animistic
perceptions, according to which a contact with a tree was imagined as a contact
with its soul (spirit) that found its home within it, so the desecration of a tree was
interpreted as an insult to the spiritual force that pervades it (Bandi 1980: 242).
In Serbian folk tradition it is especially forbidden to fell (or in any way dese-
crate) trees, that are, within a certain community, treated as sacred inscription (sig-
nature, chrism/sacred tree, prayer, worship tree).2 According to ethnological defini-
tions, an inscription is a sacred tree, the bark of which is inscribed with a cross (:
189); a place of cult with a sacred tree, stone pillar or cross where prayers take place
during the votive days (: 188), or a tree that, during the rites of a village patron
saints day and cross bearers3, has the quality of a holy place/sanctuary (
2005; 2008: 869-889). Only certain types of trees can have this role, most
often oaks and elms, which are considered to be sacred and tabooed (
1994/4: 47, 206-207, 209), while increased incidence of oaks for this purpose is ex-
plained by them being originally dedicated to the ancient Slavic thunder god Perun
( 1940: 113; 2008: 876-878).
However, apart from inscriptions, the holiness of which is clearly marked by
their outside appearance (already mentioned inscribed crosses on the barks during
the rite of cross bearers every year), there are also trees that are thought to be spe-
cial and tabooed, but from completely different reasons. In most cases these are the
trees that are homes or meeting places of certain mythical beings, or those who are
given demonic features as a result of beliefs that they are connected to the chthon-
ic world and evil (wicked) forces in general. Most ethnographers do not provide
precise definitions on how to recognise such trees. Instead, they cite local legends
about certain trees to illustrate those beliefs. Latest ethnological research on this
issue conclude that a potential home or meeting place of demons or supernatural
beings in general is most often considered to be a tree that distinguishes itself from
others by its position, size and appearance (Bandi 1980: 244).4

2
There are numerous legends about the punishment that reaches those who disobey these
prohibitions. See more: 2013 (in press).
3
Most commonly patron saints day is defined as a day celebrated by an entire village, as a unique social and
cult community, in the memory of the votive day usually a day when some misfortune occurred in the
village: burning, flood, extinction. So, on that day people remind and pledge themselves to celebrate and
pray to God ( 1990: 89-92).). Cross bearers are the participants in the village patron saints
day and they visit fields and crops moving alongside area of farm and carrying a cross, see:
1990: 127-130, 141-142. The most complete description of this rite so far is given in: 2005.
4
Concepts about mythical beings (or evil forces) residing in trees which differ from others by certain features
(crooked, dry, lonely) can be found in folklore traditions of other Slavic people as well ( II: 54).

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 SACRED AND DEMONIC TREES IN SERBIAN FOLKLORE TRADITION

Precisely one such tree (crumpled tree), widely known in the area of Leva,
separates itself from others by its unusual appearance. It is round shaped and does
not grow.5 For that reason it is considered to be a tree of death and it must not be
touched; it is forbidden to break its branches because, according to the inhabitants
of the region, that would lead to some misfortune for anyone who did it: they
would become crippled (lose an arm or a leg) or would shortly die (
2004: 85-86, number 96, 97). Due to the evil force it possesses, some call it magi-
cal, and others evil or vicious tree. The strength of the beliefs in its demonic nature
can even be seen in the near past when a local road was built around it due to the
fear of removing it ( 1995: 17).
Differences from the usual shape of trees can also be found in a legend from
Bosnia, which says that people used to entrust themselves to a crooked fir tree by
throwing branches next to its trunk and saying: I give you branches, crooked fir,
so that I do not have backache or headache. However, one man burned a bunch of
branches there, so as a punishment, he supposedly lay in bed for half a year (
1925: 377). In the above example there is an implicit belief that all diseases are
reflected in the tree and when a dangerous illness enters the tree, it becomes all
crooked (Petrovi 1940: 43). Therefore, the tree is marked as demonic (belonging
to fairies) and it is suitable for evil forces to act through it ( 1996:
221). These are the demons of diseases that people chased far away by sacrificing
branches to the tree in return.
The trees that grow near water, which is considered to be a boundary be-
tween the worlds of the living and the dead, have a similar status. This is espe-
cially true for willows6, considered to be sanctuaries of deceased souls, especial-
ly of those who did not pass away in a regular way: wretched souls of people,
who as beggars or day labourers died on roads and paths, gather under willows,
while evil souls, such as vampires, werewolves etc. hide under weeping willows7
( 2008: 132).
5
According to the scientific explanation, it is a sort of dwarf wild apple tree, probably brought from
the Caucasia. It occasionally grows yellow fruit similar to apples, but its peel is very rough and the
leaves are green the entire year, which is why it contains higher amounts of fat, sugar and alcohol and
it does not freeze. /http://www.rekovac.org.rs/index.php?module=Vesti&action=vest&record=33/
6
Slavic people see a willow as the axis of the world, or the mediator between the worlds of the living
and the dead, most probably because it usually grows near water, which enables the relation to the
dead ( 1996: 31-34). In Slavic folk culture it is attributed with ambivalent qualities: on one
hand, it symbolises fast growth, health and partially fertility, while on the other, it is considered
to be in relation to demons (devils and fairies stay on it) and diseases (fever) were symbolically
passed from men onto it in using charms (: 99-100).
7
It is believed that the evil ones live under weeping willows ( 1994/4: 84). In Grua,
weeping willows are planted only by the water and on cemeteries ( 1948: 333), which
also confirms their primeval bond to the other world.

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 Jasmina Joki

So, trees can have demonic qualities, or be considered shadowy, ether for
their unusual appearance or their connection to the chthonic world. As the previous
examples show, they were thought to be sanctuaries of the disease demons or of
miserable and evil souls. Apart from them, the trees that belong to certain demonic
beings are also considered to be dangerous (tabooed). In Serbian folklore tradition
witches are the most famous among such beings. Certain types of trees (walnut,
elder, wild pear, and sometimes elm) serve regularly as their meeting places for
night gatherings.8 Walnut was considered to be their most frequent meeting place;
hence, every walnut tree was thought to be dangerous. Therefore, people were not
supposed to sleep or stay under it. It was believed that witches were coming on
walnuts or black mulberry trees in the form of bats. If someone climbed the tree
at that point, the witches would eat their heart. ( 1981: 141-142). Walnut
is related to the chthonic world, which is why it was considered to be the meeting
place, not only of witches, but of evil spirits as well, and evil forces in general
( 1994/2: 212-213). Vuk Karadzic states how in Srem it is said that
witches most often gather there above the village Molovina on some walnut. There
they feasted over a golden table and drank from golden glasses ( 1972:
302). Similar beliefs about walnuts are found in Herzegovina as well, where it
is said that, before flying, a witch would say: Not on a rock, not on wood, not on
a turf, not on a thorn, but on a field under a walnut. - When she says it, a witch
climbs on a broom and flies off into a field under a walnut. There they meet and
make plans about what evildoing to commit ( 1985: 200). In Bu-
kovica they say the following: Not on wood, not on a rock, but under a walnut un-
der Promina! (Ardali 1917: 306).Another ethnographic source mentions a walnut
tree in Vidovo polje, where older witches guide the novices through their secrets
and eat the hearts they took out from their victims ( 1867: 49-50). In the
mountainous villages under Fruka Gora witches are believed to gather on an elm
near id and dance in circles ( 1939: 136), whereas near Topola it is said
how under such a tree one can see () a circle from their dancing (
1996: 82). In Kosovo (Plakaonica), near the river Ibar, there was an elm, where
people believed witches gather and make plans where to go: When one of them was
chosen to go to Plakaonica and eat one man, she stormed off like a headsman, and
all others rushed with her. When they returned to that tree, the branches were still
moving, and the man died in Plakaonica (Vukanovi 1986: 443).
According to a legend from Bukovica, a man returning home late at night
and passing through a field saw witches gathering on a wild pear tree that was all
shining as if there was a candle on each little branch. After shooting at them, they

8
On places where witches gather (on wider South-Slavic area) see more: 1953: 30-37.

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 SACRED AND DEMONIC TREES IN SERBIAN FOLKLORE TRADITION

flew all over, but after several days he met his punishment: After a few days, a
mans son died nothing other than them eating his heart (Ardali 1917: 310-311).
Witches also gather around elders, as it is recorded in Vojvodina: People
used to say that under an elder () gather witches, and sprites, and fairies. Fair-
ies used to hide in elders. Because of that, it was forbidden to fell an elder. One
girl cut an elder because it was on her way, and because of that her mouth twisted
( 2008: 132).
The above example is significant because it clearly shows the syncretistic
character of traditional concepts about different mythical beings both fairies and
witches gather around the same type of tree, which is confirmed by other sourc-
es as well. Veselin ajkanovic states a folk belief about elders: both fairies and
witches stay there, and those who cut or damage it, get punished by becoming
paralysed or dead, and to those who cherish it, everything becomes successful. He
adds that, according to the folk belief, under blooming elders one could see a devil
( 1994/4: 88-89). All the previous examples confirm generally known
images of elders as demonic trees. In Moorin it was recorded that elder was a sor-
did tree and for that reason its parts should not be cut and one should not urinate
under it: It was believed that a woman who urinated under an elder lost feeling in
her arms. Somebody cut an elder and died three days after that. Another man took
an elder out of the ground in the morning and in the evening he lost his mind. To
fall asleep under the tree was also ruinous: A man was sleeping under an elder, and
his arms and legs became paralysed ( 1938: 135).
The mentioned legends about elders as trees belonging to fairies and witches
at the same time in the best way show that, when it comes to some types of trees, it
is not possible to make a clear division between trees belonging to fairies and trees
belonging to witches. Such concepts are clearly seen in an ethnographic descrip-
tion of healings under a black hawthorn: The diseased are brought to sleep under
a black hawthorn on the first Friday after the full moon. Crud rug is laid on the
ground; a pillow gets set and covered with a white sheet without a single colourful
thread. They say that witches only like white ( 1938: 135). After the
quoted passage about witches as demonic beings who bring healing (People say
they bring the cure, but also the disease) under this tree, the fairies also get men-
tioned: they, they are fairies, witches and various other sordid forces (
1938: 135). Viewing fairies as negative most probably results from the traditional
understanding of their nature in general: they act ambivalently, can be good and
bad (bring disease and heal), which depends on the way people treat them.9 This is

9
In the ethnographic material it is often said that fairies do no harm until someone hurts them
( 1894: 56), as well as: Fairies will not do evil until someone insults them (by stepping
on their circle, or dinner, or in some other way), and when they get insulted, they punish in different

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 Jasmina Joki

the reason why, in their negative form, they do not differ from witches in any way;
they even have the same meeting places, as already mentioned trees.
These views are especially seen in numerous legends about fairies and trees
dedicated to them, where they live, or around which they dance in circles and
set tables. The research so far marks the following trees that belong to fairies as
the most common ones: beech, maple, common maple, elm, elder, pine, fir, oak,
pear, hawthorn, mulberry, hazel, walnut, osier, poplar and inscription (
1994/4: 34, 47, 51, 71, 89, 103, 106, 140, 160, 175, 198; 1996: 197;
Bandi 1980: 244-245; 1950: 242). In certain areas it is believed that only
ash tree, elm and oak can belong to fairies (- 2003: 85).
Fairies are connected to trees since they are born, because they grow from
dew and on some peculiar mountain on some peculiar tree are raised (
1985: 198). In some areas it is believed that this tree can only be
beech: In summer she is born on a little branch of a beech, and her mother swad-
dles her in green leaves ( 1986: 238). A legend from area near Leskovac
about someone felling a young beech tree and a fairy that cruelly punishes them
confirms the beliefs related to this tree:
Vasiljko N. from Zbeite (Kukavica) went with his two friends to the area of
Mala Reka to make forks and handles. They cut a young and very beautiful beech. In
the evening, after labour, Vasiljko couldnt sleep and stayed up all night, while his two
friends fell asleep immediately, but in the morning they were dead. Vasiljko, who didnt
sleep, heard a cry, looked, and it was moonlight: a girl sitting on the stump of the beau-
tiful tree crying. And in the hut two dead workers were lying ( 1985: 139).
In Batoti, the village near ajni (Bosnia) an entire Fairys forest grew. It
consisted of odd looking beeches (with unusually crooked branches, i.e. made of
hundreds of curves10. According to the locals, such trees no longer grow anywhere
and, therefore, everybody treats them with awe and respect: they do not want to
take not even the dried little branches from it, because it was long believed that
something bad would happen to those who harm the fairys beech. People say that
fairies used to dance in circles on them and one could hear music or see fire from
the tree tops. Most of the trees are very old about a hundred years and one of
them even three hundred years.11

ways: by shooting someone in the leg or arm, both legs or both arms, or in the heart, so they
immediately die ( 1972: 301). On the circle of fairies, punishment for stepping on it and
other human offenses because of which fairies show their other evil and revengeful side, see:
1953: 64-68, 113-116.
10
In this example, as well, the shape of the tree (crooked) contributes to it being seen as the tree
belonging to fairies. In Slavic folk culture the notion crooked is understood as vicious, dangerous,
or the one pertaining to the other world ( 2008: 281).
11
More on Fairys forest: http://podrinje.in.rs/forum/archive/index.php/thread-543.html.

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 SACRED AND DEMONIC TREES IN SERBIAN FOLKLORE TRADITION

The trees where fairies stay separate themselves from others by their posi-
tion, beauty and size. It is believed that the most dangerous trees are the ones with
rounded tops ( 1950: 242). Similar beliefs about trees belonging to fairies
are recorded near Arandjelovac: people call an old linden of a rounded and wide
top a fairys tree, and the regular circle of trodden grass around the tree is believed
to be a fairys circle. It is considered to be very dangerous to step on that circle, and
it is even worse to rest in the trees shade. It is said how some people died for not
respecting these prohibitions (Bandi 1980: 251).
The abovementioned concepts are recorded in many areas in Serbia as con-
cisely formed and generally known beliefs of the local inhabitants, such as the one
about an acacia with a fairys garland, or a creeper that sprang up from the tree on
the hill called Dunik (in the area of Stig), which nobody can cut, or in any other
way desecrate ( 1996: 121-122).12 In other areas, unusually shaped trees
are called crumpled (fairys trees, creased, curled) because they have crumples
on their branches (like thorns gathered in a ball). It is believed that fairies live in
the tree tops and they punish those who urinate and defecate under their trees (the
one who does it, can be crushed). In relation to such beliefs, there is a local legend
about a man who once shot at the top of such a shadowy tree and then heard a clear
scream of some creature. He claimed it was a fairy, which punished him immedi-
ately: After that he got ill and he was being cured for a long time asking fairies for
forgiveness ( 1985: 135, 138-139).
In Gornja Pinja fairies13 are believed to stay next to a tree with a big dog-
rose (wild rose). People used to say how some people felled a beech when fairies
went to trade, and when they returned, there was wailing around the stump and
dust rising. If they had been there when the tree came down, the man who had done
it would have been killed (/ 1955: 105).
In Sreteka district every old and lonely tree is called a lone tree, home of
fairies, or tree of fairies because it was believed that fairies stayed there (
1992: 49-50; - 2003: 85, 92). Numerous examples of legends
based on these beliefs are saved in different places in Kosovo. Serbs in Metohija
believe that a man can get ill and die even if he only sleeps under a tree belonging

12
In Skopska Crna Gora it is also believed that one should not cut a tree where ivy spreads
( 1975: 134); in southern Serbia and Macedonia the trees where mistletoe or ivy
spread were considered to belong to fairies and were not cut. The ramblers are convenient for
taking the symbolic role of mediators between the human world and the world of dangerous and
mysterious beings, or the world of the dead. In Bulgaria ivy was thought to be a plant under which
revengeful fairies hide ( 1996: 324-326).
13
They are actually invisible female beings (parallel to invisible fairies in other Serbs), but they can
be heard and their traces seen. It is believed that they are not at home on Saturdays because they go
to trade, and they return in the evening (/ 1955: 104-105).

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 Jasmina Joki

to fairies, such as the elm in village Novaci, under which there is a medicinal spring
(- 2003: 138). The elm is famous for being a demonic tree and
fairies gladly sit on its branches because devils are not allowed there. Near id, in
Srem, there is a talk about an elm with the most fairies on it ( 1994/4:
47), and in Skopska Crna Gora elms belonging to fairies are widely known for re-
leasing, what is thought to be medicinal water that the diseased use to wash their
faces ( 1907: 502). People believe that on a hill above village Munikova
(Sredaka district) a fairy lives on three old ashes14 and visits the village by night,
banging as if she is breaking a chain, and after visiting the village she goes to a wal-
nut15 (- 2003: 92). In Grua (place Klisura) people see fairies
near a Turkey oak16 ( 1948: 348). A tree belonging to fairies is also consid-
ered to be a Turkey oak near Gornje Nerodimlje. People believe the tree was planted
by fairies and that in the dead of night they meet and dine under the tree, and after
dinner they gather near it and dance a traditional circle dance which is why the place
is called Fairys circle dance ( 1937: 198-199).
It is believed that if one cut such a tree, they would get ill and die, and their
whole house would die out. Later at night a light would appear in the empty houses
(Vukanovi 1986: 446; compare 2001: 411). Once, a servant swayed
an axe at a tree belonging to fairies, by his masters order, and soon afterwards his
nose started bleeding, and the master got ill from intentions and died, while a child
who lopped of its branches, drowned in the river shortly after (Bandi 1980: 245).
Not even the tree felled by wind should be brought into the house, or used as
firewood (- 2003: 85-86, 92; 1992: 50). Often,
beliefs like these changed with time into more or less developed legends that were
passed from one generation to another in a certain area. According to researchers,
even today, people say that some twenty years ago, certain Filip, called oro, used
an ash tree belonging to fairies, felled by an accident, as firewood, which is why
everybody from his house, except for his two daughters, died the same year (-
- 2003: 92).
Under such a tree one must not spit, sit or sleep, because if someone falls
asleep under it, they will become like wood (stiffen) or they will wake up in a dif-

14
Ash is a highly respected tree and fairies like to sit on it because devils cannot ( 1994/4:
103-104). It is a tree respected by all Slavic people. It was believed to have strong protective
powers and is often related to fairies and demons (they stay there or gather on the branches). That
is why it is not good to sit or sleep under an ash for one can become paralysed or wake up in a
different place (: 224-225).
15
In the same area, walnut was considered to be a lone tree and it is the only fecund tree attributed
with a negative influence for its connection with the cult of the dead. Therefore, it was not planted
near houses and it was forbidden to sleep under it. see: - 2003: 86.
16
Turkey oak (quercus cerris) is a type of oak.

12
 SACRED AND DEMONIC TREES IN SERBIAN FOLKLORE TRADITION

ferent place17 (- 2003: 85-86, 92; compare 1992:

50). People believe that if someone just passes by such a tree at midnight or lies un-
der it, they will get ill and die, because supposedly fairies make swings there, which
can be seen by torn leaves and broken branches (- 2003: 138).
However, in extraordinary cases, fairies can forgive those who involuntarily
harm their trees if they are offered an appropriate sacrifice. Once some herdsmen
tending cattle fell asleep under a tree and fairies took feeling from their arms or
legs, but they also left them medicine under the same tree. To propitiate the fairies,
it was necessary for herdsmans mother to make bread, prepare a glass of wine
and honey, and take that to the place where the herdsman was sleeping and leave
it over night. The next day the mother would go and take what she had left, and
give it to her son as a medicine ( 1948: 341). Also, when a fairy crushes
someone over a cut tree, fortune-tellers go to that place and burn candles next to
the log and splash it with basil and holy water ( 1985: 138-139), or they
advise the diseased to offer fairies a bottle of wine and some bread, and hang it
on the tree belonging to fairies ( 1937: 202). One description of the
healing ritual says that the offerings are put under a holy tree as well: We have a
three hundred years old tree in the village. Nobody remembers since when, it is
very declined and decayed. It is an inscription, an oak and there is a spring there,
there has always been water under the tree. There are fairies there as well. Women
used to make cookies there when someone was ill, and there was an old woman
who would get naked and take cookies and wine under that tree and if a fairy
wanted to help her, she would taste the cookie and drink the wine and the woman
would get better. If she didnt, she would take it, knock it over and wouldnt want it
( 2004: 123, number 159).
The quoted passage perfectly portrays the syncretistic character of folk reli-
gion - layering the elements of the Christian cult of sacred trees (inscriptions) onto
the pagan beliefs about trees related to mythical beings. Ethnographic material brings
many similar examples, especially when it comes to the trees belonging to fairies.
Even the same terminology was used: a tree that served as the village inscription in
Sredska was called a lone tree ( 1931: 47), a name used for the trees relat-
ed to fairies. In the same area (village ivinanje) the sacred tree was thought to be a
large mulberry tree (a thick tree, branchy and round), around which people gathered
on great holidays (especially St. Georges Day); however, the locals believed that
under it fairies used to come out to dance, so the place was called the circle of fairies

17
According to the animistic concepts, sleeping on certain places at certain time is dangerous
because, then, the soul, being outside of the body, comes into contact with supernatural beings,
and is greatly exposed to their forces. For that reason, ritual practices about certain trees include
the prohibition to sleep (Bandi 1980: 252).

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 Jasmina Joki

( et al. 2003: 156). One tree in the area of Svrljig (village Prekonoga) that was
respected as the villages inscription is also a subject matter of a legend about fairies
appearing and staying there, singing: according to a story, some girls spent the night
in a stable in that place and heard womens voices, coming from the direction of
the tree, singing. When they reached the tree, thinking the girls from the village were
singing there was nobody there ( 2005: 60).
From the previous examples of beliefs and legends, it is noticeable that in all
cases, whether they are about sacred/holy or dangerous/evil/demonic trees, there is
a deep belief that such trees are tabooed. In addition, as concluded in the research
so far, peoples treatment of the trees inhabited by supernatural (mythical) beings
is ambivalent, because such beings are potentially good and bad, useful and harm-
ful (Bandi 1980: 245). This is especially true for the trees related to fairies, where-
as those where witches gather usually bring negative connotations: anyone who
comes near them most often comes to grief or a punishment reaches their children,
since witches can harm them the most. Only few examples (the ritual under black
hawthorn) portray witches as beings that heal. When it comes to beliefs about the
trees belonging to fairies and legends based on them, it is noticeable that they are
completely in accordance with very complex and ambivalent images of fairies as
mythical beings in Serbian traditional culture; they are revengeful (in punishing
those who harm their trees), but under those same trees they bring healing from the
disease they sent themselves. Because of this other, positive aspect of their charac-
ter, fairies are connected with the Christian cult of sacred trees (inscriptions) as the
place where they can also gather to dance or to help the diseased, which was only
incidentally mentioned in the ethnographic material and literature so far.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
, . (2001). . . : : -
. . -
.: Zepter Book World: 99-100, 189-190.
Ardali, Vladimir (1917).Vile i vjetice. (Bukovica u Dalmaciji). Zbornik za
narodni ivot i obiaje Junih Slavena. XXII: 302-311.
, (1986). . : .
, (2008)., , .
. 72: 127-145.
, . (1931). .
. I: 27-52.
, (1937). . . XI
/4-5: 198-202.
Vukanovi, Tatomir (1986). Srbi na Kosovu II. Vranje: Nova Jugoslavija.

14
 SACRED AND DEMONIC TREES IN SERBIAN FOLKLORE TRADITION

, (2001). ,
(VI XX ).
: , Verzalpres.
, (1985). . : .
, (1996). .
. 83-84: 117-133.
, M. (1985).
. : .
, . (1901) . III:
144-148.
, . (1953).
. . LXI.
, (1981). . :
, .
, (2008): . :
. : : 869-889.
, . (2003). . . 15:
153-174.
, (2013). :
. (forthcoming)
, . (1972). , :
, . . . : .
, . . (1999). . a .
. II. . . . . :
: 51-56.
Mareti, T. (1882). Studije iz pukoga vjerovanja i prianja u Hrvata i Srba. Rad
JAZU. LXII: 1-44.
, (1995). . . 79-80: 14-17.
, (2004). . ,
:
, .
, (1996). .
. 1: 31-35.
, . (1894). . . I.
, . (1914).
. . XIX: 1-442.
, (1990). . : .
-, (2003).
. : .

15
 Jasmina Joki

, (1867).
. - . XXVI: 44-64.
, (1938). .
. 13: 132-137.
Petrovi, Aleksandar (1940). Narodno shvatanje bolesti. Miscellanea. 3: 40-53.
, (1907).
. . VII: 335-529.
, . (1948). .
. LVIII: 3-580.
, . (1998). . . :
: 188-190.
, (1925): .
. XXXII: 363-386.
, (1996).
. : .
1996: , (
). . 83-84: 77-88.
, (1992). . : .
, (2005). :
. : .
, . . (2008). . . : : 275-
289.
, (1950).
: .
. 1: 237-262.
, (1975). .
.
XXIV: 129-136.
, ./ , (1955). .
. LXVIII/3 (IV . ).
, (1940). .
. LX/2: 112-122.
(1994/2):
: 1925-1942.
, . IV. : , , , : 171-232.
, (1994/4). .
, . IV. : , , , .
, . (1939). ``
. . LIV.

16
Zoja Karanovi
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Philosophy
[email protected]

ABOUT ZDRAVETZ (MYTH, RITUAL, MAGIC, POETRY)1

ABSTRACT This paper examines functions and meanings of the plant called zdravetz
(Geranium macrorrhizum) in the traditional culture of the Serbs and South Slavs, where it
occupies a special place. This position of zdravetz is based on the belief that it originated
from the sweat of the Mother of God, who ran from Bethlehem across hills and mountains,
and everywhere her sweat fell, zdravetz grew. It is this myth about plants originating from
the parts of the Gods or their excreta, as well as the fact that zdravetz is a sweet smelling,
perennial and medicinal plant, that secured it a privileged position in the preservation of
health, in healing, magical and ritual practice throughout the annual cycle, and in the rites
of passage. Zdravetz was an unavoidable plant in the life of traditional people, from their
birth till death. For Serbs, it occupied a special position in the process of growing up and in
marital ceremonies. The custom of planting zdravetz on the graves and the belief that the
soul can attach itself to this plant unifies annual and cosmogonic cycles, relating the notion
of immortality to this plant.

KEY WORDS: traditional culture, zdravetz, myth, ritual, magic, poetry

According to folk belief, geranium, zdravetz (Geranium macrorrhizum)2,

in Serbian also zdravac, which means health, is a first rate divine and mythical
plant. As people used to say, it originated from the sweat of the Mother of God,
who, having given birth to Christ, ran from Bethlehem across hills and mountains
and grew tired and sweaty ( 1912: 98; 2001: 196).3 This ancient
Christianised story about the birth of the God, but also the awakening of the nature

1
This paper is based on research conducted as part of the project
(Aspects of identity and their forms in Serbian fiction,
No178005) which is financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia.
2
Zdravetz, from the Gerniaceae family, is a medicinal perennial plant with up to 40cm long stalk,
palmate divided hairy leaves and pink petals. Leaves are extremely aromatic and contain essential
oil tannin and flavonoids. Other common names for this plant are rock cranesbill, Bulgarian
geranium and bigroot geranium.
3
Stories like these have been recorded among Serbs and Bulgarians.

17
 Zoja Karanovi

which thus relates cosmogonic and calendar cycles is related to the female
deity of fertility and vegetation which symbolises earth out which plants grow.4
Because this plant originated from the Mother of God, it is holy5 and could
play an important role in both magic and ritual, representing the principle of birth
and growing, also dying. 6 It has an important meaning for some people even today. 7
Real basis for this view is the fact that the geranium is perennial herb it
dries out in autumn and grows young again during the vegetation period, thus
symbolising annual regeneration of plants8, which was of vital importance for a
pre-modern man. This is illustrated by song praising a never-dying, ever-green
zdravetz:
, , ? Zdravetz, garland, do girls pick you?
. They neither pick me, nor look at me.
, Instead they praise white basil,
, Which is white only three months in summer,
. But I am green in summer and winter.
( 1978: No. 5, St. Georges Day).

In this poem, zdravetz speaks about its privileged position in the vegetation
process, even in relation to basil, which is a supreme herb9 in Slavic tradition. The
misrepresentation of the plant characteristics in this poem (that it does not dry out
4
The most important feature of myth is equating the essence of something with its origin. To
describe a world means to tell a story of its ancient creation. In a mythical understanding of the
world, knowledge the origin of something is key for its usage (Meletinski b.g izd.: 174-175), as
this story about zdravetz reveals.
5
No plant is holy in itself. According to ancient beliefs, only plants whose origin is divine are holy
and can possess magic and medicinal qualities (Eliade 2004; Elijade 2011: 352-355 ). Beliefs
about plants originating from gods and people and their excrement are ancient and exist in many
cultures. This is believed to be a consequence of discovering agriculture (Elijade I 1991: 31-39).
For stories about this phenomena in Serbian oral tradition, see Vujnovi 2012: 69-77. Also see my
paper : 1996: 691-698.
6
Herbal world which cyclically dries out and then grows again is a suitable symbolical representation
of these rites of passage.
7
A note made by a Serb who permanently moved to Australia is particularly telling in this regard.
One of the things he took to the new land to plant in his garden, was zdravetz. He says: Our old
garden was different from others in the centre of the garden we had a hazel tree, and next to the
fence we had zdravetz! When we moved to this new home, the hazel tree was too big to carry, but
we did move zdravetz. We moved it around several times, until we found the best place for it (partly
sunny, partly shady), so now we have the smell of Stara planina in our garden (: 2009).
8
Natural cycles related to the mytheme of deities which die and resurrect are reflected in agrarian
myths (Meletinski 1989: 222-229) and a fragment of this phenomenon is preserved here.
9
About the privileged position of basil in Serbian folk culture: 1912: 29-45;
4, 1994: 36-43.

18
 ABOUT ZDRAVETZ (MYTH, RITUAL, MAGIC, POETRY)

even during winter, its dormant phase), is another indication of how important
zdravetz used to be for common people in past time.
Another example which shows its importance can be found in the verses
which used to be sung while it was ritualy picked. In this song, all cycles of nature
are coordinated with the vegetation cycle of zdravetz:

, , ? Zdravetz, boy, do girls pick you?

, , ! They do, they do, sure they do!
, , When I blossom, the mountain smells of me,
, . When I wither, the mountain withers with
( 1982: No. 37, St. Georges me.
Day)

Zdravetz also has a very intense aromatic smell, and such plants, according
to popular belief, have great protective powers, so poems sang about this too:
, Come together, girls and brides,
, Lets go to the mountain green,
, To pick flowers of all kinds,
. But most of all, sweet smelling zdravetz.
( 1903: 208)

Zdravetz is given a special place in relation to other plants here as well:

saying that sweet smelling zdravetz was picked most of all, confirms its importance.
Zdravetz is also a medicinal plant, as has been known since ancient times.10
This is not indicated only by its name in Serbian, but also by the fact that it was
used in the prevention of diseases and healing, In Grua region, for example,
zdravetz was grown in gardens only to be used for spells ( 1948: 77).
It is evident in the songs that used to accompany the weaving of garlands on St.
Georges Day:
, To pick flowers of all kinds,
, But most of all, sweet smelling zdravetz.
: To weave three green garlands:
, , One for the living, one for the health,
( 1912: 98-99, sung on the St.
Georges Day).

It was believed that it had lustrative power, especialy at Easter time when
people in region Leva, Temni and Ni would soak a red egg, zdravetz, rue, sage,
wild ginger, sanicle, nettle, lovage, etc. overnight and then in the morning washhed
10
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geranium_macrorrhizum

19
 Zoja Karanovi

their faces and body with this water. This was done for better health, so they used
to say /zdravetz to make the bather healthy
( 1901: 124; 1907: 135; 1912: 99). At Easter, in
Gornja Pinja, people would receive communion with different plants, and zdravetz
was important in this regard, too. For the communion in vine, it was combined
with dogwood, nettle and a piece of Easter cake. Holding the communion food, the
host would stand in front of the main door into his house. When a member of the
household received a communion, he would jump as far as he could, saying wishes
for health and prosperity ( & 1955: 98). On Plant Friday, people
in Leva used to ornament the milking bucket with zdravetz (means health): da je
mleko zdravo: may milk be healthy ( 1901: 122). On St. Georges Day,
young people in Grua would ornament themselves with nettle, zdravetz ,
: to be healthy ( 1948: 243). Since it was considered an
apotropaic, people in Leva also used to tuck zdravetz, rue and lovage in the belt
( 1901: 124). 11 In Homolj region, a sick person would be bathed in the
water in which a branch of dogwood, a root or a bunch of zdravetz, a stalk of basil
and a pebble were put overnight. After the patient was bathed, he or she would spit
into this water three times and say: ./I spit
on you and my illnesses. Then the ill persons mother would take him/her behind
the house and poured the water there, and the dogwood, zdravetz and basil would
be attached to a willows branch ( 1914: 262), as it was supposed
to transfer the illness.12
The time of the year when zdravetz is harvested is also indicative of the
special position this plant occupies in Serbian culture. Zdravetz is gathered between
Easter (usually on Palm Sunday13) and St. Georges Day (or Plant Sunday14), which
are related to the death and resurrection of the God, i.e. the dormancy and the
awakening of nature, and which, in the mind of a pre-modern man, folowes the
solar-lunar calendar.15 This is where it was adopted from into Christianity, because
Easter is celebrate on the first Sunday following the spring equinox, when plants
are harvested. The harvesting done on the St. Georges Day is related with the
11
The importance of zdravetz is also indicated by a Bulgarian ballad in which a mother sews plants
from seven mountains into his calpack (high crowned cap) and his belt to protect him against
female demons. Knowing the value of zdravetz, the young man barters his calpack and his belt for
the demons promise to give him the Pirin zdravetz ( 2007: http://www.rastko.rs/rastko/
delo/10032).
12
Demons of sickness are driven up a pear tree in some charms (basma in Serbian;
1982: 49).
13
Palm Sunday the 6th Sunday of the Great Lent.
14
Plant Friday Friday before of St. Georges Day.
15
On calendar myths which represent natural cycles, see: Meletinski 1989: 221-228.

20
 ABOUT ZDRAVETZ (MYTH, RITUAL, MAGIC, POETRY)

ending of one half of the year and the beginning of another, the change of winter
into summer. 16 A common attribute associated with the young moon, zdravljak17
(healthy), is another etymological confirmation of the relation between zdravetz
and the lunar principle. People used to believe that it was good to plant crops while
the young moon grows, because this is when plants grow better too (
1958: 34: 2001: 355).
In Homolj and Leva, zdravetz and other herbs (rue, sage, dogwood, nettle,
maple, lily of the valley) were also gathered on Plant Friday ( 1901: 121;
1914: 47-48 57).18 That zdravetz was attributed specific importance
in this environment as well, can be deduced from the expression that was used to
name this harvesting of plants, , /to go into plants, into herbs
( 1901: 121): in Mlava, the expression that was used was going into
zdravetz ( 1936: 89). This is also confirmed in the following verses:
, To go into mountain green,
, To pick herbs of all kinds,
. Most of all, sweet smelling zdravetz.
( 1978: No. 17, St. Georges Day)

Zdravetz was usually picked by girls who were named as flower bearers, and
they went into forests before sunrise ( 1914: 40, 57;
1951: 64, 163-164). According to one informant from the vicinity of Sokobanja:
On the day before St. Georges Day, boys and girls would come early with their
relatives to the mountain Leskovik, above the St. Stevan Monastery, and they would
pick zdravetz, wild ginger, lilac and many other medicinal herbs (. . 1899: 272-
273). This was also sung about:
, , Sing, nightingale,coo-coo cuckoo,
, Awaken the young men and brides,
, Awaken the village lads,
, To go the mountain green,
, To pick herbs of all kinds,
. But most of all, sweet smelling zdravetz.
( 1978: No. 17, St. Georges Day)

16
A year used to be divided into two: summer and winter, which lasted from the St. Georges
Day (April 23rd/May 6th), until St. Demetrius Day (October 27th/November 9th), and from the St.
Demetrius Day until St. Georges Day ( 1894: 122, 144).
17
Peasants used to address the young moon when they saw it for the first time in the following way:
, , ! , /You healthy
boy, merry boy! Garland on your head, and health and joy on my house. ( 1894: 60).
18
Old women who also go with them, pick rustyback, wild ginger, laserwort, etc. (
1914: 48).

21
 Zoja Karanovi

The change from dark to light is paraphrased here as the time when the night
meets the new day (the cuckoo and the nightingale). This is a dynamic representa-
tion of the process of vegetation, which is further intensified with the mention of
young (i.e. fertile) girls and zdravetz.
Garland weaving was another common activity that was happening early
in the morning on St. Georges Day ( 1914: 121). Garlands were
made near some water, from zdravetz, lilac, ivy, fumewort, squill, and the activity
was accompanied by singing. Since zdravetz again was the most important plant
int, the garland would be named the same, as in the following verses:
, , ? Zdravetz-garland, do young girls pick you?
, , . They do, they do, of course they do.
, , Deep into the forest they go to find me,
, ! For three whole days, making three bunches
full!
? When they pick you, where do they put you?
, They put me into green garlands,
, Each girl makes three:
, , One for the sheep,
, , One for the lamb,
, . And one for the big cauldron.
( 1896: 433-434)

Or:
, Come together, girls and brides,
, Lets go to the mountain green,
, To pick flowers of all kinds,
. But most of all, sweet smelling zdravetz.
: To make three garlands green:
, , One for the living and healthy,
, , One other for the grey herd,
, . One third for the mint bucket.
( 1912: 98-99, sung on the day
before the St. Georges Day).

This was called garland singing and the song, garland song
( 1914: 53-53), which is again a paraphrase of the ritual prac-
ticed to secure fertility of domestic animals. Zdravetz was put into a garland for
sheep ( 1894: 260) and ornaments of buckets which were used for the
first milking. In Leva, this milking was done through a garland made of zdravetz
( 1907: 106). A manuscript from the end of the 19th century states: a
shepherd would choose the best sheep, put a cake and a garland on her neck, bring

22
 ABOUT ZDRAVETZ (MYTH, RITUAL, MAGIC, POETRY)

out a gun or a rifle and start milking, first the sheep with the garland, and then
all the others (. . 1899: 272-273). In Resava, on St. Georges day, mixture of
salt, zdravetz, nettle and spurge was placed in livestock feed ( 1894:
119). In Vrnjci, zdravetz was also fed to cattle ( 1903: 208-209). These were
various ways this plant was used to secure milk and health of the cattle. And gar-
lands with the protective power stemming from the zdravetz created associations
with cyclical regeneration of nature i.e. with the cult of vegetation (/
2001: 72-73). There was another custom connected with cult agricultural
of fertility in Homolj region people there to mix corn seeds with zdravetz to se-
cure good harvest ( 1914: 767).
The way zdravetz was used in the rites of passage birth, weddings and post
mortal customs also indicates the plants importance in the traditional culture.
For lustrative purposes, expectant women bathed with water that contained
zdravetz, ox-eye daisy and lovage ( 1914: 93, 99; 2001:
195). In Grua, the first bathing water for a newborn contained zdravetz to secure
good health of the child ( 1948: 416). Zdravetz was also sewn in a babys
nappy ( 2001: 195) to keep it safe. It had the same purpose in Boljevac,
where zdravetz was put in amulets to keep children alive ( 1909: 289-290).
The first cut hair was also kept together with zdravetz ( 1910: 181). Peo-
ple were invited to the christening of a child with a bouquet of zdravetz (
2001: 195). On Christmas Eve a song was sung to the child/small God about a
child wearing zdravetz on his calpack:
, , , A wind blew, Koledo, from the mountain,
! Koledo!
, , , ! And a horse appeared, Koledo, black
horse, Koledo!
o, , , ! And on the horse, Koledo, combat saddle,
Koledo!
, , , And on the saddle, Koledo, a male child,
! Koledo!
, , -, And on the child, Koledo, sable-calpack,
! Koledo!
, , , On the calpack, Koledo, a bunch of
! zdravetz, Koledo!
, , , To keep the child healthy, Koledo, male
! child, Koledo!
( 1894: 160).

On the Midwives Day (January 8th/21st), midwives visited homes where they
helped women deliver their babies and gave them zdravetz ( 2001: 195).

23
 Zoja Karanovi

On Holy Thursday, children used to go from house to house and give zdravetz to
the people living there ( 2001: 195).
In Eastern Serbia, lazarice sang about zdravetzs and how important the plant
was for growing up and sexual maturatin:
, A young man came to the village celebration,
. Bringing green zdravetz,
, All girls bought it,
, Milena stole it,
. And ran.
: The young man called her:
, , , Wait, Milena, do not run,
You are my fate,
. It is written in the book.
( 1978: No. 22)

In the area around Vlasotinci lazarice went around singing to zdravetz and
about never-ending, perpetual gathering of zdravetz, which is also indicative of the
plants importance:
, Tiny stones one next to the other,
. Green zdravetz up to my knees.
, I was sent to pick it,
a a , A bunch daily, a bunch nightly,
. A whole basket weekly.
(Miroslav Mladenovi Nasta, Poems and dances from Vlasotinac region: http://www.
vokabular.org/forum/index.php?topic=1551.0;wap2).

Girls used it to decorate themselves by zdravetz to ( 1912: 99). On

St. Georges Day songs were sung about zdravetz as the favourite flower and an
herb that is especially good for girls, indicating therefore its role in initiation:
, Tiny stones one next to the other,
Green zdravetzs up to my knees.
, I was sent to pick it,
, For a day or two, one stalk,
. For a week, a whole bunch.
: Zdravetz answers
, , Pick me, take me,
, Do not give me to the brides,
,. They carry me in a bad way,
, , , A day, two days in their hai,r
.. And in the evening they throw me away.
, But do give me to the girls,

24
 ABOUT ZDRAVETZ (MYTH, RITUAL, MAGIC, POETRY)

, They carry me nicer,

, During day, in their fez,
, In the evening in their bossoms,
, In their bossoms, next to their hearts.
( 1912: 99)

Or:

: Zdravetz sent the message through a shepherd:

, Have them girls come and pick me,
, Girls pick me or do not do it,
. But brides uproot me.
( 1978: No. 4, St. Georges Day)

Here is another song recorded in 1980s in the village Dobrovi near

Leskovac: 19
, A soldier came to the village celebration,
, Bringing green zdravetz,
, All girls bought it,
, But Todora, doesnt do it,
. And she ren avay.
, , ! Wait, Todora, do not run!
, I came to see you,
, I left my rifle at home
: There was written:
, My name is Delija,19
[je] . And your name is Marija.
( 2013:
http://www.mcleskovac.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3854:l
eskovaki-pisci-i-njihovo-doba-59-pionir-ako-glasilo&catid=45:ljudivreme-dogaaji-).

In accordance with its apotropaic features and lustrative purpose, zdravetz

was used in weddings-related rituals, from the time of proposal until the first wedding
night ( 2001: 195). Just before the wedding, the gate to the grooms house
was adorned with flowers, and among them zdravetz had a prominent position. This
is still done in the area around Vlasotinac (M http://www.vokabular.
org/forum/index.php?topic=1547.0;wap2). In Homolj, a girl dressed in her
wedding costume would put wormwood, basil and zdravetz into her bossom with
her right hand, to smell like flowers for her husband ( 1914:151).
19
Translators Note: delija, an archaic Serbian word meaning a brave young man

25
 Zoja Karanovi

The trousseau which the bride brought into new family were also decorated with
zdravetz, basil, ivy, roses, lilac, again for apotropaic purposes (
1914: 143). It was a custom in Leskovac to put zdravetz and three stalks of rye
in all four corners of the bed made of reedmace, where the newlyweds laid on
their first marital night ( 2001: 195), which further confirms the significant
protective power of zdravetz in the context of wedding rituals and customs, i.e. the
participants of the wedding celebration and objects used.
Considering death-related customs, according to existing records, use of
zdravetz is particularly common among Bulgarians. They plant zdravetz on the
grave of the deceased on the day he or she died and forty days later (
2001: 196). This custom has been preserved to this day, as the author of this paper
has had the opportunity to see on a graveyard in Sophia. This custom is rooted in
a belief that a soul can attach itself to zdravetz20, meaning that it can be a channel
through which the soul can travel to the other world. This also indicates that the
belief in cyclical nature of this plant, that it dies and grows up again, is related to
understanding of death and resurrection. The great power of this plant to influence
life is also evident from another post-mortem custom: upon returning from the
graveyard, zdravetz was put in a sieve together with wheat and bread. In doing
this, Bulgarians used to say: /May you live your life in
health ( 2001: 195), which reflects the belief that zdrav-etz could preserve
health (zdrv-lje) of the living and protect them from death which the bereaved had
been in contact with at the graveyard.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
, . (2001). ,,. .
. . . , . , : Zepter Book
World: 161163.
Ajdai Dejan (2007). vilama u narodnim baldam http://sms.zrc-sazu.si/pdf/04/
SMS_04_Ajdacic.pdf.
/ (2001). .
. . . , . , : Zepter Book
World: 71-73.
Vujnovi, Tatjana (2012). Serbian etiological belief folk tales about plants
originating from excretions and body parts of supernatural being and
humans Belief narrative genres. Ed. by Zoja Karanovi & Willem de
Blecourt. Novi Sad: 6977.

20
Various plants and trees are planted on the graves of all Slavs, which is probably related to a belief
in the mediating role of the plants ( 2001: 162; Marjani 2004: 226-229).

26
 ABOUT ZDRAVETZ (MYTH, RITUAL, MAGIC, POETRY)

, e (1909). .
XIV. .
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lijade, Mira (1991). Istorija verovanja i religijskih ideja I. Od kamenog doba do
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LXIV.
, (1982).
, : .
, . (1896) . III, : 430-
436.
, (1936). .
. XI,
, (1996). ,
. ,
. : , ,
691-698.
, (2013). Pionir, ako glasilo http://www.mcleskovac.com/
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3854:leskovaki-pisci-i-
njihovo-doba-59-pionir-ako-glasilo&catid=45:ljudivreme-dogaaji-
Marjani, Suzana (2004). Junoslavenske folklorne koncepcije drugotvorenja i
zoopsihonavigacije/zoometempsihoze, , .
9, , . . . : Clio.
Meletinski, E. (1981). Poetika mita. prev. J. Janiijevi. Beograd: Nolit (
, 1976).
, (1901). ( ) III. A.
, (1907). .
VII: .
, / (1925).
. . XXXII. .
, (1894). . :
.

27
 Zoja Karanovi

, (1914). .
XIX. .
, .
. http://www.vokabular.org/forum/index.php?topic=1547.0;wap2
, (1910).
. XVI. .
, (1948). ,
. .
, (2009). , , 6. 5. 2009 http://www.
politika.rs/rubrike/Moj-zivot-u-inostranstvu/Moje-selo-Melburn.lt.html
, (1982). . , ,
: , , .
, (1978). ,
. C . :
.
. . (1899). (e ), I: 272-273.
(1903). , , IV. .
, (1912).
, , 1990.
, (2001). .
. . . , . , : Zepter Book
World: 354-355.
, (2001) .
. . . , . , : Zepter Book
World: 194196.
, 1 (1994). , 1910-1924.
. . . : , , .
, 2 (1994). , 1925-1942.
. . . : , , .
, 4 (1994). ,
. . , :
/ (1955) . . .
. : .

28
Danijela Popovi
University of Ni
Faculty of Philosophy
[email protected]

THE PEAR TREE IN SERBIAN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

AND FOLK PROSE

ABSTRACT: The paper explores the meanings of the pear tree in Serbian believes and
folk prose. The pear tree can be a holy tree, but also a tree with demonic features. Such a
position derives from widespread ancient religious systems in which the cult of the trees
has a strong significance.

KEY WORDS: the pear tree, folk prose, traditional culture, legend, fairy tale, religious tales

The pear tree (kruka) has a significant position in Serbian beliefs and folk
narration. Some etymologists attributed the origin of its name to the connections
with the language of the people who live in the area of its possible cradle. P. Skok
considered word kruka came from the East, argued it was related to the Kurdish
word korei kurest (Skok 1972: 215). Recent scholars refer to the connection
between the noun kruka and the words which signify hitting, shaking, falling:
It is most likely that the speakers of Proto-Slavic and Proto-Germanic created the
names for the pear having in mind that it is the favorite food of bears, with which
the feelings of fear and superstition were usually associated. In the process of des-
ignation, the experience with bears shaking off these fruits provided an incentive to
create nouns in Latin, Greek and Proto-Slavic, meaning that which is shaken or, in
Proto-Slavic, literally gruvano (Hlebec 2005: 34).

Ethnological material offers a rather inconsistent representation of this tree.

According to the model of the tree of the world, which represents three segments of
the human view of the world (underworld, earth, sky), the pear belongs to upright
and tall trees (which) best depict the axis mundi (Radenkovi 1996: 197). Although
a fertile tree (which would indicate a close relation to humans), the pear tree in tra-
ditional culture is situated at the borderline between social and wild worlds (Ra-
denkovi 1996: 198). It is sacred and profane, even haunted (/
2001: 313), could protect and threaten, be home to solar and chthonic gods1.
1
The ambivalent nature of the pear is also present in the representations of other Slavs. On the one
hand, it is the protector tree (of fertility, from snakes Bulgaria, Rhodopes, Slovakia, the Czech

29
 Danijela Popovi

According to some old believes the tree was seen as a hypostasis of solar /
chthonic deity, god itself; furthermore, it was the dwelling place of the deity, but
also the space which belongs to the souls of the dead ( 2000: 295). The
Serbian ethnographic material of the pear tree preserved almost all stages of these
representations, particularly those in which it was marked with chthonic attributes
(it houses demons, it is a symbol of the other world)2.
According to Veselin ajkanovi, some narrations and customs of the Serbs
preserve the ancient belief that a tree is a temple, place inhabited by God. By
registering examples of taking communion with plants (nettle) or underneath them
(plum tree) and naming examples of holy trees zapis, he finds possible traces
of the belief tree and also pear tree could be a temple3: In one of our legends there
is a story of a king who never went to church to pray to God but he did that under
a pear tree (he used to say: the pear tree is my church) and his prayers were so
successful that he was sanctified ( 1994: 173). ajkanovi also found
elements of the belief in the holy pear tree in Serbian folk legend: The one who
asks less, is given more ( 1988: 97).
The cult of the zapis is very well preserved in the folk culture of the Serbs.
In addition to the pear tree, as a specific replacement for the temple, great respect
was also shown for oak, beech, elm, ash and hazel trees (Agapkina 2001: 189).
Underneath them, incense was burned and communions were performed, crosses
were hung onto them and sacrifices were offered to them4, that is the divine numen
imagined inside them ( 1994 : 176).

Republic), it is associated with Mother of God in Belarus and Slovakia ( 2001, 313; ,
2000, 59). On the other hand, it is the dwelling of impure forces: fairies, devils, witches, dragons
(Russia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Ukraine). In Ukrainian charms, it is, as the tree of the antiworld (evil,
barrenness) the negative counterpart to the oak, the tree of the world ( 2001: 313-314).
In Christianity, the pear has a positive symbolism: it stands for Christs love for men (Badurina,
2006: 398). As a traditional symbol in Western culture, it embodies the female erotic symbolism
(Stivens 2005: 347), represents hope and good health ( 1986: 81), its flower is the symbol of
transience (Milovanovi/ Gavri 1994: 261). The pear is the attribute of Greek goddesses Hera and
Aphrodite (as well as their Roman equivalents); in China, it symbolizes longevity, justice, rightful
management and correct reasoning (Biderman 2004: 185-186), whereas its flower is the symbol
of mourning (Gerbran/ evalije 2004: 452). The representation of the tree as a personified and
anthropomorphized creature in the cultures of many ancient world is a common place and a relicts
of old religious forms ( 1992: 149-177).
2
According to Sofri, the pear tree has a bad reputation among Serbs ( 1990: 149).
3
The pear as a holy tree is also respected in Macedonia: In evelija, for example, the pear was
given holy communion for Easter: it was surrounded by icons, the priest read from the Gospel and
sprinkle the tree with holy water, and then placed the communion under the trees bark, after which
it was called praestina krua ( 2001: 189).
4
The belief in the holy tree / temple is also found in non-Slavic peoples, for example Greeks
( 2004: 315).

30
 THE PEAR TREE IN SERBIAN TRADITIONAL CULTURE AND FOLK PROSE

When we consider the representations in Serbian traditional culture, the be-

lief in the pear tree as the habitat of demonic creatures is quite dominant. The
witches and the devils dwell on or underneath it. A dragon that steals the grapes
lands on it, and it is believed that it will return everything stolen if it is killed while
on the pear tree ( 2008: 269). uma, the demon of the disease, is ex-
pelled from the village and directed to the pear tree.5 There is also a record of the
wild pear tree (service tree) as the place of expulsion ( 1994 : 447).
Moreover, according to Veselin ajkanovi, wild plants belong to the giants the
oldest form of pagan deities ( 1994 : 172). The pear tree belongs to a
group of haunted plants, which is supported by a number of taboos. When a man
disrupts them he enters the world of demonic force and risks the punishment. One
should not cut this kind of tree ( 2001: 313), sleep underneath or stand by
it in case of thunder ( 2008: 691).6
As the mediator tree between this world and the other the pear tree was
planted in the graveyard ( 1996: 11). It was believed that after the death,
spirit temporarily dwell in that tree on the way to the world beyond (
2000: 184). According to some representations, the pear tree could also be a stop in
the reverse direction, from the world beyond to the earthly existence: a stork brings
a child and places it on the pear tree ( 2000: 350).
It is quite certain that the nature of the pear tree also defined its place in the
ritual and magic practice. The pear tree is a valid mediator in the magic practice
for at least two reasons. Firstly, the beliefs and the magical procedures refer reg-
ularly to the pears growing wild, that is the pears that belong to the space open
to humans as well as the wild world ( 1996: 201). This fruit is one of
those used in funeral rites: it is offered to the souls of the dead, being part of the
dining table of the deceased ( 1990: 147). Underneath the pear tree,
a placenta was buried so that a male child would be born (: 2008: 624).
The pear tree is present in almost all genres of Serbian folk prose. Within the
corpus used in the present study, the greatest number of examples is found in fairy
tales and legends, and a smaller one in religious tales, animal tales, romantic tales,
fables and humorous tales.
In the material, the dominant representation is that of the pear tree as be-
longing to the demonic world or existing on the border between the human and the
demonic. It is, most commonly, the space which is, temporarily or permanently, in-
5
The exorcism of the demon from the social space and its sending to the pear tree (or other places
which represent the other world: graveyard, water, solitary tree in the field) is characteristic of
the rite provodiah rusalki in Russia ( 2000: 180-185).
6
These prohibitions are also present in the beliefs of other Slavic nations (see: 2001:
313). The motive of punishment for sleeping under the tree is also typical for the Greek tradition
( 2004: 315).

31
 Danijela Popovi

habited by creatures from the world beyond: a dragon which steals the grapes from
the peasant lands ( 1999: 349); an old woman (demon) inhabits the tree
and comes down in order to petrify/ kill the hero by deception ( 1999:
91-93; 1995: 31-32); devils gather underneath it and unwittingly re-
veal the secret to the hero (unaware of his presence) who thus restores his eyesight
and well-being ( 1999: 213-214; 1998: 200-201).7 A cart
greased with the witchs grase is directed to the pear tree ( 1999: 395).
Besides dragons, witches and devils, other creatures from the world beyond, sud-
jenice (M 2004: 108) and saints come to the tree. In some cultural and
historical traditions, Saint Sava gives food to the wolves under the tree (portion
for the whole year) ( 1980: 136; 1907: 255-256) or buries the
treasure underneath it (/ 1903: 580). The pear tree is home to the
girl of wondrous beauty, daughter of the demonic creature ( 1988: 95).
In the legend of King David ( 50, 193 cited
from: 1994 : 125), according to V. ajkanovi, we can trace old be-
liefs in the tree as a temple (the king who prays under the pear tree is sanctified).
The material also testifies to the demonic tradition in which the pear tree stands as
the protection against the demons (. 1991: 63).
Veselin ajkanovi saw the reflection of the international belief in the ca-
pacity of the pear tree to hinder, prevent Death (and its hypostases, uma and
Kuga) in the folk tales where an old woman deceives Death by sending it to the
tree ( 1999: 473, manuscript collection of Sima Mileusni, tale Worry
and Death). Relying on the researches which showed a religiously oriented in-
terest in it, he suggested that the origin of this motive could be traced in Eastern
Europe, mostly in Slavic regions ( 1994 : 451).
Besides inhabiting the tree, the demons also pick the pear fruits, most often
in fairy tales. In some examples, the demon who picks or steals the pear fruits
belongs to the realm of adversaries who upset the initial balance in the fairy
tale The Emperors Son and the Six-Headed Dragon (one version of Golden
Apple and Nine Peahen from Serbian Folk Tales by Vuk Karadi), the youngest
brother, after the unsuccessful attempts of the older brothers, manages to save the
pear tree, whose fruits are picked by the dragon: All of a sudden, a great rumble
and thunder was heard. He stood and leaned against the pear tree, and waited,
but there came a six-headed dragon, spewing fire. As soon as it reached the tree, it
clung to the branches and picked the fruits, but the emperors son pulled out the sa-
bre, hit it and severed his right shoulder ( 1999: 50). Keeping guard of

7
There are also versions in which, in this type of tales (Aa Th 613), the pear is lost as the locus, but
the reference to the wild space remains (Poor him, he stayed silent in the mountain. There came
the devils (whose hotbed was nearby) ( 1988: 202).

32
 THE PEAR TREE IN SERBIAN TRADITIONAL CULTURE AND FOLK PROSE

the pear tree, attacked by an old woman on a red rooster, is a difficult task. After its
successful completion, the hero of the fairy tale Balonja and the Fox is rewarded
with a golden pear which he exchanges for other precious gifts:
hen the old man said: Well, son, you are a true christened soul, ninety nine chris-
tened souls guarded this golden pear, and every one had to lose his life, because
when they fell asleep, this poisonous old woman came, broke off the golden branch
with its golden fruits and left, and the pear tree, touched by her poisonous hand,
began to dry. There, you helped me and freed me of this poisonous villain. Bless
you! Thus spoke the old man, uprooted the golden pear and gave it to Balonja. The
moment the old man pulled out the tree from the ground, at the same spot, another
one sprang up. Balonja took the golden pear, turned back to the lake, sat in the boat,
and went back the same way he came ( 1995: 86-93).

The departure of the old woman (dragon) into the woods to gather pears in
the tale Stepdaughter has the function of moving away: One day, the old woman
said to the girl that she would go to the woods to gather pears and wild fruits and
left her the keys to all the rooms, ordering that the girl was not to enter the ninth
room. When the old woman left, the girl opened all the rooms and, not being able
to suppress her curiosity, unlocked the ninth as well ( 1980: 86). In the tale
Adamsko koleno we find the ban from staying underneath it in demonic times:
The emperor said to him: Go and hunt all over the field. However, behold: in the
middle of the field, there is a large pear tree, do not dare find yourself underneath it
when it gets dark, because you will fall through; that is where I lost three thousand
men ( 1995: 30). In the demon tradition, one would expect it to have a
role of the forbidden, demonic space, which he hero (if he violates the prohibition)
does not disturb without consequences: it is a graft, a tree not meant to be fouled
by relieving oneself ( 2004: 114).
Without losing the meanings it has in traditional culture ( 2009:
280), the pear sometimes adjusts itself to the nature of the genre in which it
appears. Thus in fairy tales, suggestive of metalizing and mineralizing objects
and living beings (Liti 1994: 30), it can be golden, of golden fruits (
1995: 90), it can acquire unusual traits: miraculously quickly grows instead of
another, uprooted pear tree ( 1995: 92), horns can grow out of its fruit
( 1995: 77-78). In the fairy tale The Emperors Son and the Six-Headed
Dragon, the magical pear tree goes through all stages of development in a short pe-
riod: This emperor had a garden and in it a pear tree, which, from dark till the elev-
enth hour of every night, blossomed, grew ripe and, around midnight, something
came and took it all away ( 1999: 49). The pear tree has some human
qualities (speech, ability to suffer or give birth) in fairy tales of type Aa Th 460V
( 1988: 92-96, Fate). Personified and anthropomorphized (
33
 Danijela Popovi

2012: 344), it prays on behalf of the hero that the divinity he goes to, accounts for
its troubles: it has no fruit or offspring ( 1988: 208-211), or no one eats
its fruits ( 1988: 104-106). The pear tree is also present in the scene of an
unusual threshing on the tree ( 1980: 62-63, 63-64, 64-65), however, being
part of a humorous tale, the supernatural elements are omitted.8
The pear tree seems to appear in particular types of fairy tales and religious
tales. In fairy tales about two brothers who venture on a journey to discover which
is better: good or evil / justice or injustice (Aa Th 613), the pear tree is where de-
mons (fairies, devils) come and reveal the secrets which will help the unfortunate
brother escape trouble ( 1988: 198-201; 1999: 213-215).9
As an unfruitful plant, or a plant of inedible fruits, the pear tree also appears in
some variants of the Fate tales () Aa Th 460V, 461A ( 1988: 208-
11 and 104-106, a sequence in type 461A in type 425). In fairy tales of type Aa Th
303 the hero rescues his brother who is eaten or petrified by the demon (old wom-
an, dragon). In parallel narrative sequences, both brothers violate the ban against
going to the pear tree, and staying or sleeping underneath:
He promised to be careful and went hunting with his hounds and lions . He hunted
all day long, caught nothing but a hare, and while returning, it was dark when he
arrived at the tree, so he had to stay for the night () Tomorrow, he said to the
emperor that he would gladly go hunting. The emperor told him to go, but under no
circumstances should he find himself at the pear tree when it gets dark, for he would
fall through. Oh, he knew at once that was where his brother had fallen through.
Off he went hunting with his hounds. He hunted all day long and cought nothing
but a hare. On his return, the dark found him under the pear tree ( 1995:
30-31).

A religious tale He who asks less is given more (AaTh750 D) from Ser-
bian folk tales by Vuk Karadi is also an example of the model in Serbian folk
prose where the pear tree can be found ( 2005: 62-63; 1988: 104-
229, 229-231). Three brothers guard the pear tree, under which comes an angel
(hermit, old man) which tests their kindness / hospitality / open-handedness. The
brothers respond positively to the first temptation (they give away the pears which
belong to them) and get rewarded, whereas the second temptation makes the older
brothers react wrongly (they are selfish) and they get punished. The youngest acts
properly and gets rewarded. The motive of guarding the pear tree, according to V.
8
Whether a scene, a description or an event will seem fantastic or not, does not depend on their
constituent elements but on the genre in which they appear ( 1997: 182).
9
In tales of this type, other trees, instead of the pear, may appear fir, for example (see:
1988: 100-101) or some wild space is registered as the gathering place: water, woods, mountain
etc. ( 1988: 201-202; 2004: 50-51).

34
 THE PEAR TREE IN SERBIAN TRADITIONAL CULTURE AND FOLK PROSE

ajkanovi, might represent a dark memory of the cult performed under the tree as
the holy place: in that case, guarding of the pear tree would be considered as the
remnant of the cult done to the tree, and then we could understand something that
is not entirely obvious from todays tale, and that is why it was the brothers who
guarded the tree that got the reward ( 1994 : 173).
In legends the pear tree is the locus where the demons come, at which they
gather or from which they part. In demonological legend named Konj se ivtal al
nita( 1991: 44) the hero spots a goats kid near two pear tree (one
of the forms in which the demon apparition, omaja appears ). The pear tree
is the space (behind the water) from which the demonic force begins its motion:
Firstly, from the other side of the stream, from a big pear tree, something like a
rick passed him by, all roaring, and when it crossed the stream and took the Upper
/(Travellers) spring () it turned into a circle of girls ( 1998: 36). In fables
and some legendary tales, the bear climbs the pear tree and eats its fruit (
1988: 12, 491).
Serbian folk prose and ethnographic facts are well in accord when it comes
to the existence and the meaning of the pear tree. It can be a holy tree, a habitat for
the good gods, a tree that provides good and protects the man, but also a tree which
is demonic, evil, a place inhabited by various demonic creatures which threaten
and hurt the man. Such a position derives from the well known and internationally
widespread ancient religious systems (animism, totemism) in which the cult of the
trees had a strong position.
In certain folk genres, as well as within certain types of narratives, the pear
tree appears more often. Even though there are variants with other trees instead of
the pear, or we only find a space equivalent to its demonic attribution, judging by
the number of variants with it as the protagonist, the emergence of the others
could be explained by the weakening of the influence of traditional images.

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 THE PEAR TREE IN SERBIAN TRADITIONAL CULTURE AND FOLK PROSE

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 Danijela Popovi

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38
Tatjana Vujnovi

WEDDING SONGS IN VUK KARADI S COMPILATIONS:

FUNCTIONS AND MEANINGS OF PLANTS 1

ABSTRACT: Different species of plants (basil, apple, maple, grapevine, olive, rose...) ap-
pear in more than one third of wedding songs included in the Karadis compilation of
wedding poetry. These plants appear in various situations: they are planted and grown,
given away as a gift, used to awaken somebody, etc. In this paper, examples of these are
analysed and related to various phases of the rites of passage, with the intention to identify
various meanings and functions of plants which are characteristic for Serbian wedding
poetry.

KEY WORDS: wedding songs, wedding ritual, Vuk Stefanovi Karadi, vegetation, ini-
tiation, Serbian traditional culture

Vuk Stefanovi Karadi collected and published the fruits of Serbian oral
tradition for almost half a century, creating a compilation of lyrical folk poems
which to this day remains unsurpassed in terms of its volume, quality and influ-
ence. Among the poems in this compilation there are 333 wedding poems (
1841: No. 1127; 1898: No.1120, 265268; 1973: No. 182). Karadis com-
pilation contains 118 wedding poems which mention phytonyms of 39 different
species of plants.2 These mostly appear in the poems which according to their con-

1
This paper is based on research conducted as part of the project
(Aspects of identity and their forms in Serbian fiction,
No178005) at the Department of Serbian Literature, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi
Sad. The project is financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia.
2
Pine ( 1841: No. 85; 1898: No. 2, 7, 78), basil ( 1841: No. 10, 11, 14,
17, 23, 36, 64, 66, 76; 1898: No. 7, 19, 26, 28, 38, 50, 73, 74; 1973: No. 3, 5,
28, 29, 32, 65), beech ( 1898: No. 61; 1973: No. 80), ivy ( 1898: No.
2), sour cherry ( 1898: No. 39), two types of willow: purple willow ( 1898: No.
1) and weeping willow ( 1841: No. 23, 1898: No. 31), kidney vetch (
1841: No. 14), nasturtium ( 1898: No. 27), quince ( 1841: No. 18, 85, 116;
1898: No. 27; 1973: No 28, 31, 77), oats ( 1898: No. 267), hyacinth
( 1973: No. 35), apple ( 1841: No. 18, 67, 68, 83, 91, 108, 112; 1898:
No. 17, 26, 31, 41, 50, 64, 65, 88; 1973: No. 11, 28, 30, 57, 6365, 67, 77, 79), maple
( 1841: No. 23, 91; 1898: No. 38; 1973: No. 15, 39, 80), ash (
1841: No. 102; 1973: No. 36), aspen ( 1898: No. 53), jasmine ( 1898:
No. 26), fir ( 1898: No. 1, 7, 24, 26, 28, 73; 1973: No. 75), lilac ( 1841:

39
 Tatjana Vujnovi

tent or the context of their performance belong to the period before the wedding
party goes to fetch the bride. The aim of this paper is to point out some forgotten
meanings and functions of vegetative code in verbal manifestations of the wedding
ritual through an analysis of wedding poems which belong to the brides and the
grooms text3 and the relation of particular verses to specific phases of the rite of
passage.4
In the brides text, the world of vegetation appears in verses about her child-
hood: when the brother-in-law asks her how it is that her face is so white and rosy
( 1898: No. 41), i.e. too beautiful ( 1841: No. 112), the bride
answers:
, As I grew up in my family
, All were good to me
, Early I went to bed in the evening
; And late I rose in the morning
, With roses I washed my face,
. Dried it with lily blooms
( 1841: No. 112)

No. 56), sage ( 1898: No. 28; 1973: No. 14, 29), carnation ( 1841: No.
66; 1898: No. 27, 71; 1973: No. 3, 5, 8, 22, 54), feather grass ( 1841:
No. 14), grapevines ( 1841: No. 9; 1898: No. 28, 29, 73; 1973: No. 4,
6, 27, 69, 70), two types of lilies: sea daffodil ( 1973: No. 23) and madonna lily white
lily ( 1841: No. 112), violet ( 1841: No. 96, 112; 1898: No. 27, 41, 74;
1973: No. 57), oregano ( 1841: No. 66; 1898: No. 26, 74;
1973: No. 3, 5), olive ( 1841: No. 13; 1898: No. 10, 47; 1973: No. 36,
41, 43, 50), orange ( 1841: No. 33, 66, 67, 119, 125; 1898: No. 2, 5, 26, 27, 34,
50, 56, 73, 74, 99; 1973: No. 15, 19, 37, 63, 68), marigold ( 1898: No. 8, 28,
79; 1973: No. 55), rose ( 1841: No. 11, 42, 45, 55, 66, 85, 92, 93, 96, 109, 112;
1898: No. 1, 9, 2729, 35, 38, 41, 50, 66, 71, 73, 74, 99; 1973: No. 2, 3, 5, 8,
14, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32, 49, 57, 62, 65, 73, 77), rosemary ( 1841: No. 55, 74;
1973: No. 35), wormwood ( 1841: No. 76), wheat ( 1841: No. 9, 122;
1898: No. 24; 1973: No. 4, 75), lovage ( 1898: No. 28; 1973:
No. 3, 8), immortelle ( 1841: No. 23, 35, 56, 76), marshmallow ( 1973: No. 3),
common amaranth ( 1898: No. 28; 1973: No. 23), hellebore ( 1841:
No. 23), cypress ( 1898: No. 7) and citron ( 1841: No. 116).
3
If the wedding ritual is treated as a text within the ritual, from the point of view of the participants,
there are two active stories, or texts: the brides and the grooms ( 1982: 95, 96).
4
Acts and verbal manifestations of the ritual which used to accompany entry into marriage have
for quite some time been viewed in the light of the rite of passage theory by Arnold van Gennep
( 2005). According to this theory, the initiated person goes through three main ritual
phases. Everything begins with a separation, i.e. the individual is drawn out of his or her natural
environment. Then ensues the liminal phase (transient state), which is finally followed by
reaggregation, in the form of his or her return to the (new) community with a different status (
2005: 518).

40
WEDDING SONGS IN VUK KARADI S COMPILATIONS: FUNCTIONS AND ...

, With rose blooms she washed my face

, With white silk she dried it
, , Fed me and nourished me
, . And gave me as a present to you.
( 1898: No. 41)

Here the plants have the function of a magical instrument which shapes
the girls face, preparing her for the time when she will be ready for marriage.5
The true meaning of these treatments is revealed through traditional notions of
the role the rose plays in the physiological growth of a woman6: the girls used to
transplant roses on the day of the Holy Mother of God (March 25th) so that they
would grow as well as the roses (Jardas 1957: 53). Similarly, the rose is called
upon to regulate the menstrual cycle: Rosy rose, give me your rosiness, and I
will give you my whiteness (Ruo rumena, daj ti meni tvoje rumenilo, evo tebi
moje bililo; Lovreti 1902: 187).7 A relationship can be established between the
chromatic features of roses and a wider complex of notions about the colour red
which can be associated with the vulva and the female principle (
1996: 293). One poem in Karadis compilation speaks of a girl who, calling
upon her beloved, says: If you are close by, my Niko/ release the thin ropes/ hoist
the white sails/ ride the waves and come to me/ your red rose ( , ,
,/ ,/ ,/ , ,
,/ ; 1898: No. 35). The rose, with its chro-
matic feature or rosiness, thus encodes the biological maturity of a girl and her
passage from an asexual world into a sexual one. This way, the girl symbolically
actualizes her sexual identification, which is further confirmed by the way she
calls upon her beloved and hints at an erotic encounter.8
This phase of physical and social maturation, during which a girl transforms
into a young woman about to be married, implies a change in state and a series

5
Successive magical acts and treatments with a red rose and a lily gave the girl attributes of health
and beauty ( 1996: 282, 294), which is recognised by her husbands brother, who is a
representative of the grooms community.
6
The relation between the rose and the physiological maturation of a woman was first noted by
Zoja Karanovi who analysed the symbolism of this plant in Serbian traditional culture and poetry
(2009: 19-48).
7
The Serbs believed that the red colour of a rose originates from the virgin blood spilt on white rose
petals when a girl, unaware of thorns, pricked her finger on them ( 1912: 191).
8
Physical maturity is a condition for the continuation of a family line, and this is exactly why the
bride and the groom have to prove their readiness for marriage during the wedding ceremony
( 1998: 713).

41
 Tatjana Vujnovi

of related ritual acts.9 Thus, washing ones face with rose water, as a lustrative
ritual act which used to be practiced as part of rites of purification10, is an act of
separation from the previous form of existence.11 Similarly, in fairytales which
are specific paraphrases of rituals, heroes bathe and brush themselves with plants,
mostly those with an intense fragrance, in order to be completely purified for the
world of the dead (Prop 1990: 105, 106). Being in the other world in a fairy tale
corresponds with the experience of a symbolical death of the initiated. For a neo-
phyte, this means that he understands metaphysical nature, and is ready for a new
state and to enter the world of adults.12 In wedding songs, symbolic death of the
initiated is represented by sleep, which for the Slavs is a state similar to death when
the soul temporarily leaves the body and then returns upon awakening ( 2001:
480481). This situation occurs while the girl is still growing up in her family:
My mother put me to bed early/ And woke me late in the morning/ Woke me with a
sprig of basil:/ Awake, my daughter, the sun is shining/ Upon our white door. (
,/ ,/ :/
,,, , ,/ ` ; 1898:
No. 7). The Serbs believed that basil served as a universal mediator which commu-
nicated with the world, the underworld and with heaven ( 1996: 216)
and could enable the passage of the sleeper from one mode of being to another.
Also, because awakening the sleeper was considered potentially dangerous, it was
accompanied by a great deal of advice and prohibitions ( 2001: 480481).
The mother would therefore use basil plant of a great apotropaic strength,13 as
a prophylactic measure which prevented and overcame the crisis of awakening.
The correlation between the world of plants and the sleeping/awakening is
in the Karadis wedding songs created in a different situation as well:

9
Living involves continuous passage from one state into another, so the life of an individual consists
of stages whose beginnings and ends form a chain. Each of these stages has a ceremony whose
common goal is to lead the individual from one stage into another ( 2005: 7).
10
Among the Slavs, the cleansing rituals with rose water meant washing ones face, bathing or
watering the rose plant ( 2009: 468489). The Serbs in Banat and area around Pirot used
to put rose and other plants into the water which was used for the ritual face washing on the day
before St. Georges Day ( 1911: 177, 185).
11
Removal of surface dirt is one of ritual procedures whose purpose is to mark separation from the
previous status (Li 1983: 117).
12
One really becomes a man or a woman only when natural humanity is somehow abolished:
initiation involves supranatural experience of death and resurrection/second birth. As far as the
infantile, profane world is concerned, neophyte dies and a new form of living is born (Elijade
2004: 133-135).
13
On apotropaic power of basil, see: 1994: 3839; 2001: 4647.

42
WEDDING SONGS IN VUK KARADI S COMPILATIONS: FUNCTIONS AND ...

` I heard a nightingale sing

, From the top of the olive tree
It sang to young girls
: recently betrothed:
,,` , , Rise, you young girls,
, The day is dawning
Nightingale is calling
! I am at the top of the tree!
When the young girls
, Recently betrothed, heard him
They rose
, So cheerful
` ` Put on jewels and powder
, On their rosy cheeks
` Danced and sang
. In front of the girls kin
[...] [...]
The groom and the bride
` All sing
And in the circle of young men
. Each looks at their own.
( 1973: No. 43)

The tree with a bird at its top is a metaphorical representation of the world tree and
its relationship to heaven ( 2001: 161), which in this situation can be interpret-
ed as a sign which motivates and influences forms of behaviour in the world of people.14
Vegetative and zoological codes together initiate dynamic processes of ritual time: upon
awakening, the young girl applies white powder to her face and bejewels herself, and
a previously immature individual (immaturity is stressed with a diminutive ,
i.e. little girl) acquires features of the initiated.15 The experience of going through the
wedding ritual is what brings her, as a young girl, closer to the world of adults.16 It also
prepares her for that which follows and is suggested by the presence of her fianc.

14
Premodern man could live exclusively in objective reality, in an atmosphere not based on relative
subjective experience, so he needed a sign, as an absolute element not from this world for all forms
of existence. Through revelation, this expression of heavenly will ends relativity and decides about
the behaviour of the community (Elijade 2004: 24-25). In wedding poetry, a bird singing from the top
of a tree marks the initiation of ritual time or one of its specific phases ( 1898: No. 5, 9, 38).
15
The colour suitably signifies a temporary change of roles: non chromatic features (white and
black) are typical for the unusual, sacred time (Li 1983: 86-87). In a fairy tale, colouring the hero
with white or black is typical for the time spent at a secluded place (Prop 1990: 207, 208).
16
One of the basic initiation rituals for a girl in traditional communities involved her ceremonious
presentation to the community, which showed that she was mature, i.e. ready to begin to behave as
a woman (Elijade 1991: 26).

43
 Tatjana Vujnovi

In wedding poems compiled by Karadi, plants17 have a mediating role

in bringing the future bride and groom closer to one another, as in the versions18
of poems about how the young man awoke the girl: He picked a rose/ stroked his
brides face with it:/ Awake, may you never sleep enough!/ Have you not slept
enough/ for nine years at your mothers home/ in the tenth in my arms? (
,/ :/ ,,` , !/
/ ,/ ? (Karadi 1898:
No. 29). Striking somebody with a rose, which in traditional culture was attributed
with the power to exorcise all that is unclean ( 2001: 590), is an act analo-
gous to ritual purification which physically separates the initiate from the previous
world.19 In addition to this, the rose as a universal mediator20 enables the transfer
from the separation zone into a transitional one, which is symbolically expressed
with the girls shift from the many years long sleep into reality.21
Plant as a universal mediator also appears as a locus of the sleeper, such as
maple:

Young Vaso hunted

, on Mt. Vijar
Until the stark midday sun
. Tired his face
So Vaso looked for shade
, To hide beneath
God gave him a green maple
. Next to a clear water
, There Vaso lay down
, And fell asleep

17
Poetic text of any wedding ritual contains plants which function as mediators and nonverbal
comunicative signs, in situations when a direct contact between the young man and the girl is
hindered. For example, they communicate through plants, a rose or carnation (Karadi 1898: No.
71), or a golden apple (Karadi 1898: No. 65; 1973: No. 11). In a similar manner, a girl gives a
plant to a boy, as a sign of her inclination or acceptance of a marriage proposal (Karadi 1973:
No. 2, 21, 14, 28).
18
Versions: Karadi 1898: No. 66; 1973: No. 25, 26, 27, 73.
19
Striking, whipping and similar acts have an important role in a series of initiation rituals which
invove expelling evil spirits and purification. Ritual purification is a procedure of separation from
the previous status ( 2005: 200201; Li 1983: 117).
20
On universal mediating function of rose in Serbian lyrical poetry see 2009: 1948.
21
The separation ritual zone which lasted for a long time (Prop 1990: 184) is signalled here by the
nine-year sleep, which activates traditional notions about the number nine as being related with
the passage, conversion and change ( 1996: 339), which corresponds to the experience
of initiation.

44
WEDDING SONGS IN VUK KARADI S COMPILATIONS: FUNCTIONS AND ...

But when he came to his senses

, And woke up,
Young Mara was at his side
. Fairer than a fairy.
( 1973: No. 81)

The young mans search for a shade, in addition to reflecting a natural hu-
man need to hide from intense sun, can be read in an initiation key. It corresponds
with the belief that the sun is dangerous for a neophyte, so he should be placed in a
space without light. This also associates with ritual isolation.22 In Serbian tradition,
maple is related to the chthonic world, which is a locus of initiation sleep.23 At the
same time, the maple, as an embodiment of the tree of the world ( 2001:
164) enables the departure of the initiate to the other world as well as his return
from it.24 This is the initiates symbolical death, after which he is ready to be mar-
ried and this is why his return to reality includes contact with a girl.
Maturity and readiness to tie the marital knot are often related to cultivating
a plant, as in the following verses:
, Rade planted a vineyard.
, White vine and black,
, But a raven beset it,
. Started plucking grapes.
: Rade threatened the bird saying:
,, , , Do not pluck grapes, oh raven,
! I will shoot you, black bird!
: And the black bird raven answered him:
, , , Do not shoot me, Rade,
, , As you will need me -
, When you are to be married,
, To round up your wedding party,

22
This is evident in the hunting activity, which is typical for the initiation phase of ritual isolation of
the young man (from when he achieves sexual maturity until he is ready for marriage). During this
phase, young men exclusively engaged in hunting, which is again directly related to the acquisition
of magical power over nature (Prop 1990: 175187).
23
The relationship between the maple and the underworld is also confirmed by the customary burial
of the deceased in a coffin made of maplewood ( 1994: 101). One segment of this
custom has been preserved in the poem about a mother who is burying her son, and asks him: My
son Konda, is the earth heavy for you?/ Or is it maple planks that are heavy? ( , `
?/ ` ? 1841: No. 368).
24
Communication with three cosmic aspects, Earth, Heaven and the Underworld is also expressed
with a picture of a tree, which enables a transfer from one cosmic area into another (Elijade 2004:
3132).

45
 Tatjana Vujnovi

Under my right wing to put you

! And carry all of you to your bride!
( 1973: No. 69)25

This situationa lone young man growing grapevines in a space function-

ally separated from the rest of the world (a plant species that is usually grown
in it), and the announcement of a forthcoming weddingindicates separation.
Successful growing of a cultured species, as well as its magical growth (a real-
istic time period needed for the planted grapevine to give fruit is skipped in the
poem26) confirm that the young man has acquired the knowledge he needs, and can
manipulate nature (Prop 1990: 472477). Since the grapevine can also have the
meaning of change in the sense that grapes die in order to be transformed into
wine, which is analogous with the replacement of the temporary world with an
eternal and permanent one ( 1996: 229), the actual species mentioned
in the poem is suggestive of initiation. Furthermore, the young man spares the ra-
ven, which will help him when he goes to get married, which is analogous to the
fairytale motif of a grateful animal, which later helps the hero.27 This helper is, in
fact, a theriomorphic ancestor, which is in agreement with the traditional notion
of the raven as a chthonic animal.28 The circumstance of a boy feeding the raven,
although unenthusiastically, with the grapes he himself grew, brings associations
of the customary sacrifice of the first fruits to the ancestors ( 1973:
129). Grapes are especially suitable food for the ancestor, because the grapevine
is traditionally related to the other world. This is confirmed by the fact that it is
usually planted on graves ( 1894: 154), and also used in magical acts in the
cult of the dead ( 1994: 228). In archaic cultures the notion of fertility
is related to the world of the dead, because it is believed that the ancestors from the
other world affect the Earths fertility ( 1996: 231). The relationship
of the grapevine to the cult of the dead is most likely one consequence of the be-
lief in the power of the grapevine to secure continuation of the family line, which
is why it was used in magical acts for the birth of children.29 Manipulation of the
25
Karadis compilation contains two more versions of this wedding poem with no mention of
plants, and one mentions a falcon instead of a raven ( 1841: No. 15; 1973: No. 70). In her
analysis of these poems, Zoja Karanovi indicated some forgotten symbolisms of the raven and the
function of this bird as a helper and a guide in the process of initiation (2011: 125-140).
26
E. Leach characterises this phase as a period of ritual timelessness (Li 1983: 118).
27
On the motif of a grateful animal which is a heros helper see Prop 1990: 237242.
28
On raven as an animal related to death and the world of the dead, see 2001: 109; 2005: 401-402.
29
In order not to be barren, women used to tie a white vine around their waist (Lovreti 1902: 179).
It was also believed that reproductive problems of the men can be solved if a vine is untied in
vineyard (Simi 1964: 402, 404).

46
WEDDING SONGS IN VUK KARADI S COMPILATIONS: FUNCTIONS AND ...

grapevine before the marital knot is tied suggests that the elementary purpose of
marriage is to secure descendants. This is also an endeavour to affect fertility in
humans by magical means.
In the following section of another poem, a young man similarly plants a fir, a
grapevine, basil, roses, and an orange tree, alters the flow of the living water and leaves
a small girl to guard them all. After three years, when he returns, he cannot approach it:
, For the height of the thin fir
For the width of the thin vine
For the smell of the basil
And a beautiful tiny rose
And the width of the small orange
And the beauty of the girl
. And the great living water.
( 1898: No. 73)

The plants the young man planted can be associated with the motif of a dif-
ficult task from fairytales. In order to get married, the hero is asked to plant a magi-
cal garden, and its growth and prosperity confirm that he has acquired the skill of
controlling nature (Prop 1990: 472477). This garden, with the fir as the tree of the
world30, the living water and the guardian, expresses an idea of the center, which
cannot be approached by the unenlightened.31 In one version of this poem32, the

30
This interpretation of fir as the tree of the world is also confirmed in the following version: I
planted a fir in the rock,/ and left it for a year/ and left Lenca to guard it [...] the fir spread out
beautifully/ From her top small pearls drip/ From her core white bees fly/ From its roots the cold
Danube flows! ( ,/ ,/
[...] ,/ ,/
,/ ! ( 1951: No. 98). The motif of planting
a tree which functions as the tree of the world can be found in other wedding poems as well. A
young man thus plants and cares for an apple tree with a silver trunk, golden branches and pearly
leaves under which his wedding guests will one day sit ( 1841: No. 108). For those in a
traditional society, nothing can begin until a fulcrum the centre is established (Elijade 2004:
20). In these verses, it is the act of planting and caring for the apple tree, which marks the initial
locus and becomes the orientation axis for the the wedding partys future itinerary.
31
For a pre-modern man, living water is one metaphysical and religious reality: it contains life, strength
and eternity. This water is not available to anyone and it often flows next to a miraculous tree, which
is one concretisation of the tree of the world. The trunk, as a universal pillar, embodies the relation
between the worlds of above and below, a spring of absolute reality, and as such is located at the Center
of the world. The Center is difficult to get to, it often has a guardian and only the chosen few, the
enlighted ones, i.e. those who have passed the initiation, can reach it (Elijade 2011: 236238, 445447).
32
In the Vienna edition of Karadis compilation there are four versions of this poem in the chapter
entitled (Love poems and various other female poems;
1841: No. 499, 500, 501, 502).

47
 Tatjana Vujnovi

young man shows that he is the one who has acquired knowledge, i.e. that he has
the key to this garden: he drinks from the living water, smells the fruit and finally
approaches the girl ( 1841: No. 501).
These verses do not exclude the possibility for girls to perform magical acts
in order to foster the growth of plants. Traditional communities held that women
were analogous to the Earth. It was believed that women, as carriers of biological
power to give birth and as the first cultivators of domestic plants, knew the secret
of creation and possessed magical powers which they could use to affect the world
of flora (Elijade 1991: 35, 36; 2004: 105107). Among the Serbs, the cult of plants
belonged to woman, and it was believed that all vegetation depended on her magi-
cal actions ( 1973: 713). 33
These beliefs are manifested in wedding poems about the garden which a
girl plants and cares for by herself. The process of growing a plant is often analo-
gous with the preparation of her gifts ( 1841: No. 36; 1898: No. 27, 28,
38; 1973: No. 3, 5, 8, 31, 54). While still sowing the plants, the girl intends each to
one member of the grooms family, creating a map of social and kinship relations:
Young Mara arose early
. To plant flowers in her garden
` , As she plants each flower,
: Thus she intends each
For the members of her husbands family:
, For the father basil
, For the mother marshmallow,
, For the brothers carnation
, For their wives tiny oregano,
, For the sisters red roses,
. For her Vaso hyssop.
( 1973: No. 3)

It was believed that all the plant species which the bride selected and intended
for a particular member of her husbands family, had the magical power to affect other
people34, so it is possible that this was an instance of a magical act with the intention
of influencing and regulating relations in the future community. This conclusion is fur-
ther supported with the choice of space where she prepared her gifts, the garden, which
the Slavs considered the most suitable place for magical acts ( 2009: 532),
as well as the time when she did this: Young Mara arose early (

33
This correlation between woman and vegetation, i.e. nature in general, is often explicitly stated in
verbal manifestations and acts performed in various rites (Lazarica and Kraljicas rites, wedding
rituals, etc; cf. Joki, Vujnovi 2013).
34
This is confirmed by the use of these plants in love magic (cf. 1912; 1994).

48
WEDDING SONGS IN VUK KARADI S COMPILATIONS: FUNCTIONS AND ...

). In another variant, the time is even more specific: The dawn has not yet
coloured the day in white,/ Danica35 has not beamed yet ( `,/
; 1898: No. 38). This is the moment just before the
dawn, which, according to traditional Slavic beliefs, is a transition phase when magi-
cal acts are the most effective ( 2001: 102). Finally, this supposition is further
confirmed by the verses performed when the wedding party started off for the future
home, stating that the bride brought good gifts, mostly of endearing kind,/ for the fu-
ture home to be peaceful,/ home peaceful and obedient ( ,/
,/ ; 1898: No. 16).
The choice of a floral gift for her betrothed was most often based on prin-
ciples of etymological magic, thus the girl prepared miloduh (hyssop;
1973: No. 3, 8) dragoljub (nasturtium; 1898: No. 27) and karanfil (carna-
tion; 1973: No. 54) in order to ensure love and harmony in the marriage.36
Likewise, in a peom which used to be performed when the wedding party came for
the bride, the girl planted a gift - basil, a flower of great reputation, with the power
to foretell the future ( 1912: 44), which she used to tell fortunes:
, A girl was expecting wedding guests
, Planted basil the whole second day
: Wishing luck upon her beloved
, If good luck finds him
, Basil will grow this evening
, By midnight be consecrated
. And at dawn braided.
( 1841: No. 36)

In these verses, divination is done on the basis of magical growth and pro-
gress which is often ascribed to the individual flowers the girl planted, but also to
the wider space where she planted with her own hand (cf. 1841: No. 66;
1898: No. 28, 74). Successful growth and abundance of her garden, analogous to a
difficult task in a fairy tale showed that she had matured and mastered the forces of
growth and fertility, and therefore was ready for the marital bond.
What she planted was most often destroyed by the groom or his wedding guests37,
as in the poem that was performed in front of the girls home before the guests arrived:

35
i.e. Venus
36
The very names of these plants create associations with a certain magical action: miloduh
(milovanje=caressing, mila=dear) has the power to incite caressing and make the girl dear to her
man, whereas karanfil (karati = quarrel) is given for happines and harmony: karafnila da se ne
karate (a carnation so as not to quarrel; 1994: 111, 183).
37
The liminal phase of ritual reality included invented obstacles which the grooms guests were to
overcome in front of the brides home. In the verbal manifestation of the ritual, the garden which

49
 Tatjana Vujnovi

Do not allow this, do not allow this, girl,/ A stag walked into your home,/ Grazed on
your white basil ( , , ,/ ,/
( 1841: No. 17), or in the verses: There goes the young gentleman
Vaso/ on his great steed,/ into her garden/ Maras garden he destroyed (
/ ,/ ,/
; 1973: No. 3).38 The symbolism of the life cycle of plants,
from sowing and growing until destruction (i.e. death) is related to notions about the
cyclical restoration of vegetation, and has associations with dying and rebirth. In this
manner, through a floral drama, an analogy is established between the life cycle of the
vegetation and the initiation experience of symbolical death. At the same time, events
referring to the destruction of the girls garden announce sexual relations, since motifs
like ripping out flowers and stamping on a garden or a vineyard have the symbolism
of deflowering and coitus in Slavic traditional culture ( 2001: 501502). The veg-
etative code thus alludes to the first marital night, which as a physical confirmation of
marriage is the climax of the aggregation phase.
This analysis of selected wedding poems from Karadis compilation
shows that floral world of wedding poetry forms a specific system of signs, whose
functions depend on the specific features of the species as well as on the particular-
ities of the situation in which the plant is used. Examples from our corpus are sug-
gestive of a symbolical potential of the floral world in the analysed genre, which
are characteristic for Serbian and Slavic traditional culture. A more comprehensive
and thorough analysis of this phenomena would require a greater number of poems
from different Serbian linguistic areas, in order to establish a true representation of
floral diversity in wedding poetry and discover potential similarities or differences
in the function and meaning of certain species.

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, (1898). . ,
. . . : -
.
, (1973). -
. . . . .
: . . I.
, . (1982). ,, -
. . 9: 95102.
51
 Tatjana Vujnovi

, (1894). ,, .
. 6: 141166.
Li, Edmund (1983). Kultura i komunikacija. Translated by B. Hlebec. Beograd:
Prosveta. (Edmund Leach (1976). Culture and Communication. Oxford
University Press)
Lovreti, Josip (1902). ,,Otok. Narodni ivot i obiaji. Zbornik za narodni ivot i
obiaje Junih Slavena. VII: 57206.
, . (2001). ,, . . -
. . . , . . :
Zepter Book World: 163165.
Prop, Vladimir J. (1990). Historijski korijeni bajke. Translated by V. Flaker. Sara-
jevo: Svjetlost. (Vladimir Propp (1946). Istorieskie korni volsebnoj skazki.
Leningrad: Leningradskij gosudarstvennyj universitet)
, (1996).
o. : .
Simi, Stevan (1964). ,,Narodna medicina u Kratovu. Zbornik za narodni ivot i
obiaje Junih Slavena. 42: 309445.
, (1912).
. . : ,,. .
, (1951). . ,
: CLXXV.
, M. (2001). ,,. . -
. . . , . , : Zepter
Book World: 100102.
, (1911). ,, . -
: XVII.
, B. (2009). ,,. : -
5- . . . . : -
. . IV: 469470.
, . (2001). ,,, ,,. .
. . . , . , -
: Zepter Book World: 4647, 590591.
, (1973). . . .
: .
, (1994). .
. . : , , , ,
...

52
Sneana D. Samardija
University of Belgrade
Faculty of Philology
[email protected]

FROM THE HERBARIUM OF SERBIAN FOLK

(GENRE SYSTEMS AND BELIEFS ABOUT PLANTS) 1

ABSTRACT: Beliefs about trees and plants from widest cultural corpus are stylised in
various ways in folk poetry and naratron. Numerous roles of plants reveal influences of
genre systems, layers of tradition, dynamic relationships between types of fantasy and
realia of a certain area. The stability of rich semantic potential of trees and plants does not
diminish the flexibility of their meaning, which may be realised in various ways, spanning
from ritual and magical practice to figurative dimension of formulae and expressions. Veg-
etation in folk prose may have the purpose of expressing the old basic distinction between
tales and legends, but also the apparently simple Karadis distinction between male
and female stories.

KEY WORDS: folk naration, trees, plants, ritual, beliefs, stylistic figures.

When the course of civilisation is analysed in terms of how humans used

plants, the change from eating raw or rotten plants to having them cooked or baked
was an important stage. People began to grow their plants and this intensified the
adversity between nature and culture. The new knowledge was paid dearly hu-
mans lost their immortality (Levi Stros 1983 I: 164; II: 355). Archaic basis for
these notions in Slavic and Serbian tradition was influenced by the process of
Christianisation, but the cult of trees and plants survived it in various ways: in
agrarian rituals and rites of passage, beliefs, magic deeds and folk healing prac-
tices. The range of possible meanings also became richer: from toponyms, female
names to formulas and phrases based on floral symbols. However, magical and
ritual practice, systems of taboo rules and other ancient elements are not stylised
in the same way in folk jeners. In lyrical poems, for example, flora is an active
structural and semantic segment, whereas in legends and tales it has a different
function.

1
This paper resulted from research undertaken as part of the project Serbian Folklore in Intercultural
Code (Institute for Literature and Art, Belgrade), which is supported by Serbian Ministry of
Science and Education.

53
 Sneana D. Samardija

Cooked Beans and Baked Pumpkin

Ritual, magical and figurative potential of plants is least expressed in hu-

morious tales. What is accentuated is practical purpose of plants, i.e. as food. Cu-
linary specialties, however, as well as raw fruits may have special roles. Bizarre
and comic situations unmask human nature. This is well exemplified in a series
of Serbian folk stories, where, to cite a few examples, a miller and his best man
both hope to profit from the same satchel of wheat; hodja blows on watermelon in
the field because he had previously burnt his tongue on a baked pumpkin, a guest
would rather try ajvar than beans, disregarding the hostesss mention of high price
she had to pay for the former; or a braggart would praise his cabbage, and not say
a word about another mans bacon.2
The favourite topic of humorious tales is human stupidity. A character may
plant salt, or bullets, pellets, needles and wool.3 The popular character Nasreddin
has features which depend on the context of improvisation. In the deep shadow of
an oak tree, Nasreddin Hodja compares a small fruit of the tree and of a thin vine.
His dissatisfaction with the divine order of things changes when an acorn falls on
his head. A gypsy is usually caught in the theft of onion4, and a liar grows giant
vegetables.5 The size of the fruit is prominent when a tsar aims at his subject with
a fig he had brought as a gift.6 During his wifes labour, Nareddin throws nuts all
over the room, in order to tempt the baby out and shorten the labour of the mother.7

2
1987: 224, 2566, 1543, 5999; 1868: 113, 283.
3
ah 1200: 1868: 316, 317, 378; 1883: 94, 94-95, 103; imatovi 1884: 118;
Basariek 1887: 50; 1893: 78. (Variants from compilations from Serbian and Croatian
linguistic regions.)
4
ah 1624: 1987: 1323; , 1868: 79; Stojanovi, 1879: 7; Blagaji 1886: 68-69;
1894: 85.
5
AaTh 1960 D: 1834: 48; 1868: 176; Stojanovi 1879: 16; Mulabdi 1893: 19-20;
1927: 480.
6
sh 1689; Stojanovi 1879: 83; 1883: 36-37, 194; Basariek 1887: 59-60; Mulabdi
1893: 44; 1894: 73, 192. The reaction reflects characteristics of those in power (aga, tsar,
kadija) and is at odds with the ethnographic meaning of figs, which are a sacrificial offering and a
sign of respect. In this story, however, the fig eventually saves the subjects life, so there are archaic
layers of meaning present in this critique of the society. The fig is believed to posess protective
and apotropic power ( 1985: 220). Tree is present in the fertility and birth cult and
is related to abundance, power, immortality and knowledge ( 1990: 204-205; Chevalier
Gheerbrnt 1983: 612). The semantic focus is however on the absurd circumstances, i.e. social
relationships where the position of power is stronger than justice, customs and laws.
7
1894: 23. Nuts have important roles in the cult of the dead and in the fertility cult, during
Christmas and weddings. When women had difficult labour, the child used to be tempted out with
offerings ( 1980: 110; 1986: 194), and the labouring woman was sometimes

54
 FROM THE HERBARIUM OF SERBIAN FOLK

A Gypsy reads fortune from nuts invoking welfare, but when he realizes that its
core is rotten, quickly and easily he changes his prayers.8
An oak, nut, pumpkin, fig, wheat are all symbolically rich. Norms of a par-
ticular genre spontaneously affect the process of semantic substitution. Even in
complex circumstances such as the birth of a child, reading fortunes, sowing, hav-
ing guests, ritual and magical complex is subdued, and ritual tension is replaced
with comical elements.
The same processes are not as easily noticeable in swindler novellas because
of a more developed plot structure. Following his daughters advice, a poor man
would plant a cooked bean in an attempt to answer the tsars impossible request
( 1988: 25). A trickster would sell a bag of cones instead of nuts (
1988: 47) and the characters named osa and a child would take part in a lying
competition for a bread made of freshly ground wheat. A series of these lies is
about millet9 dropped into the sea. It grows and ripens in heaven, so the God him-
self harvests it, makes bread out of it, then soaks it in hot milk and eats it.
The process of ascribing new meanings to concepts as a consequence of
genre norms takes a different route in fables. It is easier because the poetical sys-
tem rests on a translation of literal meaning (Blek 1986: 65). This type of seman-
tic substitution depends on the shift of focus from wider ethnographic foundation
to human relationships.

Sour Grapes

Plants are rarely leading characters of fables. It is not physical characteris-

tics of trees and plants that are essential for characterisation, but their dialogue. Al-
though there is evident contrast between a reed and a lombardy poplar or the taste
of a rose hip and a tart wild apple, the allegory is dependent on their conversation
and a twist in the storyline. A storm pulls out a tall tree; an apple gloats when its
trunk is filled with honey. Since the moral could be ambiguous, wild rose makes
it clear that whatever is sweet in the apple tree comes from another source. The

sprayed with nuts ( 1985: 287). In such a ritual and magical context, the story about
Nasreddin is indicative of the complexities of transformations taking place in a culture. A forgotten,
insufficiently clear act has gone a long way from its primary role until it became this unreasonable
act, consistent with hodjas typical characteristics.
8
1987: 3544; 1883: 83; 1985: 286-287.
9
1988, 44. Ritual acts where millet has a sacrifical function are carried out during Christian
holidays and weddings. The purpose is protection from demons and amorous enchantments.
Although replaced with wheat and corn, it used to be sacrificially placed into foundations, so the
traces of it have been found in the remnants of cities of Sokol, Svrljig, Koznik and Markos castle
( 1985: 193-195).

55
 Sneana D. Samardija

third version varies the metaphor about the lovers longing hyacinth and daffodil
( 1975: 553). As opposed to lyrical miniatures, the only features of flow-
ers mentioned in fables are those analogous to characteristics of women.10
A humans need to belittle that which is unattainable is often expressed
through a relationship between a plant and an animal. A fox cannot reach a grape
or a rose hip and therefore speaks disparagingly about the desired fruit. The change
of actors does not affect the context, as neither does the twist in the example where
the bear cannot reach pears. The bear is also the victim of its greed and stupidity. It
thinks dogwood will be the first to ripen and waits to take all the fruits for himself,
and therefore misses all other fruits.11
Whereas typical characteristics of animals are in the service of allegorical ex-
pression of human nature, plants do not have such characteristics. Plants do not change
their habitat and characteristics, so their main function is to demask the hero. In the
stories about animals, functions and meanings of plants are even more peripheral.
Sections of plot are situated in the forest, shrubbery, garden or field. Trees
have the role of a badly chosen hideout, whether it is a wolf resting on a stump
( 1898: 74-77) or a bear which falls from the treetop because it was fright-
ened by a cat ( 1988: 49; 1929: 9). A branch of any tree
comes in handy for a hero to get out of a ditch, and a rough-hewn club is a lethal
weapon when one needs to protect himself from bullies ( 1927: 7;
1988: 12).
The humorios situation prevails over ritual and magical meaning. Still, there
are no rules in this simple structure. Sometimes, an episode is isolated from the
ethnographic core, as is the case with a detail about a rooster drooping on an apple
tree before it outsmarts a fox ( 1898: 96-98), where the apple tree is com-
pletely irrelevant for the story. But when a bear runs up a pear tree ( 1988:
49) several associations are made with certain realia, a figurative plan of expres-
sion12 and beliefs that are related to this particular tree.
In this prose genre, neither flora nor fauna is divided according to standard
oppositions. Domestic animals turn into hajduks, members of company come from
both groups, and beasts do agriculture together ( 1988: 49). Analogies with
the world of humans lead to allegory and humour, as both can be created during the
development of plot and characters. The comic twist dominates the animal stories
where it neutralises both symbolic and ethnographic component of these notions.
Different processes are at work under the influence of a certain type of fantasy.

10
1883: 42, 39, 23-24.
11
ah 59: 1987: 1718, 2202; 1868: 390, 415; 1883: 32-33, 99, 105;
1987: 19-20.
12
1987: 198, 1010, 1054, 1695, 55, 1836, 3159.

56
 FROM THE HERBARIUM OF SERBIAN FOLK

Dangerous forests and miraculous gardens

In accordance with the fairytale poetics, scenery is not described, and the
characters depend on the space. When three brothers go on a journey to achieve the
same goal, they are first challenged by realistic or imaginary inhabitants of forests.
One of them is a yard long beard, a foot tall man 13, who is noted for his chthonic at-
tributes. The hero of the story overpowers him by catching his beard in the cleft of a
tree. Following the experiential logic of his own community, the narrator chooses
a beech or an oak. This indirectly shows the abilities of the hero and the power of the
strange old man. During the night, the demon restores his strength, uproots the tree
and, running away, leaves a trail leading to the next phase of the fabula.
Choice of detail depends on the size of evergreen species. Archaic notions
from the cult of the dead are less visible. Beech is closer to demonic trees, fair-
ies are born on its branches, and the hollow trunks are the devils hideout. Beech
tree, however, is included in other ritual acts, as well, which are more typical of the
cult of the oak ( 1985: 37-38; 240-245). Oak is considered a deity and
therefore a holy tree among the Serbs, and its branches are used in the Christmas
Eve rituals. Neither Christian nor pagan notions are of primary importance for the
plot in a fairy tale, but they enrich the meaning of stylised tests during liminary
rites (Prop 1990; 2005).
The heros journey is directed toward tree as the axis mundi, which rises out
of the underworld, and absorbs archaic notions from the mythological complex
(/ 1988; 2011: 535-550). In one of the episodes, what
is tested is the heros ability to be merciful: having saved chicks from a snake, he
earns the gratitude of his helper (the eagle) which carries the hero from the under-
world to the world of the living. The death and resurrection connect the initiation
tests with agricultural ritual complex, but cyclical rebirth of vegetation and differ-
ent understandings of life after death are represented in a specific way (Meletinski
1981: 222-223) and serve the poetics of the genre. Such meaning is indirectly sug-
gested by the trees too, although giant trunks form a part of a one-dimensional set
and the trees do not acquire fantastic features.
Memories of ancient cults are observable in the way the commitment to enter
marriage is expressed. Newlyweds give their oaths in the middle of the mountain
above a few straws laid on a dry tree stump ( 1995: 14). Going around
dry hornbeam has the same purpose ( 1927: 54, 519-520; 2001:
13
ah 1961: 301, 301 , 301; 1843: 9; Valjavec 1858/1890 (I): XXI, XXII; Stojanovi
1867: XXIII; Plohl-Herdvigov 1868: 12; 1869: 9; Bosanske 1870: 5; 1871:
9; Mikulii 1876: 79-87; Tordinac 1883: 7; Blagaji 1886: 80-96; Strohal 1886: 12; Basariek
1888: 54-57; 1895/1896: 53-68; 1897: 15-29; 1899: 88-104;
1927: 10, 12, 498-499.

57
 Sneana D. Samardija

74); after this kind of exposition, the main motive of plots is female infidelity. Due
to the abstract style of fairytales (Liti 1994: 28-40) trees need not be named, espe-
cially when the semantic potential of the space is expressed. The heroes (twins, an
uncle and a nephew etc.) split company and drive a knife into the tree trunk at the
crossroads. If the knife rusts, it is taken as an announcement of death of a brother
or a cousin ( 1988: 29; ah 1961: 303).
Flowers occupy the borderline position mostly as a member of a tripartite
series of difficult tasks. The focus is not on describing a mysterious flower from the
giants garden, but on provoking a lovers longing ( 2009: 8). An un-
faithful wife conspiring with her lover (a demon, a devil) usually demands plants
and fruits from a dangerous place. A reverse process of challenge in this world
loses elements of fantasy and acquires metaphorical dimension. In a fairytale, the
tsar would test his daughters-in-law asking them to bring him the most beautiful
flower. The oldest girl would choose a wild rose, the middle one a carnation, a
flower denoting fertility and birth but also death and disappearance ( 1990:
220). The winner would be the youngest bride from a foreign land. She would
possess important knowledge and come to the father-in-law with an ear of wheat
( 1995: 30), as a symbol of fertility of both vegetation and humans.
When the border between the living and the dead is one of the foci of the
story, immortal tsardom of eternal youth and oblivion is surrounded by the waste
sad field. On the other side of the dividing line a flower would grow. As soon as
the hero picks it, his memories return, and like all other living creatures, he cannot
avoid death any more (- 1891: 3).
Belief in shadowy trees and plants is stylised through a type of metamorpho-
sis, by which a higher force protects the innocently persecuted. A tree or a flower
would grow on their grave. This miracle corresponds to parallelisms in poetry14
and proverbs, but the figurative dimension of the expression is neutralised by genre
characteristics of fairytales.
Within this poetic system, sceneries, animals and plants from the real world
are marked as miraculous with an epithet, when unusual characteristics are as-
cribed to them or with, a broken trope (a hyperbole, comparison, metaphor). The
combination of an epithet and a noun in a fantasy15 is sometimes strengthened with

14
/ /Two pines grew side by side/ Between
the a thintop fir (brothers and a sister, II 1988: 5); : ;
!/Hey, girl, you tame rose; red rose ( 1975: 422, 594). The motif and the belief
are even more explicitly stylised as a foreboding of death in ballads: ,
,/ , /The rose smells sweet, my dear mother/Rose smells sweet, it
is Omers soul ( 1975: 343).
15
This strenghteing is achieved with accumulated epithets and concepts, mythical creatures and
with a marked space: : , ,

58
 FROM THE HERBARIUM OF SERBIAN FOLK

a gradation (copper, silver and golden forest), but even more often, golden apples
adorn faraway gardens on the other side of the border and in the tsars gardens. A
shorter process also indicates miraculous features, as when the tsar has a golden
apple tree in front of his castle, which blossoms and ripens and is harvested in a
night ( 1988: 4).
In this kind of setting, the golden apple tree is a part of the scenery of the
fairytale, a gift of the helper or an ornament. But when it becomes an attribute of
a girl faster than a horse, who is the suns sister, golden apples announce death.16
In the process of coordinating the picture and the formula with the characteristics
of the genre, in poetically expressed sequences of the rite of passage, golden ap-
ples are compared with interrupted life of a young person or are used to stress the
vitalising strength of the wedding atmosphere:
: A golden apple grew in front of Rankos castle
, , With a silver trunk, golden branches,
, , Golden branches, pearly leaves,
, . Pearly leaves, coral apples.
( 1975: 108)

In the same way a cosmic tree connects the worlds, the wedding itself is
enough for the bride and groom to acquire Gods mercy and benevolence of the
ancestors.
Both the miraculous and the figurative are expressed in this stylistic and lin-
guistic combination, and the two concepts (gold+apple) form a rich semantic field.
Which of the meanings would become dominant depends on the poetic system.
Motifs and formulas are not just elements taken from the registry of the miracles;
they also reveal genre conventions which influence a particular understanding of
pictures as parts of the miraculous world or the metamorphosis of a miracle into
miraculous features of words.
In ritual and love poems, quince, orange and sour cherry have the same
symbolic potential as apple, and golden trunks and fruits of the apple tree are
sometimes alternated with golden pears. Although nothing is significantly changed
at the level of functions and plot, chthonic features of the fruits are more clearly
expressed. These are especially dominant when a fabulate is stylised about a man,
most often a blacksmith, who grows an ordinary pear tree next to his house. Al-
though it has neither golden branches nor fruits, this is where devils, witches and

, / A vilas mountain
touched the moon, had golden leaves and silver treetrunks and a big flame and smoke from the fire
( 1988 : 6).
16
1988: 4, 24; 1927: 50, 57; 1995: 7; 1975: 232.
2009: 282-283.

59
 Sneana D. Samardija

the death itself would come ( 1939). The complex of beliefs from the
cult of the dead is also indicated by various interpretations of the cult of St. Sava
as a herdsman of wolves, who from the top of the pear tree decides on the destiny
of the wolves (and men; 1927/1990: 262).
The power that a man has over animal and plant species is coordinated with
the style of the fairytale ( 2009: 45). The transformation of the wild into
the tame is sometimes even explicitly a task that cannot be accomplished. The ex-
ample with the vineyard also shows how the fantasy of the fairytale depends on the
realia of a certain area. The long period of growing grapes and making vine from
the planted grapevine is reduced. The hero must plant the vineyard and in seven
days produce vine from its grapes (ah 531; 1988: 12). A miraculous
girl and basil help break natural laws and the outcome is the same as when the time
given to accomplish the task is shortened to only one night ( 1988: 14). 17
The difficulty of obstacles and challenging tasks is also expressed in that
the heroes are spatially far away, so they would bring a cure for their father from a
faraway tsardom. Just like special water, the grapevine, grapes and vine also have
the power to heal. Losing or returning the great grapevine which gives more than
300 litres of vine ( 1927: 50) symbolically includes both the age of
the father and the testing of the sons. In order to make a full life circle, however,
the hero dies and is resurrected again. Similarity with the process of vegetation is
conspicuous at this level, all the more so since the youngest brother believes his
own death (plants in autumn and winter) to be a dream; disguised as a beggar, he
goes back home (beginning of the sprouting in spring) and then marries a golden
girl (blossoming of plants).
Ritual and symbolic potential of the plot can be related to the rhythm of lu-
nar phases, but it is certainly influenced by genre characteristics of fairytales. The
meanings of vineyard, grapevine and vine are secondary to stylisation, regardless
of whether they are based on a Pagan or Christian background. Techniques used to
ascribe miraculous characteristics to grapes are obviously different, and both the
category of chronotope and hyperbole are activated. Only one grape is enough to
feed the tsars army ( 1842: 3). The vineyard is metaphorically described
as a weeping mountain ( 1927: 77), but in the genre of the novel the
focus is not on the unusual scenery but on the wisdom of the bride.
The meaning of the same picture is conditioned by the genre. This is exqui-
sitely revealed in the figurative meaning of an expression, as in: When the weep-
17
The same process formula in the structure of wedding poem has a more complex meaning. The
basil that has only been planted in the evening would sprout in the morning ( 1975:
36). Planting and blossoming of vegetation symbolise readiness for marriage, and the connection
between plants, the bride and the groom is customary in lyrical comparisons, parallelisms and
metaphors.

60
 FROM THE HERBARIUM OF SERBIAN FOLK

ing willow gives grapes/dry maple gives apples (i.e. never; 1987: 1902).
Elimination of ambiguities and the transfer into the sphere of the fairytale fantasy
is especially noticeable when difficult tasks are to be performed. The opponent
would demand apples growing on a birch, maple and beech tree on the other side
of the border in the garden of the devil and other demons ( 1927: 54,
519-520).
Only in fairytales a tree would give quite an ordinary fruit, whose power is
revealed too late. Only when a man tastes the fruit (an apple, a pear) the miracle
would happen and the horns would grow on ones head or fall off. This detail also
confirms the relation between the expression or the picture with the context. This
is so because, apart from the horn of abundance, the horns are representative of a
young moon and the attribute of gods, mediators and demons (Apollo, Dionysus,
Messiah, devil; Chevaler-Gheerbrant 1983: 563-565). They denote victims of mar-
ital infidelity, and in a fantastic twist in fairytales they easily become the deserved
reward or punishment. Fantastic elements aside, however, the fruit of an apple tree
makes it possible for the hero to understand or learn important messages. Split in
two equal or unequal halves, the apple reveals honesty of a friend and intentions of
the villain ( 1927: 45).
A tree will not grow in an unclean land, fairies dwellings (
1927: 90) or where natural processes are prevented by treasures buried under roots
( 1995: 34). The fertility cult is based on the symbolic potential of par-
ticular plant species in fairytales a seed of an (golden) apple or an orange from
which miraculous heroes can grow. When conceived under special circumstances,
with the magical help of seeds (pepper, wheat, rice, peas, beans), the child is physi-
cally different from others, and the description is supplemented by a picturesque
diminutive nomenclature: Bibere, Biberi, Pasuljko (Pepperling, Beanling)
etc. In addition to miniscule sons of great strength (aTh 1961: 300, 301, 700),
there are also virgins who originated from plants. In a fairytale, a woman gives
birth to a stalk of basil ( 1988 : 16), a stolen flower transforms into a girl
with golden hair, and she becomes victim of the tsars mistress. She would then be
revived by an old woman leading a seemingly ordinary life, who uses magic and
secret power of plants.
The girls born from an apple or an orange belong to the same passive type.
Fantastic origin is not explained, but they must die and resurrect before they get
married in this world. The happy twist (ah 1961: 408) is conditioned by a mirac-
ulous healing or reviving of girls, and female characters (fairies, the Suns mother,
God Mother) have the role of the helper. Phases of initiation and the symbolism of
agrarian cycles are also stylised by means of these models.
Death and resurrection are dealt with in the types of fairytales about the un-
wanted stepdaughters (ah 1961: 431, 480, 706). After the testing (and/or hard-
61
 Sneana D. Samardija

ship) is over, the girls receive their permanent reward either by marrying or acquir-
ing new abilities (golden hands, tears turning into pearls, words turning into golden
roses; 1988: 35). These elements of fantasy confirm the complexity of
the poetic system, whose norms are related both with the ritual basis (
2011: 111-126) and the semantic potential of the stylistic figures. Whereas rewards
announce the end of the narrative sequence, violent death of golden twins marks
the beginning of a series of transformations.18
Metamorphoses of daughters of supernatural beings are not motivated in the
same way. They run away with the abductor of their own accord, and in order to
save themselves, they transform into objects, animals and plants most often the
rose. Deeply suppressed animistic beliefs, stylised in the final formulas in ballads19
are secondary to the denouement of the fairytale and the fertility impulse.
Another type of transformation also rests on the relation between living be-
ings, birth and death. Unusual fruits grow from buried animal bodies (three eels,
a snake). In addition to objects (a sabre; 1988: 29) which are decorative
elements of narration, the hero acquires enormous wealth. Although a man inad-
vertently disobeys instructions received from the Moons sister/snake, he buries
her properly under the threshold of his house:
After some time, a huge tree grew in front of his house, which grew golden coins in
one night...
(ja 2009: 4)

The opposite example also has the form of a miracle, but from the perspec-
tive of the fairytale characters, which is not typical for this genre. What is stressed
in such cases is disregard for the laws of nature, as in the example where a tree
blossoms, but does not yield fruit. The main hero usually learns about the reasons
for this infertility and how to restore the natural order of things from the creature
18
Trees (i.e. a poplar, a pine) grow from their bodies, and when these are cut down and burnt, a
series of metamorphosis begins. ah 1961: 707; 1842: 11; Valjavec 1858/1890 (I):
III, XII, (IV), XXXV; Plohl-Herdvigov 1868: 25; Bosanske 1870: 2; 1988 : 10, 11;
1871: 19; 1871: IV; Mikulii 1876: 23-28, 130-134; Strohal 1886: 1, 3, 80;
Dvorovi 1888: 81-94, 94-97; 1899: 20; 1927: 63, 64, 522-523;
1988: 65, 66, 508-509; 1995: 6, 7; 2009: 7, 8, 113-115.
19
In the final twist in the storline in ballads, plants grow from young bodies as a confirmation of
their innocence:
,/ A - From the boy a green pine
grew,/ and from the girl, a red rose ( 1975: 341, 342, 345);
, / Where a drop of her blood fell, /
Immortelle and basil grew ( II 1988: 5);
, / - From Momir a green pine grew,/
From Grozdana a grapevine ( II 1988: 31).

62
 FROM THE HERBARIUM OF SERBIAN FOLK

who has the power to determine fate or from the devil. The place where the tree
grows is then marked as unclean (belonging to fairies; 1927: 90) or
there is a treasure buried under the roots20 ( 1995: 34). Still, absolute
negation of a real world experience cannot be negated even in a fairytale a tree
cannot walk. It grows, blossoms, gives fruits, sometimes it is uprooted, fell or cut
down, a lightning can strike it or it can dry out, hollow trunks and treetops can
shelter demons or outcasts, but they always remain in the same place. An explana-
tion for such a destiny is given in legends, which say that the trees remain tied to
the ground because of human wantonness. 21
While the language of flowers has various roles and nuances in love mes-
sages, magic and wreathes for weddings and funerals, in fairytales plants rarely
possess the power of speech. Only when a hero knows arcane language can he
have other abilities by analogy and hear everything the grass says (
1927: 56). Arcane language is most often a gift of a grateful tsar of the snakes,
but plants from the wild, virgin nature can also give similar power. Special forest
strawberries ( 1927: 17) give the hero the power to talk with the earth,
and if one picks fern on Ivans Day22, he or she can understand languages of all
living creatures ( 1927: 61). Time of the year is also very important,
as well as special rules, which, if obeyed, would lead to mysterious knowledge.
Much like other typical ambiguous symbols, plants acquire both positive
and negative markers in the fairytale structure. This depends on the region, the
character they are related to and the narrative context. Traces of archaic layers
of culture are suggested indirectly plants are used by females (fairies, witches,
fortune-tellers) and depending on the lunar cult. While growing, the Moon pro-
duces medicinal plants, and when shrinking, poisonous ( 1990: 40). This
is why various potions made of herbs, flowers and fruits influence fairytale heroes
in different ways. Those who drink them may fall into deep sleep, die or be healed.
Plants do not work on their own, but are used by mediators. Their effect does not
result from their permanent characteristics; it depends on who gives them away, an
adversary or a helper, with a friendly or unfriendly attitude toward the main hero.

20
The same picture has a completely different function in the structure of the legend about buried
treasure (Karanovi 1989).
21
Stojanovi 1867: VII; Basariek 1888: 32-33; 1927: 206; 1988: 366, 553;
2003: 12, 275-276; 2009: 28, 128.
22
In addition to numerous ritual actions on Ivanjdan (also called St. Jovan, The plant picker, takes
place on June 24th/July 7th) forest and meadow herbs are braided into wreaths with various functions
(from romantic enchantment to healing; 1990: 101-104). Ancient notions about the
death of the plant spirit are related to the summer solstice on Ivanjdan after which the days are
shorter (Frejzer I 1992: 424).

63
 Sneana D. Samardija

Plants are usually not precisely named, even when they are an important in-
gredient of the cure or poison. In fairytales, they are termed simply herbs. To give a
few examples: the mother of the girl with golden hair would say she picks herbs in
the mountain to bewitch the young men and turn them into beasts. In another tale,
a witch would give to envious sisters a stalk of a herb and the instruction how to
apply it. Proscribed words and actions are responsible for the contrary process, if
the hero finds herbs yellow like broom, whereas charms together with some herbs
( 1988, 19: 27, 28) heal a girls hands. Belief in miraculous power of
herbs and their effect on mortals is also visible in Serbian words and expressions
like zatraviti, ostati zatravljen (trava = herbs), meaning to charm, to make some-
body crazy, to heal, etc. The magic of nature is well known to fairies and women of
demonic predispositions ( 1981: 135). Still, regardless of who uses them,
when and with what intention, these herbs remain unknown23 to ordinary mortals.
It might seem that abstract style of fairytales is responsible for attributes such as
some herbs, or an herb. Other reasons related to ritual and magical rules are also
possible. Even when it would be crucial for the denouement of the fairytale, the
herb of life is not described and is easily alternated with the living water. The plant
named after its powers can neither be found nor applied outside the framework of
the genre. It is known only to snakes, mice or birds ( 1927: 23, 24),
and this is another detail which makes fairytale motifs very similar to mythical
representations.24
In alternative segments of fairytale variants, heroes may use plants to over-
come obstacles and escape their pursuers. This is the function ascribed to walnuts
and hazelnuts, but not just any picked from a tree, but only if they are given away
as a gift by the magical helper. In a fairytale a broken walnut, which is important in
the cult of the dead and the fertility cult ( 1985: 159; 184), would stop
the pursuers for a moment by breaking out into flames which almost burn the en-
tire mountain ( 1988: 19). Another primal element is associated with the
hazelnut, from which furious rivers flow. In the denouement function, the power is
ascribed to three twigs cut off from a hazelnut tree or any other tree, whereas the
fig tree itself is very rarely involved ( 1927: 48). Three twigs open the
secret door to the underworld ( 1988, 8), the golden branch is taken from

23
The wreaths are made during spring holidays for the weddings and deaths, which also indicates
the role of herbs in the cult of the dead and the fertility cult. The metaphor about the death of a
young unmarried warrior is structured with the same symbols. The hero remains in the tsardom of
shadows ( 2005: 151-167), enchanted with herb juices (vine), the water of forgetfulness,
charms cast by demonic beauty and the powers of a floral wreath made from unfamiliar herbs
( 1878: 6, 82).
24
Gilgamesh brings the immortality herb from the bottom of the sea, but the snake steals it and
acquires abilities which are possessed only by plants.

64
 FROM THE HERBARIUM OF SERBIAN FOLK

a shadowy fir ( 1927: 64), whereas hazel saplings bring back to life and
transform, reward and punish. A miraculous something is used to drive away, catch
and kill a devil, depending on which force is holding it the devil, Solomon or
God. The symbolic meaning of a stick (a crutch, a lightning) is realised in different
ways in mythical representations and in legends, and the belief about hazel being a
holy tree is deeply suppressed ( 1990: 145-146). The power the twigs have
in fairytales reminds of ancient representations, but they are toned down by the
dynamics of the fibula and frequent substitutions (the same power being present in
objects, fruits, etc.).

In the shadow of the genre

Flora is not equally present in all oral genres and text types. Archaic foun-
dation and symbolic potential often surface with varying importance in riddles
and proverbs, comparisons and fixed expressions as well. Complex roles of trees,
fruits, flowers and herbs are related to the magical and ritual practice and figura-
tive expression of emotions. These processes are however important and common
in the formulation of lyrical and epic poems. Flora can have the central position in
etiological and other legends which interpret the origin, characteristics and extinc-
tion of various species.25 Circumstances based on realia of a certain regions are
represented as consequences of words and decisions of higher beings (the God, the
God Mother, saints and the devil). Grains, fruits and vegetables can also be food
seized from the devil ( 1927/1990: 239-243).
The opposition wild/tame is often suppressed by a blessing or a curse. Dan-
gerous plants, demonic and shadowy trees or mysterious herbs which unlock all
doors and open the way to immortality are opposed to apotropaic characteristics
of plants such as garlic, thorn and hawthorn. As is the case with most symbols,
plants have ambiguous meanings. They have special roles in cultural and historical
legends, although they are also secondary elements of the structure. They are used
to underline the strength of popular heroes or to mark the chronotope. Mention of
particular trees (Duans oak, Lazars elms, Milos poplar, Karaores mulberry)
makes the narrative more believable and the emotional attitude toward national
history stronger.
Plants are rarely the main characters of narrative genres, even fables. They
are almost completely absent from tales about animals, novellas, funny stories and
anecdotes. If a tree is mentioned in any of these genres, the fruit or the flower is
its semantic substitute. Instead on the ethnographic core and the complex of be-
25
Cow parsley, aspen, terebinth, tobacco, shadowy trees ( 1969: 174-184); Sliphion
( 1986: 873). See 1990, 1985, 1996.

65
 Sneana D. Samardija

liefs, they rest on comical twists and turns in the plot, demasking of human faults
and social phenomena. The worlds of the fairytale are, on the other hand, suitable
for the growth of plants. In compliance with the norms of the genre, descriptions
are left out, but the trees, flowers and herbs express meanings and functions from
various segments of the tradition. In addition to permeating pagan and Christian
layers, transformed traces of animism, animatism, totemism, metempsychosis, ele-
ments of ritual and magic are all clearly discernible or just hinted. The functions
themselves (in the genre and culture) mostly correspond, but they are also fuzzy,
because the characters are easily replaceable as this is not their primary scope. On
the other hand, ritual and figurative potential of flora, beliefs and stylistic figures
are subdued by the type of fantasy which is peculiar to fairytales.
As fairytales are literary stylisation of the process of growing up and trans-
lations of cycles in nature, plants in them are used in their abstract meaning. Oppo-
site processes thus simultaneously enfold in the same genre. Symbolic meanings
of rituals are more condensed, and figurative meanings of expressions and pictures
more diluted. The context of the plot and the genre conceals and at the same time,
preserves the ritual, magic and symbolic components of the pine, oak, apple tree
or basil. Still, miraculous adventures do not completely absorb their semantic va-
lency ( 2004, 160-161). Symbols keep their semantic potential, but their
realisation narrows the meaning or some of the features in order to fit the new
contents. The wider the semantic field of the symbol, the greater its adaptability.
Despite lost immortality, humans are not left without means to reach eter-
nity. Idyllic heaven resurrects harmony between the righteous and nature, although
plants in oral poetry are far from memories of the holy gardens and the promised
bounty of the Eden. How closely attached the human is to the plants is confirmed
by metaphors, symbolism or roots and buds, of a young tree and dry stub, of the
family tree or the offshoot of a family line.

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70
Biljana Sikimi
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Institute for Balkan Studies
Belgrade
[email protected]

HOW TO READ RIDDLES:

EROTIC WORLD OF CULTURAL PLANTS

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a cross-section of plant world in traditional Serbian

riddles (in the text and the solution) which is predominantly based on the classical corpus
of riddles by (Stojan Novakovi). Special attention is devoted to erotic
connotations of fruits, vegetables and grains: fig, grape, cabbage, beans, paprika and corn.

KEY WORDS: folklore, obscenity, riddles, plants

Slavic ethno botany has been a fast developing discipline for the last twenty
or so years. A short historical overview of this discipline is presented in a study
by Russian folklore researcher Valeria Kolosova ( 2010), and her mono-
graph devoted to lexis and symbolism of the Slavic folk botany ( 2009).
A chapter in her monograph is devoted to male and female symbolism of plants.
In the Slavic world, birch is considered a female tree, and oak and maple male
( 2009, see also 1995).
This paper aims to relate some research results in Slavic ethno botany with
the findings of folklorists working on eroticism in folk texts.1 Studies of obscene
elements in folklore started in the 1960s (cf. Halpbert 1962, studies of eroticism in
riddles Bolding 1992 & Kaivola Bregenhj 1997) but have remained outside the
mainstream Slavic Studies. Still, all Slavic national branches have published rep-
resentative monographs, materials, even serial publications about erotic folklore.
Recent Slavic studies of erotic riddles include 2008 and in Serbian
folklore Ka and Jo 2009.

1
This paper is based on the research undertaken as part of the project Language, Folklore and
Migrations in the Balkans, which is supported by Serbian Ministry of Science and Education.
The results presented here are partly based on 1996a. All data about original variants of
riddles cited in this paper are also given in 1996 and 1996a, except the examples cited
from the compilation of riddles by 1877.

71
 Biljana Sikimi

Flora in traditional riddles

Thanks to Novakovis compilation of riddles ( 1877) as rep-

resentative of a segment of Serbian folklore2, it is easy to make an inventory of
plants in traditional riddles. The assortment of plants, quite expectedly, depends on
whether they occur in the text of the riddle (the left side of the equation) or in the
solution (the right side of the equation). The control corpus of riddles is Taylors
compilation (Taylor 1951), which can be taken as universal and which includes
riddles from Novakovis compilation.
In the text of the riddle, a plant is most often present as an unspecified tree,
bush or forest. When it is a specific tree or a forest made up of specific trees, the
inventory is the following: the commonest tree is the coniferous pine, but there is
also beech and beech forest, thorny plants Crown of thorns (Paliurus aculeatus)
and thorny bushes, dogwood, hornbeam, oak (under its various Serbian names), fir,
purple osier (a type of willow), hazel (and hazel forest) and linden.
In the inventory of solutions in Novakovis compilation trees are not speci-
fied, and a forest is a part of complex denotatum in only one example:
I set fire on an old ugly woman, it burned completely, but the roots could not.
Cropland cleared from forest.
( 1877: 111112)

Together with this riddle, which he received from Vuk Vrevi, Novakovi
offers a rather complex explanation: When somebody clears a forest in the moun-
tain, burns it, ploughs it and then plants wheat in the soil covered with soot. It
is highly unlikely that the solution to this riddle is authentic for the cited folklore
text, because if this were the case, both verbs would have remained untransformed
(zapaliti=set fire to and izgoreti= burn), just as the part of a tree the roots
remained untransformed, which does not fit in with the usual logic applied in the
traditional text of a riddle.
The situation with flowers is similar: they occur in several texts of riddles in
the form of a floweras such ( 1877: 132, 169, 240), as well as a sage
and a water lily. There are no flowers in the solutions, with the exception of one
riddle from Risan (Montenegro) whose solution is a carnation:
A dog is sitting on the border in a red rain cloak; the rain cloak is worth more
than the dog and the border.
( 1877: 28)

2
Due to a combination of historical circumstances, Novakovis compilation does not include
riddles from Eastern and Southern Serbia and Kosovo and Metohia.

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 HOW TO READ RIDDLES: EROTIC WORLD OF CULTURAL PLANTS

This model of a riddle is representative of the Slavic folklore formula

( 1996: 27), so it could easily contain such an unusual denotatum for a
traditional riddle as a carnation. It will suffice to say that there is no denotatum
carnation in the index of solutions to universal riddles (Taylor 1951). At the time
this riddle was recorded, Risan was under a strong Italian cultural influence, which
is evident from the local Romanic term that was used (garofan).
The following fruits, however, are quite common in riddles: grapes, apples,
pears and blackberries. In addition to these, solutions may also be fig, cherry, plum,
and often just fruit. In Novakovis compilation, Vrevi, however, provided a
proverb with orange as the solution:
Eight sisters were born in one shirt; when they disappeared, peoples mouth felt
sweet. ( 1877: 141, with an added commentary referring to a slice of
an orange)
Vrevis example of a riddle about the stinging nettle is another rare ex-
ception. The model of riddles with negations is typical for all riddles, but in the
series of negations there are two plants (chilli pepper and crown of thorns), and all
three elementary characteristics of nettle are very similar and hard to differentiate
(hot, burns, itches).
Its hot but its not a chilli pepper, it burns - but its not a fire, it stings - but its
not a crown of thorns.
( 1877: 97)
Various nuts are common in riddles from Serbian folklore tradition: walnuts,
chestnuts, hazelnuts and acorns, but they usually do not appear in the text (walnut
appears more often, hazelnut and almond rarely).
The situation with grains is similar: harvesting of grains, most often wheat,
is a common topic of riddles. Riddles about millet and hemp were recorded around
1850s. Numerous riddles are about corn, which began to be cultivated in the Bal-
kans quite early. As could be expected, corn does not appear in the texts of riddles
from Novakovis compilation, but there are wheat, millet and oats.
Vegetables are also asymmetrically present: there are numerous examples of
pumpkin and broad bean in the text, whereas watermelon (pipun) and melon are
present in one example, which was again submitted by Vuk Vrevi:
A full cap of apples, and among them a watermelon and a melon. - The sun, the
moon and the stars.
( 1877: 218)
This Vrevis riddle is based on the fruit key: innumerable amount of
smaller fruit (apples) and two different large fruits (watermelon and melon), in a
piece of clothing (cap) as the recipient. Traditional taxonomy may not correspond
73
 Biljana Sikimi

to the scientific, botanic taxonomy. Novakovis compilation contains other vari-

ants which are structurally comparable, describing a recipient full of innumerable
small fruits alongside one bigger.
In the universal corpus of riddles (Taylor 1951: 445447), the model 1093
1095 presents fruits on trees or in a bowl as stars. In Novakovis Serbian vari-
ants, stars are compared to hazelnuts, and the moon to a walnut:
A sieve/an attic full of hazelnuts, and in the middle, only one walnut.
( 1877: 129)

A sieve full of almonds, with only one walnut.

( 1877: 129)
Small fruits can also be pits in a bowl:
A tin full of golden pits.
( 1877: 57)
Other variants of riddles about food show that not just any plant would ap-
pear in the riddle, but only domestic edible plants which can be put in bowl and
used in ones household:
A tin full of cakes. A tin full of small eggs.
A room full of millet is also a logical metaphor for a starry night:
A basket full of millet; the basket is not unravelled, the millet is not scattered.
( 1877: 56)
Novakovi received many variants of this riddle from his informants, and
the difference between them most often rests on how porous the lesa is (it does
not bend, yield, move,... ). Here, millet is not used in its meaning of a grain (or a
fruit as it was termed by Taylor), but of small particle, so it agrees with other simi-
lar fruits: pit, hazelnut, and almond. The problem here today would be to under-
stand the exact meaning of the Serbian word lesa, which probably means a bowl or
a container made of wattle, corresponding to numerous other recipients, variants
of a sieve, tin, etc.
In his analysis of riddles about celestial bodies, Taylor (1951: 449) notices
that riddles about celestial bodies and a period of one year are closely related, and
that numerous Serbian variants of the riddle about a bowl with twelve apples can
be analysed in the same way:
A bowl of yew, with twelve apples, in each apple, four pits.
( 1877: 31; this is the variant from Karadis Rjenik, entry elica).

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 HOW TO READ RIDDLES: EROTIC WORLD OF CULTURAL PLANTS

Yew from which the bowl is made is one of the trees that appear on the left
side of the riddle equation (about characteristics of yew see 1996:
206207). This variant of the riddle speaks more about the value of yew in the
traditional culture than about its (indisputable) magical characteristics (especially
bearing in mind that one variant has zlatna kablica/golden pail instead of yew). It
should also be noted that there is a variant in Serbian folklore in which twelve ap-
ples are sent by a tsar to a tsarina, without any mention of the container. Taylor
is certainly correct in relating variants of the structure fruits in a recipient to the
universal model of riddles about stars in the sky, but number 12 is equally uni-
versally related to 12 months in a year. What is crucial for solving this riddle is this
exact number 12, especially when it is further strengthened, as is the case with the
variants where this number is further divisible into four slices: each apple into four
slices (the exact number of weeks in a month), and then each slice into seven pits
(the exact number of days in a week).
The greatest asymmetry is evident in the folklore world of vegetables:
favourite vegetables in the world of solutions (on the right side of the equation)
onion, garlic, cabbage, potato, pea, carrot, pepper and cucumber do not appear in
the text of the riddles. Such an asymmetry requires analysis because it exists due
to anthropomorphic and, to a lesser extent, zoomorphic replacement of denotata.
As a new agricultural species in the Balkans in the second half of the 19th century,
pepper was already included in the traditional culture, at least as the solution. It
was still too early for the tomato which occupied its present day culinary place as
late as the 20th century.3
Riddles about watermelon and pumpkin are numerous in Novakovis cor-
pus. Various industrial plants: tobacco, common madder, olive, wild edible mush-
rooms and rose hip. The corpus analysed suggests that only pumpkin, grapes and
walnut are equally present in the text of the riddle as a replacement for a deno-
tatum and as a denotatum.

Erotic reading of a riddle

In addition to explicit obscene terms in the traditional botanical taxonomy,

erotic connotations of phytonyms in Slavic folklore are discernible in folk riddles
too. Researchers can read them the usual way: a denotatum = a replacement of a
denotatum. A direct naming of the denotatum in a riddle by its erotic counterpart,
for example balls as grapes, fig; dick as pepper, cunt as fig indicates a deno-
tatum that is not obscene. In its morphology, the male sex organ corresponds to
3
Taylor 1951: 627 records only one riddle about tomato that is based on the model red on the outsie,
pits inside.

75
 Biljana Sikimi

various fruits, so in Russian, it is called a banana, carrot, horseradish or cone

(Ermen 1993: 69). 4
On the other hand, the whole text of a traditional riddle can be interpreted
as erotic, as a text describing an obscene act without a direct naming, and the cor-
responding denotatum can again achieve the effect of an unfulfilled expectation.
The choice of the denotatum in this case is not arbitrary: Slavic folklore has its set
of obscene denotata, such as, for example, lock, key, loom, mortar and pestle, in
addition to some plants (for example, a bean or walnut). Furthermore, South Slavic
riddles can have certain models of texts which by their initial formulas (which are
common for some widely known erotic folklore texts) anticipate an erotic con-
notation, although the ending of the riddle does not justify it. Such a riddle can be
understood only if one knows the folklore context and its position in the system of
riddles. Riddles with illocutionary force belong to this group: they have the struc-
ture of a message to be delivered, or a request to borrow an object.
Riddles introduced with a formula containing a possessive Genitive (lost in
English translation) also has an erotic connotation. Plants are also common denota-
ta in this category ( 1996b: 5052). These riddles have a simple structure,
describing an anthropomorphic denotatum (marked by an expressive term without
an appellative meaning) clothed in red:
Our tutulan has a red coat. Corn.
( 1901: 128)
Our doloman has a red bottom and coat Pepper.
(, entry doloman)
The clothes can also be green:
Our toroman has a green cloak and coat. Pepper or a chestnut.
( 1895: 12)
Structurally the same model of the text in a riddle may not necessarily refer
to a plant, so red clothes can be understood as a flame, and in variants where the
object is clothed in the same traditional outfit of an unspecified colour, the deno-
tatum is most often a domestic animal (cock or a billy goat).

Grapes
The model of a riddle with the structure of a description of an older man
who exposes his private parts (balls) is solved on the basis of morphological as-

4
In Bulgarian folklore there is a symbolical similarity between a dandelion and a male sex organ
(Georgiev 2008: 25; About erotic connotations of an onion, see Sikimi 1996a).

76
 HOW TO READ RIDDLES: EROTIC WORLD OF CULTURAL PLANTS

sociation of this part of the body with different fruits. The solution here can be any
fruit-bearing plant, such as grapes, potatoes, pumpkin, corn, although the
commonest solution is grapes. In the text of a riddle the fruit is usually defined
as muda. This part of the male body is rarely replaced by other body symbols of
males, a beard or a chest:
An old man is sitting under a fence, supported by a grapevine, showing his balls to
good people.
( 1893: 156)
In a shorter variant of the riddle about grapes, the old man is positioned in
a particular place and the only thing described is the length of his balls (
1939: 219). Russian folklore has a riddle of the same structure (an old man show-
ing his balls), but the balls are marked in red, so the denotatum is a plant com-
mon to northern regions of Europe where grapes do not grow5 raspberries or
tomatoes.
In numerous variants without the obscene fragment (exposing ones balls),
there is only an old man positioned usually under a fence, and his act of covering
himself with a grapevine or a paronymous, usually meaningless word:
An old man sitting under the fence, covering himself with a grapevine. Grapes,
pumpkin.
( 1925: 158)
Direct naming of the morphological part of the plant, the grapevine, is the
reason why the dominant form is one with the solution grapes. On the other hand,
this same reason might have influenced the presence of other denotata, because
non-transformed parts of a body or a plant are unusual in a traditional riddle.

Fruit hidden in leaves

Among South Slavs and other Balkan peoples, grape is the solution for rid-
dles where the motif is the process of picking fruits: before picking it, one has
to move the leaves. In the text of a riddle, there are leaves described as a piece
of clothes or something hairy and then there is the act of reaching for the grape.
In South Slavic variants, the grape does not have one replacement of the deno-
tatum - it can be mercy, goodness, stalk or balls- depending on its quality or
morphological features. The first two create an indirect erotic association and can
refer to the female sex organ, whereas the third and the fourth are more explicit in
describing the male sex organ. This South Slavic model of the text is restricted to

5
Areas with Slavic riddles about grapevine are analysed in 2013.

77
 Biljana Sikimi

the zone of folklore Balkanisms and includes Bulgaria and Macedonia. Solutions
are recorded in South and South-East of Serbia:
Move the hairs, grab the grace.
( 1901: 6)
The denotatum corn logically agrees with different models of riddles with
erotic connotation, just as in the following Bulgarian examples of with clothes
being taken off:
Throw his clothes away, get hold of his goodness.
( 1925: 153)
Erotic connotations of weapon and size are used in South Slavic riddles
about corn a measure of length up to the elbow is usually obscene, as is the
movement denoting it.6 For example:
Our soldier has the weapon up to his elbow.
( 1925: 153)
Erotic connotation in the text of the riddles about corn is not obligatory, as is
evident from the example of the riddle which describes the morphology and yellow
colour of the corn:
Golden horses, silk cover.
(Jelisavi 1893: 116)
Other Balkan peoples think of denotatum cucumberin the riddles about
picking fruits hidden in leaves. Romanian example contains several common folk-
lore erotic markers: a couple of old women and old men, explicit naming of
pieces of clothes old womans panties and the euphemism for the fruit old
mans long thing:
I searched an old womans pants and found an old mans long thing
( 1986: 98).
Romanian variant of searching and finding a part of human body in leaves:
I put my arm in a caught an old mans lip.
( 1981: 46)
Cucumber may mean a male sex organ in Serbian dialects as well, and
this has been confirmed in erotic folklore as well ( s.a.: 126).

6
Ethnologist Sima Trojanovi ( 1935: 51) described this gesture as follows: When one
raises his or her elbow a little and hits it with the palm of their hand, people call it turn an elbow
to somebody or to measure one up, meaning you will never get it!

78
 HOW TO READ RIDDLES: EROTIC WORLD OF CULTURAL PLANTS

Pepper

Explicit naming of a sex organ is usually indicative of a neutral solution, as

in the text of the riddle where the denotatum pepper is replaced by the word kur
(male sex organ). In this riddle, the attribute is red colour, so some variants have
a semantically empty anthroponym (Petko, Iva) in the position of the replacement
for the denotatum. However, a syntagm that is minimal in terms of its informative-
ness, comprising of just red and long shape, is enough to produce a double
association of both male sex organ and pepper:
Red dick on the plate.
( 1894: 265)
Red Iva swims in the plate.
( 1899: 266)
Such an erotic association is strengthened with the measure up to his knees
in a structurally different riddle for pepper:
Our tutoman has red barrel up to his knees.
(-Jo 1887: 2)
Quite expectedly, carrot also has erotic connotations in Slavic folklore due
to the vegetables red colour and long shape. In Bulgarian, red beet occurs in a
structurally very simple riddle which mentions only two features: red and fat:
Red fat.
( 1910-11: 301)

Cabbage
Obscene connotations of cabbage in riddles stem from descriptions of the pro-
cess of transforming plant into food and i.e. the relation: raw vs. fermented/sour.
The result of a technological procedure whereby a plant becomes food (what was
hard becomes soft) is analogous to other similar antonymous relations describing
the sexual act (dry becomes wet or something naked enters something furry).
Riddles about cabbage as food which is first hard and then turns soft is a universal
paremiological procedure: Taylor (1951: 600601) distinguishes ten models of rid-
dles which are based on this transformation which correlates with the opposition
dry-wet. In Europe, such are the riddles about cabbage, fish, bread, linseed and simi-
lar), but the order of transformations can be reverse as well. In the following riddle
about cabbage, there is a semantic shift toward abstract meaning of the elementary
antonymous pair hard-soft vs. cheerful-sour where the second member of the
opposition can have its basic and metaphorical meaning (sour/sad)

79
 Biljana Sikimi

Cheerful enters, sour comes out.

( 1895: 8)
Ukranian riddles of the same structure (hard becoming soft) have the
sour cucumber as the solution:
I pushed it as a horn, and took it out as a hose, which was dripping.
( 1995: 216)
Temporal opposition of living in summer vs. winter solves the problem of
transforming the plant into food,7 but the erotic connotation is absent:
On a stalk it spends its summer, in the barrel its winter Cabbage.
( 1970: 45)
There are also explicit erotic questions with the same temporal specification
(summer and winter) where the root of cabbage is the sex organ, and not a
stalk, as in the previous example:
What spent summer on a dick, and winter in a barrel?
( 1908: 48)

Fig

Taylor (1951: 556) defines model 1355 as round, yellow, containing many
things: the basic concept of this riddle is a recipient with innumerable objects
which corresponds to various species of fruits with many seeds. As an especially
successful variant, Taylor mentions a Polish riddle about poppy and an Ethiopian
one about pomegranate. He also mentions other numerous variants (Taylor 1951:
835-836) noting that the kind of fruit varies a great deal, but the commonest are
poppy, fig, pomegranate and pepper.
The fig-fruit is represented as a part of the body/woman full of nits. Both
concepts - the part of the body as a recipient and a woman (as a recipient)- in
some variants are replicable by explicit naming of the part of female sex organ, or
as balls or an ass understood as recipients:
Cunt full of nits.
(authors recording, Kopaonik)

7
A more precise temporal specification of two different phases of cabbage (as plant and as food)
exists in sayings too. It is possible that cabbage was pickled for winter in some regions on the day
of St. Luke, and it could also be that sour cabbage was the regularly eaten for Christmas, meaning
it was ready to be eaten by then: On St. Vitus Day in the garden, on St. Lukes Day in the barrel. On
St. Miholjs Day in the valley, on Christmas in a casserole. ( 1925: 167).

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 HOW TO READ RIDDLES: EROTIC WORLD OF CULTURAL PLANTS

igic, migic, your ass is full of nits.

(Zovko 1930: 155)
Balls full of nits.
( 1906-07: 151)
There is one example of a riddle with this motif (a part of the body full of
nits) from Slavonia (a geographical region where figs do not grow). The solution
to this riddle is a cultural plant poppy capsule. The recipient in this variant is a
part of human body that is not obscene at all a hand.
igic, migic, a handful of nits.
1877: 125)
Lice or nits are not the obligatory element of the text of the fig riddle, a
part of body as a recipient can be full of golden seeds.
Our Anicas belly is full of wheat.
( 1893: 156)
Riddles about fig definitely belong to the Balkan geographical region. In
the Greek folklore there is the same motif, but the object is a cap full of lice. In
traditional culture a cap also often has the function of a recipient.
My grandfathers cap full of lice.
( 1939: 154)

Beans
The riddle about beans with an obscene motif of a woman who spreads
her legs (in some variants arms as well) is limited to Kosovo and Montenegro.
Erotic connotation here is strengthened by a description of a woman as wilful, of
loose behaviour (creepers, hop; 2013).
Lady came of her own will, of her own will she raised her legs on the masters
shoulders. Come closer, mister, you are aroused too.
( 1937: 40)
Alone girl, wilful, raises her arms up the roots of the beech tree.
( 1970: 50)
In the following riddle, beans are also related to an immoral woman who
shows parts of her body which traditionally ought to remain hidden (knees):
An old woman is sitting above the road, stretching her legs under the road with
her panties torn and knees in plain sight.
( 1970: 48)

81
 Biljana Sikimi

In Russian folklore, the motif of a woman who raises her legs is present in
a riddle about strawberries:
An old woman is sitting on a hill, spread her tits; a billy goat came, hit the woman
with his leg, and the woman raised her legs.
( 1995: 432)
The motif of a woman who raises legs is present in variants of riddles with
denotata loom or plough (for erotic connotations of weaving in Slavic folklore,
cf. Sikimi 1998). Indecent behaviour of women is further underlined with an ex-
plicit invitation to go closer to the anonymous caller:
Multicoloured cow, wilful woman, raises her legs on her own; come over.
(Mijatovi 1908: 3)

By way of conclusion

The inventory of plants in Slavic riddles, being conditioned by climatic cir-

cumstances, varies greatly depending on where and when the variant of a riddle
was recorded. Obscene connotations are mostly related to edible plants when they
are mentioned in a riddle. Grapes, corn, cucumber, pepper are all examples of
fruits which because of their morphology have attributes of male body parts. Fig,
poppy and pumpkin have female connotations due to their morphological shape of
a recipient. Erotic connotation of beans is much more complex: its biological fea-
ture of growing upwards, as a creeper, although related to anthropomorphic female
agent is in folklore associated with raising of legs and arms, which is by itself and
obscene act according to traditional community.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bolding, Jacky (1992). The sexual riddles of the Exeter book. Simon Fraser
University.
, (1901). . 70/2. .
, . (1939). . . 9. : 152155.
, (1925). . .
, (1970). . .
, (1893). . : 156157.
, . . (1906-07). . . XXII
XXIII. : 135157.
, , . (2008). .
. : . .

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 HOW TO READ RIDDLES: EROTIC WORLD OF CULTURAL PLANTS

, . (1908). .
161. .
-, . (1887). .
124/2. .
, . (1986). . .
.
Ermen, Ilse (1993). Der obszne Wortschatz im Russischen. Mnchen: Verlag Otto
Sagner.
Zovko, Ivan (1930). Zagonetke. Bosna i Hercegovina. Zbornik za narodni ivot
i obiaje. XXVII. Zagreb: 151157.
, . . (1893). . : 116.
Kaivola Bregenhj, Annikki (1997). Sexual Riddles: the test of the listener.
ELEKTROLORISTI 1: URL: http://www.joensuu.fi/~loristi/1_97/kai197.
html
, /, (2009).
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, (s..). . . 248. . .
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linguistica petropolitana VI/1. -: 730.
, (1908). . 156/3.
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74/11. .
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. VI. : 263267.
(1995). . .
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 Biljana Sikimi

, (1996).
. . 1. : 5772.
, (1998). Analia serbica. : . : 4869.
, , , (2000). . :
. : 262286.
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: , (. , . , .).
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, (2013).
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, . . (1899). ( ). I/1.
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Taylor, Archer (1951). English Riddle from Oral Tradition. Berkeley: Univ. of
California Press.
, . . (1995).
, : .
. : 333340.
, (1935). -
. : LII.
, (1981). . : .
Halpert, Herbert (1962). Folklore and obscenity: definitions and problems. The
Journal of American folklore 75/297, 190194.
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: 1304.
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. LIV. : 1274.

84
Mirjana D. Stefanovi
University of Novi Sad
Faculty of Philosophy
[email protected]

MAPLE IN SERBIAN CULTURE

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the features of the maple tree in Serbian tradition, as well
as the features which are ascribed to this tree in the world folk heritage. Alongside these
characteristics, mythological presentations of this tree are also listed and analysed. This
paper concludes with a general question of whether identical features of a tree in different
traditions can be used to explain a concept of pure national culture and national identity.

KEY WORDS: maple, gusle, history of Serbian culture, national identity

Although seemingly not as popular as some other trees in Serbian folk tradi-
tion, maple nonetheless has been proven as a means of expressing a heritage line
which in the collective memory and narratives brings together the past and the
present. Maple (javor in Serbian) is present in Karadis dictionary of Serbian in
eight entries (Karadi 1852), his comments and translations of the definitions): 1.
(maple, a tree); 2. (a mountain in Bosnia); cf. ); 3.
(in Montenegro), cf. ; 4. , ) augmentative for :
, b) mountain, see ; 5. : ) mass noun for in
verses: , / , b) a mountain between
Drobnjak and Moraa, also in verses: ; 6. (ma-
ples) for gusle: ; 7. : maple wood; 8. (diminu-
tive form for gusle), in verses: / .
Maple really is a nice looking and useful tree. From relevant literature we
learn that Lithuanians adored it, and it has been highly appreciated among the
Slavs too (Sofri 1912: 115-117). There is a love song which proves this a song
from the central parts of Serbia - which in my childhood I heard from my grand-
mother Rua in Oreovica village. She was a well known healer and a weaver. Later
in my life, I heard it as performed by the Brothers Teofilovi: , , !///
!//Hey maple, maple!/You are the best tree!
In the vicinity of the Macedonian town Gevgelija there even was a maple for
which people believed that is holy ( 1912: 115). And there is a maple which
was associated with the best known medieval town in Serbia, Novo Brdo. There is also
a legend about the maple tree which grew next to a holy spring near the city of Ni. The
85
 Mirjana D. Stefanovi

sick used to hang their shirts or towels on this tree, and whether it was devoted to the
maple or the spring has not been resolved to this day. The existence of some sort of a
mythical relation between the spring and the maple is also evident from some folk songs,
one of which begins with the verse /In the meadow
under the maple tree a spring gushes forth. One other song uses the same motif.1 A third
example relates that the Slavs from Udine worshiped a tree and a spring stemming from
under its roots, which could be equalled to a Christian expression of respect for God.
The story about maple as a home of demons who must be appeased with gifts
in order to secure recovery of the sick agrees with the legend about maple as a heal-
ing tree ( 1912: 115). And as the demon of illness associates with death, it
is understandable why the story about the features of maple agrees with the cult of
the ancestors: in a folk song, the coffin for the deceased is made of maple. There is
also a contrary belief that a maple will dry if a sick person pours the water in which
he or she washed their face on its roots: the sickness transfers from the sick onto the
tree. This story is based on the superstition that a sickness can be transferred from
a human onto a plant. On the other hand, a dry maple will grow green if an unfairly
convicted person hugs it, which means that the tree is attributed the virtue of justness.
The folk musical instrument gusle which accompanies songs about heroes
from bygone times is also made of maple. The epithet javorov (made of maple) al-
ways accompanies the noun gusle. In epic poetry, this formulaic expression shows ap-
preciation of the cult of the ancestors. An instrument like this possesses the power of
words, and the words show their strength/logos through gusle. Mythological features
of maple are transferred onto the instrument which is made of it, and the instrument
further gives the meaning to the poems which it accompanies ( 1933: 7274).
Maple woods in The Epic of Gilgamesh have the similar meaning. Also, cribs in fairy
tales are usually made of maple, which indicates that maple is a good tree.
Maple is present in folk sayings. Instead of the usual:
/ when grapes grow on willows, there is a saying with the same meaning
(i.e. it can never be): when apples grow on maple. Such a saying could be taken
as a proof that the maple tree concept has been present in the collective memory of
the Serbs from the ancient times.
The presence of maple in the Balkans also influenced creation of many to-
ponyms; there is a air (meadow) Javor on the mountain Rudnik, many springs are
called Javor, and there are also meadows with the same name ( 1903:
No. 3412, 248249).2 Both males and females can be named after this tree (m.

1
, / . / : , , /
, / , / , / .
2
All these localities are recorded in the manuscript of abbot Aleksije dated from 1774. The
manuscript is a part of the four gospels from the end of the 14th or the beginning of the 15th

86
 MAPLE IN SERBIAN CULTURE

, f. ) as well as surnames (). The location Javorak is mentioned

in one version of a folk story about vampires ( 1953: 36). A spring given
a personal name such as Jahorika indicates that it was local people who invented
names for the localities (Nodilo 1981: 136137). A famous Serbian magazine, the
first edition of which was published in 1862, was also named after this tree.3
Going far back into the Celtic mythology, different periods were related to
different trees in a floral horoscope: maple was the tree for those born between
April 11th and 20th and October 14th and 23rd, and it was the sign of people who
were independent, extremely original, ambitious, proud and with a complicated
love life. In relation to this horoscope, Michael Vescoli (www.kosmas.cz/kni-
hy/115437/keltsky-stromovy-kalendar/) wrote that: only there where a man identi-
fies his history with the history of a tree can the feeling of how useful even a mortal
tree is, win (our translation).
At the time of classical antiquity, maple was probably considered a tree of
great power, since, according to Greek mythology, the king of Colchis hung the
Golden Fleece on a maple tree in the sacred grove of the god Ares (Grevs 1969:
481483). In the Ovidiuss Metamorphoses there is also a passing mention of maple.
The fact that maple was often mentioned and the long history of associating
maple with certain characteristics indicate the importance of this tree in the folk
religion. Whether this continual presence in human imagination might be attrib-
uted to its longevity (a maple can live up to five centuries and be over one meter
in diameter) is not a question that needs to be answered here. There is, however,
another relevant question of the same level.
Maple belongs to the group of happy trees. Its qualities are always posi-
tive and beneficial. It is good for woodwork: all over Europe it is used to make a
block flute, furniture, or veneer, its juice is one of the best bases for cough syrups
(probably because of the saccharin content). These are natural qualities of the well
known forest or mountain maple which has been common in the vet terrains of
Northern Germany, England and southern Scandinavia from the 15th century on-
ward (Roloff 2009: 3).
There is, however, also a field maple. It symbolizes a protective home tree.
Originally, it was cultivated particularly for this purpose in the Alps, the Pyrenees,
the Carpathians and in the Balkan Mountains. If it grew on the boundary between

century which was kept in the National Serbian Library (cf. 1903: 21): (...)
,
, ,
. (...) ;
.(...)
3
There are at least ten periodical publications named after this tree in the electronic catalogue of
Matica Srpska Library.

87
 Mirjana D. Stefanovi

two properties, it was a good sign for the owners which meant that they would
prosper and grow. In the spring people collected juice called buza from this tree.
In folk beliefs most trees are somehow related to animals, but this is not the
case with maple. The dragon guarding the Golden Fleece in the maple grove is in-
tentionally excluded here, because this dragon did not live in a maple tree, the trees
were simply there, in this protective situation. When the Golden Fleece was stolen,
the maple still lived in the mythical grove, but the dragon was gone. Maple is not
related to any bird, either, which is quite extraordinary, all the more so because it is
associated with people, either in the form of gusle players or the sick.
The maple, however, does behave like a person. It is like a person: it is
able to rejoice, it can suffer as opposed to the conifers which, according to Isidora
Sekuli, are trees that do not know how to suffer or be happy, but only how to
last. They are, therefore, living fossils. And just like a human being, a maple will
be born, will live, experience joy and sadness in its life, and eventually die after a
long and emotionally rich life. Due to its longevity, it is a life-tree; according to the
Gospel by Matthew (7, 33-36), it represents the tree of wisdom in Paradise.
All these characteristics and what we hinted at in our questioning dilemma
point toward the unavoidable question of whether it is possible to determine a sta-
ble semantic formula for everything a tree such as a maple represents. This ques-
tion invokes a more general cultural meaning, which could prove to be important
both for a national culture such as Serbian and for the history of culture in general.
To be able to reach this point, a few analytical steps are required.
Maple occurs in different genres of Serbian folk poetry where it carries a
wide spectre of meanings:
1. In a lamentation ( 1841: 298) a deceased priest Marko
Samardi is metaphorically addressed as maple:
,
.
2. In kraljica poems ( 1867:41-42)
) the singers address the priest whose house is protected by an
overhanging maple tree:

.

,

(Karadi 1841: 182)

88
 MAPLE IN SERBIAN CULTURE

b) a hero is named Javor (i.e. Maple) in verses:

,
,
:
,
, ,
.
, ,
,

,
.
(Karadi 1867: 50)4
3. A maple is invoked in a song which used to be sung in the 17th century,
during a fast ( 1969: 167168):
, !5
!
,
4. In a koleda song both the hero and the plant are named maple (Javor/
javor)
, ,
, ,
,
,
,
,
,

() .
5. Maples gusle are mentioned in epic folk songs in the meaning of ma-
ples tree that sings;
6. The meaning of maple which always brings happiness and prosperity
is present in the following verses depicting ploughing where wooden
parts of plough are named javor:

4
Karadi first published this song in a a a (1815), and it was published
again in later collections of folk songs.
5
Expression is used in the sense of old.

89
 Mirjana D. Stefanovi

,
,
.
7. In one folk lamentation a mother buries her dead son and puts him into
a coffin made of maple. It is a solid wood, whose durability metaphori-
cally prolongs the life of the body it holds. She then puts the coffin
under an orange tree. The son is released from motherly arms by be-
ing placed into a maple coffin, so that he may sing in the heaven, as
dry maple wood produces the most enchanting music (maples gusle,
musical instruments are made of this tree; cf. Neuner 2009; Jeske
Grosser: 2009).
8. In folk poetry, maple often personifies the groom, whereas an old man
is called a rotten maple (Serb. trula javorovina). But maple can al-
legorically mean reason as well, i.e. it can stand for a mature person
with great life experience (Grmaa 2009).
9. A relation between a girl and a maple tree is presented in versions of
the song about a Basil girl (Bosiljka devojka) which were published by
Milo N. uri ( 1925; , ).

In addition to this, forest maple whose habitat is always associated with

mountains (Wauer 2009) has some specific features:
- According to folk beliefs of the Germanic peoples, maple is syn-
onymous with peace and harmony; it can uplift a depressed per-
son, fulfil ones hopes and dreams and drive away witches and
angry spirits;
- A threshold made of maple wood protects from witches who do
not dare step over a maple;
- The Celts considered maple a sign of something complete, whole;
white maple tree symbolised inner purity and innocence;
- The Trojan horse was made of maple wood, although all Homer
said in the eighth chapter of the Odyssey was that it was made of
beams;
- Mountain maple is used to make sugar;
- Production of maple syrup was particularly common at times of
war since the beginning of the 19th century, especially in Germany;
- In the spring, bees use maple flower as their source of nectar;
- Leaves of the mountain maple used to be given as food to the
livestock;

90
 MAPLE IN SERBIAN CULTURE

- Young leaves were used for tea, known among the Germans as
the Sunny tea; Ancient Egyptians also used it as a medicinal plant
(1600 BC);
- It was believed that maple had the same medicinal qualities as the
leaves of cabbage it could cool relieve sore muscles;
- It was used to treat insect bites;
- It was even considered a cult tree. The most famous cult maple
was located in Switzerland in 1395. It was known as a holy three
and the local community held its regular meetings under it. The
tree lived until 1870, when it was damaged in a great storm, af-
ter which the locals organized a post mortem procession carrying
parts of the stable all the way to the city hall.
The fact that maple wood was used to make gusle for the epic singer, that it
is still used today to make violas, violins, violoncellos, testifies to the richness of
its beneficial, natural and mythical features; maple wood produces a characteristic
melodious sound, both light and firm. The strength of gusle made of maple wood
has been described in folk poetry. One poem published in Serbian journal Bosan-
ska vila describes how the Turks caught hajduk Lazar Pecirep, who sang to the
accompaniment of gusle made of maple, and acquired such enormous strength that
he killed the Travnik vizier ( 1984: 426).
It can thus be concluded that elements of folk beliefs about the maple tree
are still alive today just as its natural qualities are still appreciated. There is there-
fore a tradition related to this light-coloured beneficial tree, just as the awareness
of its real characteristics is still alive today. What is this tradition about? In both
research and colloquial usage, the tradition usually stands for something primi-
tive, i.e. pagan/unchristian, whereas the contemporary features, i.e. those which
are still alive, are explained by the notion of context. So when famous Bronisaw
Malinowski uses the term primitive, it denotes something original or originally
alive. It seems, however, that this attribute, alive cannot quite explain what it is
that it denotes, so the aliveness of a myth is understood as a kind of automatism,
as if it were a mythological machinery which has been churning out the mythical
representation on its production lines from the beginning to this day. Could this be
the case with the maple tree as well?
Just as the concept of a horse is stable and is in anthropology almost identi-
cally interpreted as a very important element in the life of a warrior, regardless of
which performer from which national culture sings about it, and regardless of the
performers being unrelated to one another, it could similarly be assumed that there
is a unified interpretation of what maple tree means in different national cultures.
It is certainly clear how the maple is described in the regions where this tree
normally grows parts of north America, western Europe and the Balkans all the
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 Mirjana D. Stefanovi

way to the Carpathians, the region along the Black Sea and huge areas in eastern
and southern China. But is there a tree with equal qualities in areas where maple
has never grown? What does this question entail? I wonder: can there be a common
motif under different names? For example, does the baobab tree in Africa have the
maples characteristics? Or the cherry tree in Japan? If the answer is affirmative,
which I believe it is, the next question is whether there is such a thing as a pure
national culture.
How can we establish features of a national identity that are different from
some other national identity, even a neighbouring one? If everybody moved from
the village to the city, the village would disappear, and then the difference between
the village and the city would also disappear; there would be nothing to compare
the city with, and it would be impossible to determine the citys typical features.
Imagologically speaking, when the Other is lost, the possibility of defining oneself
is lost too. It is with the birth of the city culture that the oral folk culture gained the
opportunity to define its own spiritual space; one could not exist without the other.
Having found the foundation of Serbian national identity in a folk poem, Milo N.
uri gave a definition which in the deep structure implied the existence of differ-
ence ( 2013).
The maple is the same kind of motif in different national cultures which do
not lose their characteristic and unique features. Saying that baobab has the same
mythological and natural characteristics as maple means giving the answer at same
semantic level. And yet again, I wonder if losing the awareness of this difference
(the features of a tree being the same in different cultural regions) means that the
idea of a unique national collective identity is also lost? Or is this what we have
here a plural identity ( 2011: 5371)? Are cultures dependant on one
another, regardless of how specific and national they may be and is this a possible
answer to our dilemma?
If we want to continue with this line of questioning, the next question would
be: what is it that constitutes one culture if it is not that which is permanently
valuable, as opposed to that which is temporarily and fashionably current? There
is, it seems, a unique set of values that makes a culture. Still, this set of values
is not permanent either, it also changes, and with it, the culture changes as well.
Culture lives and dies, i.e. it undergoes metamorphosis like the Penelopes em-
broidery: what is woven during the day is unwoven during the night, until eternity.
The philosophy of the grave as the cradle of a new transformation, of ashes and
phoenix, of death and resurrection denotes longevity of a national identity and its
elementary values. This is what Serbian poet Jovan Jovanovi Zmaj sang about in
his poem Svetli grobovi (Light graves): /
/ , / .//And this is
how the light beams/Leave behind light traces/ Of one spirit from different ages/
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 MAPLE IN SERBIAN CULTURE

Of one spirit that does not die (our translation). A physiognomy of a culture can
be seen in the features of the maple, which as a moving mimesis can appear in
another culture. There remains, however, one unique and unchangeable fact. The
same or similar concepts in different cultures are still expressed differently, i.e. in
different languages. What one poem says is untranslatable into another language.
The autonomy of what is said, and this is purely national, cannot be translated into
any other language.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Grevs, Robert (1969). Grki mitovi (prev.Gordana Mitrinovi). Beograd: Nolit.
Grmaa, Dolores (2009). Dri i Vetranovi: Suhi javor i Dugi Nos. U: Nazbilj
i nahvao: etike suprotnosti u hrvatskoj knjievnosti i kazalitu od Marina
Dria do naih dana; u ast 500-obljetnice roenja Marina Dria. Dani
hvarskog kazalita. Zagreb Split: HAZU Knjievni krug: 152 173.
, . (1953).
. : .
, . (1925).
. : .
Jeske, Hauke Grosser, Dietger (2009). Das Holz des Bergahornos Eigenschaften
und Verwendung. Bayerische Landesanstalt fr Wald und Forstwirtschaft
(LWF). Freising, 62: 55 61.
, (2011). . : .
, . (1841). . : .
J .
, . (1852). . : J
.
, . (1867). .
. . :
. . .
, . (1969). . .
, . . :
.
, (1933). .
. 12: 171.
Krsti, Branislav (1984). Indeks motiva narodnih pesama balkanskih Slovena.
Beograd: Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti.
Neuner, Georg (2009). Der Bergahorn im Instrumentenbau. Bayerische
Landesanstalt fr Wald und Forstwirtschaft (LWF). Freising, 62: 65.
Nodilo, Natko (1981). Stara vjera Srba i Hrvata. Split: Logos.

93
 Mirjana D. Stefanovi

Roloff, Andreas (2009). Vorwort. Bayerische Landesanstalt fr Wald und

Forstwirtschaft (LWF). Freising, 62: 3.
(1912).
, [
]. .
, . (2013). .
in A . , , .
(: ): 51
61.
, (1903). .
IV: . : -
.
, (1903). . II.
: .
, (1985). .
:
.
Wauer, Alexandra (2009). Der Bergahorn in Volksglauben und Geschichte.
Bayerische Landesanstalt fr Wald und Forstwirtschaft (LWF). Freising,
62: 66 70.
www.kosmas: Vescoli, Michael. Keltsk stromov kalend. https://www.kosmas.
cz/knihy/115437/keltsky-stromovy-kalendar/

94
Mirjana Detelic
The SASA
Institute for Balkan Studies
Belgrade
[email protected]
www.mirjanadetelic.com

A GRAVE IN THE WOODS

Intertwining of spatial and plant encoding in the epics1

SUMMARY: In traditional culture of the Balkan Slavs gora (woods, forest, mountain) is
the place with the greatest possible number of negative connotations: it is always wild and
alien, therefore dangerous ([gora] nikad nije pusta / bez vukovah ali hajdukova: this land is
never waste / without either wolfs or brigands), with distinctive chthonic characteristics (in
gora, there is an entrance to the netherworld - through a cave or a hole; the impure forces
are banned into it as into their natural space; in gora/woods/forest the penitentiary gods
miracles happen) etc. In consequence, when transferred to the epics, gora/woods/forest
becomes a spatial image of the peak of all active plot-lines of the poem, which is simply
the point of no return, from which the action can go only towards a tragic end. By tragic
meaning of course - the premature, unavoidable, and violent death of the protagonist(s).
What is more, whoever dies in the woods stays in the woods too, because it is forbidden
(in traditional culture at least) to burry the impure dead in the holy land of graveyard. As
those dead are usually loved and honoured ones without any personal blame, their graves
are equipped with running water, benches and flowers or fruits to mark the spot of their
departure and to figure as an offering to their souls.

KEY WORDS: forest/woods/mountain, death, grave, fruit, flowers, water

In the traditional culture of the Balkan Slavs gora (woods, forest, mountain)2
is the place with the greatest possible number of negative connotations: it is al-
ways wild and alien, therefore dangerous ([gora] nikad nije pusta / bez vukovah
ali hajdukova: this land is never waste / without either wolfs or brigands), with
distinctive chthonic characteristics (in gora, there is an entrance to the nether-

1
This paper was realized within the project no. 178010: Language, folklore, migrations in the Balkans
(The SASA Institute for Balkan Studies), financed by the Ministry of Science and Education of the
Republic of Serbia.
2
In Serbian gora is an archaism for the contemporary mountain or forest (in the mountain). Gora
encompasses all those meanings.

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 Mirjana Detelic

world3 - through a cave or a hole; the impure forces are banned into it as into their
natural space; in gora/woods/forest the penitentiary gods miracles happen)4, etc
[Cajkanovic 1994/1; Radenkovic 1986]. In consequence, when transferred to the
epics, gora/woods/forest becomes a spatial image of the peak of all active plot-
lines of the poem, which is simply the point of no return, from which the action
can go only towards a tragic end. By tragic meaning of course - the premature,
unavoidable, and violent death of the protagonist(s).
A death in the epic woods might be silent and bloodless one when it is
caused by a vis maior (charm, curse, god the old slaughterer, fairy), or it is
violent and brutal if the killers are men. For the benefit of epic poetics, it is rather
important to mark that the death by the higher forces has its own stable formulas,
which means that it is usually announced and described by regular, generally ac-
cepted linguistic means which must be rooted in a very deep antiquity:
,,Nek me spuste na zelenu travu; Let them put me down, to the green grass;
,,Ljuto me je zaboljela glava, I have a bitter headache,
,,Jarko mi je omrznulo sunce, I hate the bright sun,
,,A crna mi zemlja omiljela, But the black earth is so dear to me,
,,Bog bi dao, te bi dobro bilo! By god, let it all be for good!
[Vuk III, 78:159-163]

A mene je zabolela glava, But I have a bitter headache,

A od srca preboleti ne u. And I fear I will not get through it.
To izusti, pa duicu pusti. Thus said, she parted with her soul.
[Vuk II, 7:138-140]

Skide Marko zelenu dolamu, Marko took off the green dolama5,
Prostrije je pod jelom po travi, Stretched it on the grass under the fir tree,
Prekrsti se, sjede na dolamu, Crossed his heart, sit down on dolama,
Samur-kalpak nad oi namae, With samur-kalpak6 he covered his eyes,
Dolje lee, gore ne ustade. Down he lied, and never got up.
[Vuk II, 74:117-121]

3
This netherworld is not comparable with the ecclesiastic and standard understanding of the other
world, the abode of the dead. Within the South Slavs tradition, netherworld is simply a parallel
world with three suns, with green meadows in bloom, and with young and beautiful people dancing
on them (cf. the fairytale Kravaric Marko (Marko, the cows son) [Cajkanovic 1927, no. 10].
4
Eg. in the poem Kumovanje Grcica Manoijla (Godfathering of Manojlo the Greek) Vuk II, 6
where the protagonist is punished for perjury by canibalism (without knowing it, he eats his own
son who turned into a black lamb and ran into him on the road through the woods). The possible
punishing force here is more probably st John the Baptist, patron of godfathering, than the God
himself.

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 A GRAVE IN THE WOODS

Tu je malo postanulo vrime, When a morsel of time passed,

Teko Marka zabolila glava. Marko had a bitter headache.
Treim mu je putem besidila: For the third time she [the fairy] spoke to
Stani, kurbo, Kraljeviu Marko! him:
Neka tvoju ja odsiem glavu, Halt, you slut, Marko the Prince!
Ne e doi bilem dvoru svome. Let me cut off your head,
Jo je vila u tom rii bila, You will never reach your white castle.
Mrtav Marko pod konjica pade While she was still speaking,
I umire, pokojna mu dua! The dead Marko fell under his horse
56
[MH II, 72:40-48] And thus he died, God bless his soul!

On the contrary, descriptions of the violent death from a human hand have
their origin in historical, relatively recent times. Actually, they are very similar to
the reports of direct experience, so the stable formulas for this kind of action have
not yet been formed by the time when poems were recorded:
Od sebe ga maem oinuo, He stroke him with his sword,
Na dvije ga pole prekinuo, In two halves he cut him,
Pa se vrati, ode uz planinu. And then he returned, going up the mountain.
A kad doe Stevo u planinu, And when Stevo came to the mountain,
e su njima kavgu zametnuli, On the spot where the clash had started,
Krvavo je po drumu kamenje, There on the road all the stones are deep in blood,
Krvave su vite omorike; All the slender spurs are covered with blood;
Po kamenju i po krvci crnoj On the stones and on the black blood
Gazi junak harambaa Limo [Vuk There steps the hero, Limo the brigand chief.
III,42:355-363].

Ufatie Kovia Osmanagu They got him, the Kovcic Osmanaga,

i od njega velje muke grade - And they put him to the bitter torments
kidaju mu i noge i ruke, They tore apart both his legs and arms,
ostavie nasred druma puta And then they left him in the road
da ga miu tpice svakojake To be consumed by birds of many kinds
[SANU III, 66:132-136]

The point mutual to both kinds of dying in the forest is the burial of the dead,
of whom none reaches the consecrated space of cemetery. They all stay in the spot
where the death caught them: in the mountain/forest/woods, on the road, or at the
crossing of the roads through the woods. The only exception of this rule where
the ideological needs of the culture overcome the needs of epic poetics appears
in the small number of poems about the death of a ruler. Although at first buried in
the woods (or abandoned in the battlefield - which is the locus of similar connota-

5
A kind of luxurious cape or jacket, usually a rank-marker for gentry and alike.
6
A kind of helmet, trimmed with sable fur.

97
 Mirjana Detelic

tions), the ruler at the end is given an ecclesiastical burial and the apotheosis of
holiness. One of such examples is Smrt cara Urosa (Death of the emperor Uros,
Vuk VI, 14) where king Vukasin takes the young emperor to the woods in order to
murder him there:
, Uros is eating his white bread,
Uro jede, ujko ga ne jede, Uros is eating, his uncle is not,
Ve on oda po gori zelenoj, But he strolls in the green forest,
Pa prebira otrovana bilja, And he goes through the poisonous plants,
Da oturje dijete Uroa. With which to poison the child Uros.
Otrova ga i sarani mlada He poisoned him and buried the youngster
Pod najviom i najgranatijom Under the tallest and most branching fir tree,
U gorici a brsnatom jelom, The one with the mightiest treetop,
Gdi sjedoe jesti ljeba bjela. [25-33] Under the same tree where they ate their bread.
............................................
I onde se Uro posvetio, And Uros was there sanctified,
Te se samo posveeno tjelo And the very sanctified body of his
Nazidanu manastiru ee, By itself went to the monastery,
Onde leglo sanak boraviti, And lied there to fall into slumber,
Boraviti i bolne cjeliti, To stay there and heal the sick,
Da je slava Bogu velikome, All in glory to the mighty God
I Urou ugodniku svome. [82-88] And to Uros, to his favourite.

Another of the exempla is the epic fate of both the head and the body of duke
Lazar after the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 [Vuk II, 53]. Separated from the body by
decapitation, the dukes head was hidden at the bottom of a well, but the body was
abandoned in the battlefield, unburied:
Stajala je glava u kladencu The head was lying down in the well
Lepo vreme etrdeset leta, For a pretty long time for the forty years,
A ubavo na Kosovo telo, And the beautiful body in the field of Kosovo,
Ni ga jedu orli ni gavrani, Nobody touched it neither eagles nor ravens,
Ni ga gaze konji ni junaci. [17-21] Nobody steps on it nether horses nor the heroes
.........................................................
Pa zagazi u vodu kladenca, So he steps into the water in the well,
Te izvadi iz kladenca glavu And from that well he brought the head
Svetitelja Srpskoga Lazara, Of the Holy Lazar of Serbia,
Pa je mee na zelenu travu, And he put it on the green grass,
I zaiti vode u kondiru. And he fetch some water in the cup.
Dok se edni vodom obredie, After they all drank from the cup,
Kad su crnoj zemlji pogledali, When they looked at the black dirth,
Nesta glave sa zelene trave, The head disappeared from the green grass.
Ode glava preko polja sama, The head went over the field by itself,
Sveta glava do svetoga tela, The holy head to the holy body,
Pripoji se kako to j i bila. [44-54] And those two became one as they were before.

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...............................................
Ne e svetac zadubini tuoj, The saint is not willing to endowment of others,
Ve on oe svojoj zadubini, But hes going to his own endowment,
A u svoju krasnu Ravanicu To his beautiful Ravanica
Pod visokom pod Kuaj-planinom. Under the high Kucaj mountain.
to je Laza sagradio crkvu This church Laza had built
Za ivota jote za svojega, While he still was alive,
Sagradio sebi zadubinu Had his endowment built to himself,
O svom lebu i o svome blagu For his own money
A bez suza bez sirotinjskije. [79-87] And without oppressing anyone.

Here, the ideological interventions in the epic model are clear and by all
means of very recent origin. They, actually, have no influence on the older layers
of epic singing and on the general division of the burials in the woods. The same
indifference the burial-in-the-woods pattern also shows towards the scarce poems
where a dying hero asks his friends to bury him in some specific place (in a salt
field near the sea, on the crossing of twelve roads, near the ferry post, and similar
cf. ER 64, 89, 94) because not even then the word is about a true, ecclesiastical rite.
In the context of an epic song perception, the strangeness of this situation
for an amateur reader (or for one belonging to a different type of culture) is grow-
ing even bigger as in the largest number of cases the dead left in the woods are
actually the dearest ones: brides, grooms, brothers, blood brothers, good friends.
The logical question here is: what is the motivation for such a severe and (from the
point of view of the cult of the dead) extremely dangerous decision, having in mind
that each culture let alone the traditional one takes a very good care about the
relations between the dead and the living. Epics itself by no means can act in this
matter against, or in opposition to, the belonging cultural norm. On the contrary, it
honours its standpoint with great attention and consistency. At the first site, it could
be a paradox because the actions in the woods appear at the same time as both a
respect of tradition and an impingement of it. This can only be solved from the po-
sition within the traditional culture whose strict rules for handling the impure dead
are, actually, the main (if not the only one) reason for leaving them in the woods.
The Church, even today, is reluctant to give to the so called impure dead a
regular burial,7 and in the prime time of epic singing traditional rules of the kind were

7
An Orthodox requiem cannot be served to those who do not belong to this confession, to those who
were not baptized in it, or to those who were excommunicated. An orthodox priest cannot perform
this holy deed for a Christian of another confession, except in the very rare cases; nor can he do it
for the people of some other religion or for the atheists. For the anabaptized children, even of the
baptized parents, there cannot be a requiem. Same goes for the suicides, people killed in a duel, in
some countries also for the people under the death sentence. A dead mass is also denied to people
who permanently lived in sin, or who bore a death sin known to others, without redemption or

99
 Mirjana Detelic

even firmer than that. The right to the church burial was denied to all who did not die
of natural causes (in Serb. the so called pogibalci), especially to drowned people,
suicides, people killed by thunder, brigands and criminals, to those who were hung, to
participants in a ritual cortege (wedding guests, fertilizing rites, rain invoking proces-
sions) and similar. As the victims of an unnatural death, people who died during epi-
demics, women who died on childbirth, stillborns, children born on the wrong side
of blanket, anabaptized and first born children belonged to the same category, as well
as members of certain ethnicities or professions (e.g. Gypsies and diggers). Besides,
whoever died in gora/woods/mountain, automatically took part in this list because
they were either killed by a vis maior, or murdered by men. Keeping in mind what
kind of locus gora itself may be, the dead were actually very well situated indeed at
the entrance to the netherworld (and in some interpretations, in that world itself).
In direct connection with all these, as an outcome of the various taboos
densely intertwined, the belief was formed that those souls, if denied a burial,
cannot enter the other world but have to stay in this one and suffer. Under those
circumstances, they can easily be influenced by impure forces and become either
their servants, or demons dangerous for the living. So the living have every reason
to take care of the people who died (or were killed) in gora/woods, which means
to bury them decently, not in consecrated space of the graveyard, but on the spot
of their death: beside the road, in the garden, in the orchard, even in the special
graveyards far away from the human habitats.8 So, whenever a person who dies
in woods also gets buried in it, such a burial is both an expression of love for the
dead, and the need of the living to see about the safety and peace of his/her soul.
Graves in the woods could be either single or group. Single graves are further
divided in maidens, bachelors, and warriors, while the group graves are usually for
a pair (a bride and a groom; a boy and a girl - R 180; MH VIII, 20; two brothers -
R 132; MH I, 48; MH II, 71; SANU II, 8; a best man and a brother in law - MH V,
215), or for the whole wedding procession (R 180; MH VIII,20; MH V, 215; H II,
74). The collective graves in epics are relatively scarce; the single longer description
of making such a grave can be found only in the poem Maleta hajduk sahranjuje
svatove, koje je pobio (Maleta the brigand buries the wedding guests, whom he
killed MH VIII, 20). The atypical picture of that grave is made of two incompatible

confession. http://www.sv-jelisaveta.org.rs/news_alone.php?ArticleId=%2060
8
Bibliography on this subject is enormously big. For the purpose of this article, we used mostly older
sources because of the need to adjust the reconstruction of the customs and beliefs with the time
of epic singing and of recording of the poems in our corpus. In more recent times, according to the
results of the fieldwork, the attitude towards the burial and cult of the dead changed well enough to
make the comparison with the epics ineffective. So, for the present analysis, cf. Trojanovic 1911;
Zecevic 1963; Zecevic 1982; Djordjevic 1937-1940; Djordjevic 1984; Filipovic 1950; Cajkanovic
1994/1-5; Bandic 1980, 129-135.

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 A GRAVE IN THE WOODS

components: the imagery (belonging to the older layers of epic singing) and thematic
layers (new by origin). So the final picture of the grave looks in many details like the
older, maiden and bachelor graves, which is poetically improper:
Svaki ajduk svoga zakopava, Each brigand inters his own dead,
A Maleta momka i djevojku, But Maleta inters the bride and the groom.
Ter oko njih voke posadie, Around them he plants fruit trees,
Bunar-vode kod njih iskopae: A well of fresh water they dug on the side:
Kad putnici budu putovali, Whenever the travelers my travel this way,
Iz bunara ladne vode pili, Whenever they may drink from the cool well,
Sa jabuka trgali jabuke, Whenever they may pick an apple
U debelu ladu poivali, And whenever they may rest in the shadows,
I putnici budu govorili: They will have to say:
,Bog mu dao, onome junaku, God bless him, the nobleman,
Koji e ovu vodu navodio, Who dug this well
I uza nju voke posadio! And planted the fruit trees on the side!
Bog e nama oprostiti grije. God will give us a redemption.
Jo uz momka Maleta ajdue, On the side of the groom
On uz momka zelen borak sadi, Maleta plants a green pine,
Uz djevojku vinovu lozicu. And on the side of the bride a tiny vine.
Vijala se loza oko bora The tiny vine bent around the pine
Ka djevojka oko svog junaka! [148-156] Like the girl around her lover.
Between the maiden and bachelor graves there is no significant difference
because in both cases the death is understood as an interruption in the process of
ripening: it is all about the brides who never entered the state of married women
and about the young, still not proven enough men who get killed either by mistake,
or of bad luck in any case before their time:

DEVOJACKI I MOMACKI GROBOVI MAIDEN AND BACHELORS GRAVES

sabljama joj sanduk satesae, They cut her casket with swards,
nadacima raku iskopae; With hatchets they dug her grave;
Posue je groim i dukatim; They covered her with groats and duckats ;
elo glave vodu izvedoe, Above her head they dug a well,
oko vode klupe pogradie, Around the well they built some benches,
posadie ruu s obje strane: They planted roses on both sides:
ko j umoran, neka se odmara; Who is tired, let him rest;
ko je mlaan, nek se kiti cvjeem; Who is young, let him cut the flowers;
ko je edan, neka vode pije Who is thirsty, let him drink the water
za duicu lijepe evojke For the sake of the beautiful girls soul
[Vuk III, 78:190-201].

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 Mirjana Detelic

Lipo su mu greba iskopali, They dug him a nice grave,

Blizu dvora na vrati od dvora. Near his home, at the threshold of his home.
Na glavu mu cvie posadili, Above his head they planted flowers,
A na noge vodu izvodili. At his legs they dug a well of water.
Ko je mlai, neka cvie bere, Who is young, let him cut the flowers,
Ko je edan, neka vode pije, Who is thirsty, let him drink the water,
Neka ree: Pokojna mu dua! Let him say: God bless his soul!
[MH II,33: 139-145]

I ljepo ga Janko ukopao Janko nicely buried him

i kod groba posadio klupe And by his grave he put some benches
i kod klupe izveo vodicu: And by the benches he dug a well of water:
tko ti je trudan, neka poiva Who is tired, let him rest
tko je edan, nek pije vodicu. Who is thirsty, let him drink
[ER 157: 45-49]

oko groba stole pometao, Around the grave he put some tables
elo glave ruu usadio, At the head he planted a rose
a do nogu jelu usadio, By the legs he planted a fir tree
do te jele bunar iskopao By that fir tree he dug a well
i za jelu dobra konja svezo: And for the fir tree he left a good horse:

koji proe tud drumom carevim, Whoever passes by the imperial road,
ko j umoran, neka otpoine, If he is tired, let him rest
ko je mlaan pa je za kienje, If he is young a likes to embellish himself
nek se kiti ruicom rumenom, Let him cut the rose
a koga je obrvala eca, And who is thirsty,
bunar ima, nek utoli ecu, There is the well, let him drink
ko je junak vredan za konjica, Who is worthy of the good horse
nek ga drei, pa nek drumom jezdi- Let him have it and ride it on the imperial
sve za zdravlje Iva Senjanina road
i za duu nejaka neaka All these for the health of Ivo from Senj
And for the sake of his nephews soul.
[SANU III, 40:100-114].

Kopajte mi jamu pri svetemu Ivanu, Dig me a grave near Saint John,
nutra prostirajte moju kabanicu, Put in it my cloak,
na jnu poloite moje greno telo. Put on it my sinful body.
Vane ostavlajte moju desnu ruku, Only my right arm leave outside,
za jnu priveijte mojega konja vranca. Bind my black horse for it.
Nek se konjic plae, kad se ljuba nee. Let the horse cry for me lest my darling
Kopajte mi zdenec ober groba moga, wont.
doj mi putem pojde, vode se napije, Dig a well of water in front of my grave,

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za duu spomene. Whoever passes by on the road, let him drink

Sadite mi roe oko groba moga, and think of my soul.
doj mi putem pojde, roicu otrgne, Plant roses around my grave,
za duu spomene. Whoever passes by on the road, let him cut
Delajte mi klupu oko groba moga, the rose and think of my soul.
doj mi putem pojde, za klupicu sedne, Make a bench around my grave,
za duu spomene. Whoever passes by on the road, let him sit
[Delorko 1973] on the bench and think of my soul.

Although the difference between a bachelors and a warriors grave is visible

only in ritual offerings to the dead, their epic images have quite different connotations.
In case of the duke Kaica, for example, this difference is most easily noticeable:
sa sabljama sanduk otesae. They cut the casket with swards
saranie vojvodu Kaiiu, They buried the duke Kaica
elo glave koplje udarie, They left his spear above his head,
na koplje mu sokola metnue, On the spear, they left his falcon,
za koplje mu konja privezae, For the spear they tied his horse,
po grobu mu oruje prostree; Over his grave they spread his weapons;
od Madara unku nainie, They made a hummock of Hungarians,
obgradie groba Kaiina, They fenced in the Kaicas grave
da mu mrtvu ne pretresu telo To protect his body from thieves.
[Vuk II, 81:244-253] Death of duke Kaica
Smrt vojvode Kajice

Similar sepulchral gifts, but without a grave, are left for the dead Jugovics,
the warriors killed in the Kosovo battle 1389 and left in the battlefield unburied
(Smrt majke Jugovica / The Death of Jugovic Mother, Vuk II, 48):
Mrtvi nae devet Jugovia She found them dead, all the nine
I desetog star-Juga Bogdana, Jugovics
I vie nji devet bojni koplja, And with them the tenth, the Old Jugovic
Na kopljima devet sokolova, Bogdan,
Oko koplja devet dobri konja, And above them nine piercing lances,
A pored nji devet ljuti lava. [15-20]. And on the lances she found nine falcons,
Around the lances were bound nine good
horses,
And behind them stood nine fierce lions
[=hounds].

The dislocation of the system begins when the Jugovic mother leaves her
dearest dead in the battlefield and takes all the sepulchral gifts with her the
knightly animals and weapons. The elder (maybe even the eldest) layers of the
customary-ritual practice that served as material for this poem, with one of the
most touching and strongest poetic images in the whole Serbo-Croatian epics, were

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long ago abandoned and forgotten as an epic practice when the variants to this
poem were born. In one of them, e.g. in the song about Ivans mother (SANU III,
46) with the similar attitude towards the sepulchral gifts, even the mothers silent
suffering larger than life is condemned as inappropriate and heartless, without any
understanding whatsoever for its true poetic role [cf. Cajkanovic 1994/1: 94-109]:9
Al besedi Ivin konj zelenko: So speaks the Ivas horse Zelenko:
Ja sam konjic, alim gospodara, I am but a horse, and I grieve for my master,
A ne ali majka Ivanova! And his mother grieves for him not!

So, unlike the unburied dead left in the battlefield, the dead in the woods
get a rather stylish burials: they are laid down the other way round facing east
(in the cemetery, the dead are facing west, cf. Detelic 1996), and on/around the
grave itself, the fruit trees (usually an apple tree10), or a rose/pine/vine are planted,
some benches are built, and a well of fresh water is dug. Explaining such treatment
of graves in the woods, Cajkanovic [1994/5:160-182] points that behind them
there had to be an antique custom known as paulisper assidere, meaning that any
traveller, passing the holy woods, should stay a little and sit down for some time
[175]. So the recommended short stay beside the grave in the woods, which is
interpreted in the poem as a doing for the soul of the dead and as redemption of
the living, could itself had been a part of the cult of the dead, or a survival of the
ancient practice of exposure of the dead (presumably to some demonic being) that
could be recognized in traditional healing by exposure under dittany [Cajkanovic
1994/2] or some other shady tree.
Judging by where they are planted and under what circumstances, plants on
the grave in the woods have themselves to be shady because their purpose is to
attach a soul to themselves or to offer the soul as much as possible of advantages
it was deprived of when denied the regular burial. Both apple and rose really are
plants of binary symbolism: they can grow both in heaven and under the earth,
and in both places they serve some special purpose. Apple is the attribute of the
Greek goddesses Eris, Aphrodite, and Hero and of Hell, the German goddess
of the netherworld; as a mythic tree, an apple grows both in Paradise and at the
entrance to the underworld; according to tradition, in Paradise apples grow as a
solace for the smallest of the children longing for their mothers. An apple tree can
also represent the axis mundi, as in the poem: Jabuka je nasred raja rasla, / na

9
Cajkanovic here concludes that Jugovic mother had to be a fairy because it is utterly inappropriate
for a traditional mother to suffer silently (even if she finally dies of it). This could be corroborated
by completely unusual taking the offerings from the dead, which is simply never done. In this case,
mother herself poses as a goddess of death, very similar to Valkyrae.
10
Although it is named distinctively, an apple tree is not a reliable term because on the level of
linguistic history and etymology it signifies any fruit of adequate shape [cf. Detelic 2013].

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pakao grane nadnijela [An apple tree grew in the middle of Paradise / Its branches
overreached the Hell - cf. ajkanovi 1994/4; Deteli 2013].
A rose, on the contrary, is a symbol of beauty, love, and death so it unifies
all the three categories together. According to Veselovsky, the Slavic name for
rose (coming from Latin Rosa, ae, f) is connected with the antique custom called
rosalia/rosaria, which reached Russia through the South Slavs (Serb. rusalije All
Souls Day; rusalke spirits of the dead) [cf. Dizdarevic-Krnjevic 1997]. During
the early Christianity, rose were often planted on the graves of the first martyrs
where it symbolized a resurrection, whereas in the Balkan folklore under a rose,
near its roots, an Easter egg should be hidden to ensure a good and fertile year
[ 2 s.v. ; ajkanovi 1994/4: s.v.].

The most recent populist use of this symbolism was in Disneys film Snow-
white and the seven dwarfs in the image of the dead Snow-white in the glass
casket exposed in the woods: beautiful girl, dead, and loved by many, waiting for
her true love with her head on the pillow of roses (of course, her death was only
conditional).

Although their roles in formula are different (who is hungry to eat apples,
who is young to embellish him/herself with a rose), both plants in this context
share the same characteristics: they grow on the border between the worlds,

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their nature is shady and in direct connection with the cult of the dead.11 There are,
however, many more plants and trees of the kind (maple, for example, which is
a favourite with Bulgarians; yew tree, basil etc.) never mentioned in the epics in
connection with graves, although they are perfect from the standpoint of the cult
and rites.12 So, the choice of apple and rose for the graves of boys and girls should
probably emphasize the liminal phase within the rite of initiation which, because
of the unfortunate track of events, never ends and thus becomes permanent. Behind
this unwanted inversion lies an alarming concept of the dead who after all are
not completely at peace as far as one can speak with them, which is almost an epic
routine. Thus the neutral meaning of the term permanent, through the elevation,
changes into an ominous eternal:
esto Lazo na grob izlazio, Lazo often went to her grave,
Pa je pito svoju zarunicu: And asked his bride to be:
Jel ti, duo, zemlja doteala? My darling, is earth too heavy for you?
Devojka mu mrtva odgovara: And the dead girl answers him:
Nije meni zemlja doteala, It is not earth that is heavy to me,
Ve je teka materina kletva. But my mothers curse.
[Vuk II, 7:151-156]
Svako ga je jutrooblazila: She visited him every morning:
Sine Konda, jel` ti zemlja teka? My son, Konda, is earth heavy for you?
Il` su teke daske javorove? Or are the maple planks too heavy?
Progovara Konda iz zemljice: And Konda answers from under the earth:
Nije meni, majko, zemlja teka, It is not earth, mother, that is heavy for me,
Nit` su teke daske javorove, Neither earth nor the maple planks,
Ve su teke kletve devojake: But maidens curses are too heavy for me:
Kad uzdiu, do Boga se uje; When they sigh, even God hears them;
Kad zakunu, sva se zemlja trese; When they curse, all the earth trembles;
Kad zaplau, i Bogu je ao! When they cry, even God feels sorry.
[Vuk I, 368]

Contrary to this, vine on the grave in the woods13 does not appear regularly
in the epics. The example with Maleta the brigand is exceptional because the
actual making of wedding graveyards are rarely described at all. Usually, there
is only a verse or two, like: svaki se je svoga privatio / I u ladan grob ga poloio
11
For multiform functions of rose cf. Dizdarevi-Krnjevi 1997; Karanovi 2010; for apple
ajkanovi 1994/4, s.v.; Deteli 2013.
12
According to Serbian legends, basil shot up on the grave of the emperor Uros, even on the grave
of Jesus; or it was made of tears of St. Sava the Serbian [ajkanovi 1994/5:171].
13
In epic poems it, actually, has not to be just vine (Serb. loza): any liana or wall creeper could do
ivy or wild grape that sprouts freely anywhere. It is, however, supposed that the word is about the
vine because it has always been considered shady and holy, so no other plant could take its place
in pointing the grave of a saint or of a person tragically killed in the woods.

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(They each took his own dead / And in cold grave put him [MX VIII,20]); pak
ih lepo pokopasmo ondi / devojku i momka poredo / a svatove pod jele zelene
(So we buried them there nicely / the girl and the boy together / and the wedding
guests under the green fir trees [ER 157]) etc. The aberration of this pattern is not
motivated by needs of the epic poetics which would appreciate quite a different
treatment of vine on the grave: it should sprout by itself from the bodies of tragic
lovers or from a martyr (usually a maiden or a wife), as in the poem Bog nikom
duzan ne ostaje (God never spares anyone Vuk II, 5) where from the body of the
righteous sister (after the plants that grow from the places where her limbs were
fallen) finally a church materializes:
Na Momiru zelen bor nikao, On Momir a green pine tree appeared
Na Grozdani vinova lozica, And on Grozdana the vine:
Savila se loza oko bora, The vine bound around the pine
Ko sestrina oko brata ruka. As a sisters arm around a brother
[Nahod Momir Vuk II, 30:91-94]14 Momir the foundling

e je od nje kaplja krvi pala, Where a drop of blood fell off her,
One raste smilje i bosilje; There immortelle and basil grew;
e je ona sama sobom pala, Where she herself fell down,
One se je crkva sagradila. There a church itself was built
[Bog nikom duan ne ostaje Vuk II, God never spares anyone
5:87-90]
14

In that way the very important task of manifestation of the Gods miracles
on the Earth is fulfilled, which is one of the epics constant features (cf. Bog
nikome duan ne ostaje / God never spares anyone SANU II, 4; MH I, 41-43;
akon Stefan i dva anela / Deacon Stevan and two angels Vuk II, 3; MH I,
6; Kumovanje Gria Manojla / Godfathering of Manojlo the Greek Vuk II, 6;
SANU II, 5 etc. [see also Bakoti 1937]). If it is planted on purpose, as it is a case
with Maleta the brigand, this choice is motivated by its numerous and significant

14
Such examples are many: in love songs collected by Nikola Begovic ( Tu dva groba naporedo
bie: / Iz junaka javor drvo raste, / Iz evojke vinova lozica. / Lozica se oko bora vila, / Kao svila
oko grude smilja. / Oko njih mi ance iskopae, / I u ance vodu navedoe; / Oko groba klupe
sagradie, / Oko klupa voe posadie. / Ko je edan neka se napije, / Ko je gladan neka voe ije, /
Ko je trudan neka odpoiva, / Nek spomene krvave svatove [Begovi 1885]. Especially interesting
is he following example from Bulgaria: ,/ , , /
, . / , , / . / ,
, / , / . / , / -
, / . / , / ,
/ ; / / . / -
[ 26, 254].

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connotations. First of all, it is a symbol of life and survival of the species (loza
mu se ugasila - may his lineage15 drop dead/cut off/die away/vanish), and thus
the symbol of fertility; it is a custom to put it on flames on the grave of those who
died without a candle (in darkness); it is carved and painted on tombstones etc.
[ 1(1995): s.v.]. In folklore, vine is not just a shady, but also
a holy plant avoided by vampires and werewolves (so it is a good shelter against
them). On the fire built with vines saints are burnt (st. Sava and st. Andrija/Andrew):
When st. Sava was put to flames, his relics could not burn on the common wood
fire, but vine had to be cut from the vineyards and only then they succeeded to
burn him out [Corovic 1927]; st. Andrew, before he was reborn, burnt his own
self on the fire lit by vines as a redemption fer the sin of mixing vine with water
[ajkanovi 1927: no. 166; cf. Matietov 1971].
It is clear, finally, that all the three plants apple, rose, and vine are planted
on the graves not only because they are connected with the cult of the dead, but
also because they are ambivalent and thus represent for the dead both an offering
and a promise of eternal peace and serenity. In that context, the edible fruits and
vicinity of water guarantee a seasonal renewal of offering rites in place where the
presence of friends and family is not easy (if not impossible) to obtain. Fir trees,
though, fulfil the same promise in quite a different way.
Whether they appear on the grave of young people (two boys or a man and
a woman) or they stand as a metaphor for the living youngsters (especially if there
is a need to stress something exceptional in their looks or their destiny) pine and
fir tree are always a direct substitute for a human:

MRTVI DEAD
Dvje grobnice ovdi iskopajte, Two graves you dig here,
Jednu meni, drugu bratu momu, One for me, one for my brother,
Pa nas, brao, ljepo sahranite, And bury us, brothers, nicely,
Dva zelena bora usadite, Two green pines plant here,
Medju njima spomen podignite Between them put the tombstone
I na njemu ovo napiite: And write this upon it:
Ovdi lee dva brata roena, Here lie two sibling borthers,
Po imenu mali Marijane By the names of little Marijan
I bratac mu arambaa Ivo. And his brother arambasa Ivo.
[MH I, 48: 473-481]

15
Loza in Serbian has both meanings: a plant and a lineage of anything living (both animals and
humans).

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IVI LIVING
Dva su bora naporedo rasla, Two pines grew together
Meu njima tankovrha jela; And between them thin topped for tree;
To ne bila dva bora zelena, Those were not two green pines
Ni me njima tankovrha jela, Neither with them a thin topped fir tree,
Ve to bila dva brata roena: But those were two brothers
Jedno Pavle, a drugo Radule, First one Pavle, the other Radule,
Meu njima sestrica Jelica. And between them their sister Jelica.
[Vuk II, 5: 1-7]

In folklore, pine is considered a shady and holy tree. Cajkanovic is of

opinion that it can also get divine and kingly attributes, especially in connection
with some exquisite, old, and tabooed examples e.g. the pine of king Milutin,
of the emperor Uros, of the empress Milica etc. [1994/4, 34-36]. The same author
also thinks that euphemistic curses like bora mi (by pine)16 or gloga mi (by
hawtorn) actually preserve the ancient times knowledge when pine and hawthorn
were equal with god in the same type of phrases (boga mi). In that case, the
origin of those phrases/formulas should be looked for in popular believes that gods
and demons (all kinds of numina) permanently or temporarily dwell in trees (e.g.
the antique Daphne in laurels, and later the fairies and spirits of the dead in other
kinds of trees, etc.). The example could easily be found in one of the wedding
songs from the 19th century [antology by Jovan Cvetkovic 1890-1894]:

Boga moli mlado mome A young fellow prays to God:

Daj mi Boe zlatne noe Oh, God, give me golden knives
I srebrne parokie And silver horns,
Da probodem boru koru Let me cut through pines bark
Da ja vidim ta j u boru. And see what is in the pine.
Bog mu dade zlatne noe God gave him the golden knives
I srebrne parokie And the silver horns
Te probode boru koru So he cut through the pine s bark
Te on vide ta j u boru And he saw what was there in the pine
Kad u boru mlada moma And there was a young maiden in the pine
(ASANU Etn zb. 1-1-52).

So, pine on the grave served at the same time as a tombstone, a binder for
the soul, a permanent replacement for the dead, and his/hers deified shade. A fir
tree in that context figures as a feminine variant of the same thing, as it usually is a
custom to compare a girl with a fir tree slim and tall in both epic and lyric (ritual

16
In Serb. the difference is in one vowel: bor (pine) and bog (god). Same as in Eng. by gosh. The
same similarity in sound goes also for the next example gloga mi (glog bog).

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or love) songs. It should also be mentioned that the caskets - the last mansions of
the dead both in the woods and in the regular cemetery - are usually made of fir
or of maple wood.
There is a great number of shady trees and plants in folklore: acacia is a
bad tree; elm, ash, poplar, and wild fruit trees, together with nuts, belong to de-
mons; beech, as well as iris, peony, Virgin grass (bogorodicina trava) and a very
long list of plants are good for spells and healings, etc. [cf. Cajkanovic 1994/4].
What influenced the epic choice of these particular five (apple, rose, vine, pine,
and fir) can only be guessed at. One of the reasons could have been the antiquity
of believes connected with those plants, permanently present in traditions of many
nations from ancient times till today. This argument holds in the epic optics too,
because any appearance of those plants in the epics has its own, stable formula:
ko je gladan (neka jede) [who is hungry, let him eat], ko je mlaan (nek se kiti)
[who is young, let him spruce him/herself], dva su [zelena] bora (rasla) [two green
pines grew together], savila se loza oko bora [the vine grew around the pine] etc.
together with others connected with the bench and water unit, belonging to topos
of the holy woods/grove.
At this particular moment it is difficult to differ the aim from the means
of translation of the holiness in connection with the digging of the grave in the
woods: are the holy woods/groves good for burials because they were deified by
the divine presence, or are the graves what makes the place numinous because of
the care the living showed towards them. In both cases, the combinations of plants
of which some are upright and with their roots connect the dead with the treetops
in the heavens, and some are creeping and interlacing around the others testifies
more about the dynamics and movement than about a static interruption of life.
Contrary to this, a bench on the side of a grave implicates the end of motion, the
adoration by sitting down (paulisper assidere), and thus brings the balance to the
structure of the daemon loci. To this structure, each and every one of the elements
contributed something of its own:
- a ball-shaped fruit (apple) association with celestial bodies, bolts, and
thunders (Munja groma nadigrala / Dvjema-trima jabukama / I etirma naranama
[The Bolt outplayed the Thunder / With two or three apples / And with four or-
anges] - Vuk I, 235);
- vines its ancient connections with souls and metempsychosis (Srdita
devoja [A wrathful girl] / Srdito beala [Wrathfully ran] / Uz lojze zeleno: [By
the green vines:] / Boe, mili boe, [Oh, my dear God] / Pretvori me, boe,
[Change me, dear God,] / iu belo grojze! [Into a white vine!] / Mome po
nju tri [A boy ran after her] / I bogu se moli: [And prays to God:] / Pretvori
me, boe, [Change me, dear God,] / Pile kosovile [Into a mocking bird] / Da

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pozobem, boe, [And let me peck, oh God,] / iu belo grojze! [The white
vine!] Koeljac, no. 37);
- rose its connection with blood and knowledge/keeping of secrets (sub
rosa), as well as the ability to creep high over surfaces ( Ruo Sovijane, [O Rose,
Creeping Rose,] / Ti visoko raste, [You grow high,] / Ti daleko vidi. [You see far.]
/ Dole Smederevo, [Down there is Smederevo,] / Dole mi je vojno, [Down there is
my husband,] / Kai mu da dojde. [Tell him to come back.] / Sve mu je propalo:
[Everything goes apart:] / Seno nekoeno, [Grass is not reaped,] / Lozje neobrano,
[Vines are not picked,] / Ljube neljubeno. [Wife is not kissed.] - ul devoje,
no.160);
- fir and pine their direct connection with the idea of axis mundi, as well as
the ancient capacity of marcation, putting a sign on an important place (U visoku
Biansku planinu, [In the high mountain of Bisce] / eno ima suhovrha jela,
[Where there is a high fir tree] / I pod jelom jedan bijel kamen, [And under that
tree a white stone] / Kod kamena jedna voda ladna, [And by that stone a cold,
running water] / Tu e mene nai, pobratime, [There you will find me, my blood
brother] / Sa mnom hoe svu druinu moju [And all my company with me] - Vuk
III,42, 19-24);
- water the ambiguity of an element which is, at the same time, not only a
means of cleansing of the dead (libations) but also a way to protect the living from
them, both the source of life and the borderline the dead can never cross.
So, in more ways than one, an epic grave in the woods is so to say a
multilayer topos, every element of which is most carefully selected. It is not a
mandatory procedure with those who die in the woods (or in the battlefield), but
a gift to the dear departed, a sign of the last and the greatest mercy. That said, the
most interesting find of this analysis is the complete absence of this motive in the
Muslim epic songs. They too sing of warriors who fight and die in the woods/
mountains, but Muslim singers never leave anybody in the woods:
Tude malog Mehmedagu najde, There he found the small Mehmedaga,
Gje on lei pod zelenom jelom, Lying down under a green fir tree,
Jer su Mehu rane osvojile, Because the wounds took over Meho
.................................................. ..............................................................
Mujo njega die na zekana, Mujo got him on the horse,
Dodade mu u ruke kajase, Put the reins in his hands
[EH 7: 1189-1205]

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Ali ranjen razgovara Mujo: But wounded Mujo said:

Od te kajde ne imade fajde, There is no purpose in this doing,
Ovako je od Boga sueno, God had it for me in his hand,
Meni vakat umrijeti doe. My dying hour is here.
Vi hajdete bijeloj Kladui, You go to the white Kladusa,
Povedite Mijat harambau, Take Mijat arambasa with you,
Bacite ga na dno u tavnicu. Put him to the bottom of the dungeon.
Mrku ete nocu prenoiti, When the black night is over,
Pokupite mlade Kladuane, Gather young Kladusa men together,
Vodite ih u Kunar-planinu, Take them to the Kunar mountain,
Onda ete mene ukopati, And there you will bury me
U planini turbe namjestiti. In the mountain, with my turbeh.
[KH II, 48: 161-172] (the hero is still alive and fairies later
save him, so he does not get buried in the
woods)
Udarie poljem zelenijem, They went through the green field,
Halaknue, Boga spomenue, They yelled, mentioning God,
A za otro gvoe prihvatie. And held their sabres and swards
........................................ ......................................................
Tu ehite svoje pokopae, There, they buried their dead,
Mezare im glavam okitie, They ornated tombstones with heads,
Ranjenike svoje ponijee, They took their wounded,
Na dva koplja etiri junaka On two spears four warriors
[KH I, 23:776-779]

Vrlo su me rane savladale, My wounds have overcome me,

Sjai, brate, ogu velikoga, Dismount, brother, your big horse,
Pa se svrati s puta u planinu, Leave the road, go to the mountain,
Nakrei mi jelove etine, Cut the fir branches for me,
Pa mi prostri pod jelom zelenom, And make me lie there under green fir.
A pokrij me divan-kabanicom, Cover me with my robe,
Prinabij mi moje puke male, Gove me my little guns,
Obe puke metni kod meneka; Both of them as near as possible;
A ti hajde na grad na Udbinu, And you go to town of Udbina
................................................... ..................................................
Kada na grad na Udbinu doe, And when you come to the town of Udbina
.................................................... .............................................................
Svedi doru do ardaka moga, Take my horse down to my castle,
Podaj konja mojoj staroj majci, Take him to my mother,
Pa mi kai na odaku majci, And tell my mother in my castle
Nek prodaje sinova dorata, To sell her sons horse,
Neka sebe na odaku hrani; To sell him and support herself;
A kai mi sestri jedinici, And to my only sister you will tell

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 A GRAVE IN THE WOODS

Nek s udaje, a mene ne eka, To marry, not to wait for me

Mene nikad doekati ne e. Cause I will never come back again.
[majka i sestra pronau junaka, odvedu (mother and sister go to the mountain and
ga kui i neguju do ozdravljenja] find the hero, take him home and nurse
[MH III, 15:445-466] him to his full health)

The very fact that protagonists go back to fetch their dead and wounded, al-
though those insisted on being left at the place they went down, testifies about the
relatively recent origins of Muslim epic singing in the Balkans. Only once, depict-
ing the death of Lika Mustaj-bey, the Muslim singer leaves the murdered bey in the
mountain where he died, but even then it is only for a time being. The accents, of
course, are not on the place of death, but on the poor character of the killer (a goat-
herd) because the very idea of a better warrior than Lika was outrageous and unimag-
inable. When time comes, he is taken from the mountain and buried in a better place.
This should not be understood as a complete absence of burials in the place
of death this motive is very well known and very frequent in Muslim epics:
A ehite svoje pokopae, And they buried their dead,
Pokopae, gdje i poginue. [na polju On the spot where they died [in the
Brestovcu] Brestovac field]
[KH II,65: 1009-1010]

te sve svoje mrtve pokopae, [u polje And all their dead they buried [in the
Markovo] Markovo field]
ranjenike svoje ponijee And their wounded they took with them
[KH III,2:929-930; 1774-1775]

Pokopae po polju ehite, They buried the dead in the field,

Ranjenicim sala napravie And made stretches for the wounded
[EH 9:1122-1123]

Jedni ljudi grobove kopahu, Some were digging graves,

Pokraj puta kopaju svatove, By the road they dug the wedding guests,
Pokopae tri stotine svata, They buried 300 wedding guests,
Ranjenike u grad opravie. And wounded they took to the town
[KH II, 74:556-559]

Ranjenike Turke iskupie, They took the wounded Turks,

A ehite ondje pokopae [u luini, pod And the dead they buried on the spot [in
kulom] the cops, under the fortress]
[KH III, 2:838-839]

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 Mirjana Detelic

It even has its own stable formula: i ehite/leine/mrtv(ac)e pokopae [they

buried their dead] (KH I,21, 23, 26, 27; KH II, 53, 54, 57, 59, 74; KH III, 3, 10;
MH III, 9, 12, 17; MH IV, 29, 33, 37, 41, 43, 45). In the Christian epics this phrase
is doubled by the usual report on death by a human hand, whether it was in context
of pillage (of brides gifts, of wedding guests, of merchants, caravans etc.), or of
clash of arms.
The Muslim songs, not less than Christian, recognise also a motive of
wedding cemeteries, but their attitude towards them is quite different. The best
example could be found in the Zenidba Ahmet-bega Vezirovica (The Wedding
of Ahmet-bey Vezirovic KH II, 61) where the difference between the woods/
mountain and the field is maximally stressed:
Sedam su je puta provodili They went with her for seven times
Pod Bakonju, zelenu planinu, Under the Bakonja, the high mountain,
Na iroko polje Zlatarevo, To the wide open field Zlatarevo,
A studenom vrelu arganovu, To the cold water spring Sarganovo.
Tu imade sedam mezarova, There are seven graves there,
Djevojakih sedam muterija, Seven maidens proposers,
Sve nesretne uzel-uvegije, All unfortunate bridegrooms,
Sve su oni tuden izginuli, Who were all killed there,
A najposlje Dervi begoviu, And the last of them Dedrvis begovic
Nije takog u sandaku bilo Who was one and only in the whole sandzak.
Tu su begu turbe nainili, They made a turbeh for bey,
Vi glave mu ruu usadili, Above his head they planted a rose,
Ispod noga kajnak mu izvire. Under his legs the water springs.
Kad pogleda poljem Zlatarevim, If you look along the field of Zlatarevo,
Rekao bi, plugom je orato. You should think it was ploughed.
Nije pusto plugom podorato, It was not ploughed
Ve sve taze grobljem potkopato, But covered with new graves,
A Bakonja, zelena planina, And Bakonja, the green mountain,
Rekao bi, snjegom je posuta; You should think it is covered with snow;
Nije, brate, snijegom posuto, No, my brother, it is not the snow
Ve se bjele mnoge kosti tude, But plenty of white bones,
Mnoge kosti konjske i insanske, White bones human and of the good horses,
Sve nesretne Zlatije svatova. [168-190] Of the unfortunate Zlatijas wedding guests

Turbeh,17 rose (by his head), and water (by his feet) are recognisable ele-
ments of an epic grave in the waste land, but in the Muslim variant it is a field not
a mountain or forest and it is not a solitary grave but an extremely luxurious
specimen within a densely populated cemetery of guests of a wedding party. What
is left unburied in the woods, as well as in the battlefield, are the bones of horses

17
Turkish/islamic tombstone.

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 A GRAVE IN THE WOODS

and men, exactly those which in Christian epics serve as material for building a
fairy town/fortress:
Grad gradila prebijela vila A white fairy built a city
Ni na nebo ni na zemlju crnu, Not in clouds, not on the black earth,
No od jele do zelene jele, But from one fir tree to another.
Ne gradi ga klakom i kamenjem, She does not build it with mortar and stone,
No bijelom kosti od junaka, But with the white human bones,
Od junaka i od konja vrana, Bones of men and of the black horses.
Evo joj je preminula graa Now she spent all material she had
Do pendera i prvog tavana. But built the city only up to windows of first
Tad se vila na nevolji nae, floor
Te mi pie listak knjige tanke In order to solve this problem,
U Perastu Baju Pivljaninu: She writes a thin letter
To Bajo Pivljanin in Perast:
.
Premanjka mi kosti junakije. I spent all bones of men.
No okupi tvoju etu, Bajo, But take your company, Baja,
Ajde s njima u planinu, pobre, And go to the mountains with them, my brother,
Ne bi li ti Bog i srea dala, May God and Fortune bless you
Da bi mene nabavio grae. To collect some material for me.
Kada Baju sitna knjiga doe, When Baja received the thin letter,
I kad vide to mu sitna pie, And when he saw what was written in it,
Onu ita, bre drugu pie, He read it and instantly replied
Odasla je u planini vili: And sent his letter to the fairy in the woods:
uje li me, posestrimo vilo, Do you hear me, my sister fairy,
Ne mogu ti nabaviti grae, I cannot get you any material
Nego e me malo priekati But you will have to wait a little
Do vesela danka urevoga, Till the merry day of st. George
Kad se gora izodije listom, When the woods will be in leaves
A rudina travom i cvijetom, And fields in grass and bloom,
Kad okopni snijeg u vrhove, When snows melt on mountaintops,
Kad presahne voda u lugove, When water dries off the groves,
enie se Ale od Novoga, Then Ale from Novi will be getting married
S milom ercom pae od engia, With the dear daughter of the pasa Cengic,
Tadar u ti grae nabaviti. Then I will collect you material you wish.
[Vuk VII, 47:1-36; slino i SANU II,
59 the builder is Filip the Hungarian]

Thus, the analogies emerge where the least expected, and numen enters
through the narrow door even if its presence was permanently and skillfully
avoided. This could, probably, explain why the dead are not buried in the woods
throughout the Muslim songs: it is not about their cultic impurity (it stays the same
in the field as in the woods), but in the fear of dangerous and dreadful place with
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 Mirjana Detelic

which the Islamic tradition and culture in the Balkans did not have any correspon-
dences. In the Balkans is a very important location here because the Balkan
Muslims are not a unified ethnicity of similar individuals, but a conglomerate of
nations, traditions, and cultures conjoint by the same religion. They are mutually
different by their ways of life, by cultural paradigms, by political geography etc.
In the Balkans, the Muslim epic singers by the greatest percentage come from the
converts (Christian to Muslim), people who together with the new religion also
adopted a new attitude towards the close and open space. The socio-political rela-
tionship between the Turks/Muslims and the raya/Christians was reencoded in the
epics as a relationship between the open-space-(gora)-protective/Christian and the
close-space-(town)-offensive/Turkish. Because of that, gora cannot be anything
else for the Muslim singers but a battlefield, i.e. not a place for burials but for leav-
ing without looking back [cf. Detelic 1992].
It is interesting, though, that it took only 2 or 3 centuries to lose this import-
ant relationship with the gora/woods, i.e. the time between the arrival of Ottomans
(in 15th century) and the first tides of converting (not before 17th century). Mus-
lim convert singers of epic songs with a solid repertoire emerge only that late in
history, and by that time the idea of Muslim graves in the woods was completely
extinguished.

CORPUS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Vuk I: , . ,
, ,
, 1841, ,
, , , , 1975.
Vuk II-IV : , ,
1864-1964
1787-1987, , , 1986-
1988.
Vuk VI-IX : 1 - 9, . ,
, , 1899-1902..
SANU II-IV : .
, ,
, , 1974.
SM : , ,
, , 1990. [
, .
, , 1837.]

116
 A GRAVE IN THE WOODS

H I-IX : Hrvatske narodne pjesme, skupila i izdala Matica hrvatska. Odio prvi.
Junake pjesme, Zagreb, 1890-1940.
H I - III : Narodne pjesme muslimana u Bosni i Hercegovini, sabrao Kosta
Hrmann 1888-1889, knj. I-II, drugo izdanje, Sarajevo, 1933.
Narodne pjesme muslimana u Bosni i Hercegovini, Iz rukopisne ostavtine Koste
Hrmanna, redakcija, uvod i komentari enana Buturovi, Sarajevo, 1966.
(KH III)
H : Muslimanske narodne junake pjesme, sakupio Esad Hadiomerspahi, u
Banjoj Luci, 1909.
R : Erlangneski rukopis, novo itanje na adresi http://www.branatomic.com/erl/
Begovi : , ,
, , 1885.
Koeljac: , .
, , 1991.
ul devoje: . ,
, , 1979.
: , . . 27.
, ( . XIX .
, . XXVII ), , 1889.
Miladinovci: i ,
, , ,
1861. : http://liternet.bg/folklor/sbornici/miladinovci/index.
htm.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bakoti 1937 Bakoti, Petar (1937). Pojav uda i zakon reda u narodnoj
knjievnosti. Zagreb : ZNOJS XXXI/1.
Bandi 1980 - Bandi,Duan (1980). Tabu u tradicionalnoj kulturi Srba. Beograd.
Delorko 1973 - Delorko, Olinko (1973). Usmena poezija Gupeva zaviaja in:
Folklor Gupeva zaviaja, Institut za narodnu umjetnost, Zagreb: 151-152.
Detelic 1992 , (1992). , &
: .
Detelic 2013 , (2013). Zelena jabuka u epskim pesmama, in:
, : 51-72.
Dizdarevi-Krnjevi 1997 - , (1997).
: , : .
1(1995), .
: . . . , 1, , 1995.

117
 Mirjana Detelic

orevi 1937-1940 , . (1937-1940).

. XLVI-XLIX.
orevi 1984 - , . (1984). 1-4,
.
Zeevi 1963 , (1963).
. 26.
Zeevi 1982 , (1982). . .
Karanovi 2010 , (2010). . :
.
Matietov 1961 Matietov, Milko (1961). Segani in prerojeni lovek.
SAZU:Ljubljana.
1-2 - 1-2, , 1981.
Nekljudov 1972 , . . (1972). ,
, .
Nekljudov 1979 - Nekljudov, S. Ju. (1979). vezi prostorno-vremenskih odnosa
sa siejnom strukturom u ruskoj bilini, III program Radio-Beograda, 42.
Radenkovi 1986 , (1986).
, 50.
Trojanovi 1911 - , (1911). ,
17.
orovi 1927 , (1927). ,
.
Filipovi 1950 , . (1950).
, .
ajkanovi 1927 , (.). ,
, 41: -.
ajkanovi 1994/1, 2 , (1994).
1910-1924, 1; 1925-1942,
2: .
ajkanovi 1994/4 - , (1994).
, 4, .
ajkanovi 1994/5 - , (1994).
, 5, .

118
Neda Mimica-Duki
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences,
Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Environmental protection.
[email protected]

THE HEALING POWER OF HERBS

AND PHYTOTHERAPY TODAY

ABSTRACT: Although in the last century the sources of natural medicines have expanded
to include microorganisms, marine organisms, fungi and animals as well, plants continues
to be the major source of biologically active natural products which may be utilized. Sev-
eral analysis carried out in recent years have revealed that about 30% of all prescriptions
issued in Europe and USA, contained herb, purified extracts or an active compound derived
from the herbs. In others, developing countries, herbs can be present in 70-90% of the pre-
scriptions. Therefore in spite of the substantial advances that have been made in synthetic
chemistry, herbs and their constituents still remain an integral part of modern therapeutics
in most of countries in the world. For centuries plants have provided mankind with useful,
sometimes life-saving drugs. Healing with medicinal plants is as old as mankind itself.
Many plants and their constituents that are used in modern pharmacotherapy were known
by ancient civilizations and used throughout the millennia. The earliest documented re-
cords, about uses of medicinal plants dated from 60.000. BC. Today, modern phytotherapy
(Rational Phytotherapy) is science-based empirical approach to the use of medicinal plants
in the treatment and prevention of diseases. All herbal drugs used must be standardized,
and their efficiency must be proved by experimental and clinical trials. Here we describe
the significance of medicinal plants through mankind history, and the position of phyto-
therapy in modern medicine.

KEY WORDS: phytomeicine, traditional medicine, natural products, rational phytother-

apy, Hypericum perforatum, biologically active compounds, chemopreventive activity,
hepatoprotective drugs

Plants have been used since ancient times as medicines for the treatment of
a range of diseases. In spite of the great advances observed in modern medicine
in recent decades, plants still make an important contribution to health care. Ac-
cording to the World Health Organization (WHO), because of poverty and lack of
access to modern medicine, about 65-80% of the worlds population that are living
in developing countries depend essentially on plants for primary health care. In ad-
dition, in highly developed countries herbal medicines have become very popular
in the last 10 years and more are a part of conventional medicine.
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 Neda Mimica-Duki

History

The earliest documented record, which presumably relates to medicinal

plants, dates from 60.000 BC in the grave of Neanderthal man known as Shanidar
IV. Shanidar Cave is an archaeological site in the Zagros Mountains South-Kurd-
istan in Iraq). In the Cave pollen of several species of plants were discovered:
Achilea millefolium, Althea officinalis, Senecio vulgaris, Centaurea umbellatum,
Ephedra sp. Furthermore, a study of the particular flower types suggested that the
flowers may have been chosen for their specific medicinal properties. This led to
the idea that this man (Shanidar IV) could possibly have had shamanic powers,
perhaps acting as medicine man to the Shanidar neandertals. All these plants are
still important today in the phytotherapy not only in Iraq but in many country
and civilazation all around world. In ancient Peruvian burial sites dating around
2500 BC, coca (Erythroxylum coca) leaves were found in the graves, apparent-
ly to assist the dead in their final journey. In the leaves of plants psychotropic
alkaloid cocaine and tropococaine were identified. Both compounds are still used
in modern medicine as strong analgesic and anesthetic substances. Mescaline, an-
halonine, lophophorine, pellotine, and anhalonidine have been identified in alka-
loid extracts of a prehistoric specimen of peyote cactus (Lophophora sp.) from
a burial cave in west central Coahuila, Mexico. The specimen is associated with
radiocarbon dates of A.D. 810 to 1070 and is one of the oldest materials ever
submitted to alkaloid analysis. There are archeological evidences that mescaline,
main psychoactive compound from peyote leaves was used in ancient civilization
for 5700 years. Today mescaline is used in modern psychiatry practice. In ancient
Sumerian, plant remedies for common illnesses where discovered on clay tablets.
In 3100 BC Sumerian ideogram denotes opium poppy as plant of joy. In India,
the Rig-Veda a sacred Hindu text lists herbal medicines and created the Ayurvedic
health care system in this Asia country. Theninth Mandalaof theRigveda, also
called theSoma Mandala is devoted to the Gods remedy SOMA that was re-
cently recognized as poisonous and hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria,
with its main psychoactive constituent being the compound muscimol. This rem-
edy was used as analgesic, adaptogen, hallucinogenic. In Indian Herbal Charaka
Samhita 500 plants are describe. Rauvolfia serpentina or snake root is known
in Indian traditional medicine for more than 4000 years and aplied against snake-
bite, epilepsy, menthal dosorder. Today we known that this plant conatin alkaloid
reserpine one of the most powerfull hipotenzive agent. The Egyptians had exten-
sive knowledge of plants derived from their technique of embalming. The Ebers
papyrus (about 1550 BC), the most important medical papyri of ancient Egypt,
present description and recipes for nearly 900 drugs, that are still of great impor-
tance (castor seed, opium, aloe, cassia, myrrh, menthe, thyme etc). Chinese herbal
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 THE HEALING POWER OF HERBS AND PHYTOTHERAPY TODAY

remedies have a history that dates back more than 5,000 years ago. The discovery
of herbal remedies is ascribed to legendary emperor Shen Nung (2696 BC). It took
approximately 2.000 years before the work of Shen Nung and his followers were
documented in a book called Shen Nung Pen Tsao Ching. However the true author
of this book is unknown. The book recorded over 365 medicinal substances. In this
herbal the recipe for so called Desert wine - Ma huang is given. Later Ma Huang
is recognized as the plant Efedra sinica or chine efedra. This plant contain ephed-
rine, alkaloids that is widely used in medical therapy against cough, fever, asthma,
headache, severe chills, flushing up, hiccups, and dizziness. Today Traditional Chi-
nese Medicine (TCM) has formed a unique system to diagnose and cure illness,
and is recognized all over the world. Knowledge of the virtues of medicinal plants
later spread to Greece and other countries of the ancient Western world. Many
authors of antiquity described plants that could be used as medical drugs. Among
them Hippocrates, Theophrastus, Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides and Galen. The
Greek scholar Pedanius Dioscorides (AD 40-80) collected information about 600
plants and remedies and collected them in his seminal Materia medica, a term used
to define the knowledge of drugs for many hundreds of years. Actually, for over
1500 years the classical and most influential book in Europe had been Dioscorides
De Materia medica. If Discorides was The father of Medicine, Galen was The
father of Pharmacy. Regarded as pivotal Graceo-Roman authority in medicinal
plant, he wrote extensively about the subject and also proposing a research agenda
for establishing the power of remedy. In the middle ages medicinal plants began to
be catalogued according to their therapeutic action. In the 15th century several so-
called herbals were published containing information, with pictures on medicinal
plants. During 16th and 17th centuries medicinal plants continued to play a primary
function in medicine. During 18th and 19th century plants and crude drugs were still
being used as powders, extracts or tinctures. However, during this period began the
isolation and chemical identification of pharmacologically active compounds from
crude drugs. The first one was alkaloid morphine, isolated by Friedric Serturner
in 1803., than strychnine in 1817, quinine and caffeine in 1820, nicotine in 1828,
atropine in 1833 and cocaine in 1855.
In the first half of 20th century many natural products were isolated and fur-
ther used in medical therapy. Some of the most important events were: discovery
of antibacterial properties of fungal metabolites, such is benzylpenicillin, by Flo-
rel and Fleming (1928). In 1947. diosgenin, an steroid sapogenin, obtained from
the Dioscorea sp., is used as major row material for the commercial synthesis of
several medically important steroids hormones. In 1947 the structure of tubocu-
rarine and calebacurarine was established. These alkaloids are isolated from ar-
row poison known as CURARE traditionally used by South American indigenous
people for hunting. Tubocurarine is used in modern medicine for muscular relax-
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 Neda Mimica-Duki

ation during surgery. In the same period antihypertensive agents from the Veratrum
sp., and rezerpine from Rauvolfia serpentina were isolated and their structure was
established. Important anticancer substances such are vinblastine and vincristine
from Vinca catharantus, and podophyllotoxin from Podophyllium sp., was also
discovered. The second half of 20th century is characterized by the development
of synthetic organic chemistry, which began generating a stream of pure new, syn-
thetic drugs. Although in the same time many natural products were isolated and
further used in medical therapy. The later part of 20th century saw a rapid expan-
sion in knowledge of secondary plant products, their biosynthesis biological and
pharmacological effects. A large number of natural products or their derivatives
were introduced in medicine, including many anti-cancer agents, anti-malarial, an-
ti-dementia. Furthermore there is now better understanding of the genetic basis and
biochemical basis of many important illness.

Phytotherapy today

Phytotherapy can be defined as the form of both conventional and tradi-

tional medicine, which uses drugs of plant origin as therapeutic agents. Today two
kind of phytotherapy can be distinguished. One is medical herbalism (or Herbal
medicine), practiced by medical herbalist, draws on traditional knowledge, but
interpreted and applied in a modern context. The other is, recently proposed and
accepted, Rational Phytotherapy, a science-based empirical approach to the use of
medicinal plants in the treatment and prevention of diseases. In rational therapy
the preparations used must be standardized, and their efficiency must be proved
by experimental and clinical trials. However, research in this field is very complex
and multi-disciplinary, involving broad spectrum of research activities: taxonomy
study, chemical characterization of plant extracts, bioengineering, farm cultivation
and commercialization of selected medicinal plants, biosynthesis of secondary me-
tabolites, in vivo and in vitro study of biological activity and pharmacological and
clinical trials of selected plant constituents or extracts. Below some of the healing
properties of the most popular plant species in the modern phytotherapy are pre-
sented:

Drug acting on the central nervous system (CNS)

Include the centrally acting (mainly opioid) analgesics, anti-epileptic and

anti-Parkinson agents as well as those for psychiatric disorder. Drugs of plan origin
are important in all these areas, although not usually for self-medication.

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 THE HEALING POWER OF HERBS AND PHYTOTHERAPY TODAY

Herbal Anxiolytics/Hypnotics and sedative: Some of the most popular are:

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis L., Valerianae radix,) Kava (Piper methysticum
Forst., Piperis methistici rhizome), Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L., Melissae
folium), Hops (Hunulus lupulus L., Humuli lupuli strobuli), Passion flower, ( Pas-
siflora incarnate L. Passiflorae herba) etc.
Valerian: is among the best documented of all medicinal plants, particularly
in Northern Europe. Valerian-root tea or tincture is used as a sedative in nervous
tensions, restlessness, and difficulty in getting to sleep and in stress and anxiety
states. The main components of valerian are the volatile oil and the iridoid, vale-
potriate constituents. Biochemical study have indicated that specific plant con-
stituents may lead to increased concentration of the inhibitory neurotransmitter
GABA in the brain by inhibiting its catabolism, inhibiting uptake and/or by induc-
ing GABA release. Several clinical trials confirmed anxiolytics effects of valerian.
Adverse or toxic effect of valerian drug is not documented.
Herbal antidepressant: St Johns wort (Hypericum peroratum L., Hyperici
herba) has a history of medicinal use, particularly as a nerve tonic and in the
treatment of nervous disorder. In our folk medicine it is employed as antidiarrhoe-
al, against rheumatism and gout. The oil is used for healing wounds, and for burns.
In modern phytotherapy it is commonly used to treat mild and moderate form of
depression. St Johns wort contains a series of naphthodianthrones, which include
hypericin and pseudohypericin and prenylated phloroglucinols such as hyperfo-
rin and adhyperforin. Results of biochemical and pharmacological studies have
suggested that plant extract inhibit synaptosomal uptake of the neurotransmitters,
serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline and GABA. Although inhibition of MAO
(monoamine oxidase) by hipericin was believed to be the primary mode of action,
more recent data suggested that hyperforin inhibits the synaptosomal uptake of
above mentioned neurotransmitter. St Johns worth is approved for the treatment
of depression mode and anxiety with several clinical trials. Although its safety
profile is much better than synthetic antidepressants there are a few adverse ef-
fects: gastrointestinal symptoms, dizziness, dry mouth, restlessness and headache.
However recent studies report about the herb-drug interaction with conventional
drugs which are metabolized by hepatic enzymes or eliminated through induction
of P-glycoprotein. By this way St John worth extracts can activate and increase
their activities and reduced the efficacy of drugs and therapy. In addition the symp-
tom of central serotonergic symptom (mental status changes, tremor, autonomic
instability, myalgia etc) is described when St Johns worth is given in parallel with
conventional antidepressants.
Drug used for cognitive enhancement and in dementia: Today are a few
treatments for improving memory, especially dementia. One group is drugs act as
inhibitors of enzyme acetylcholine esterase, but with varying degrees of success.
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 Neda Mimica-Duki

One is rivastigmine semi-synthetic derivative of physostigmine, alkaloid found in

Calabar bean (Physostigma venenosum) highly poisonous plant from West Africa.
The other is galantamine, isolated from the snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) and in-
troduced around 2001. These drugs appear to slow down progression of the disease
temporary, but do not cure it, and have side effects.
GINKGO, ( Ginkgo biloba L., Ginkgo folium): Ginkgo is an ancient fossil
tree indigenous to China and Japan and cultivated in various part of the world.
Ginkgo is the oldest tree on the earth, more than 200 million years old. It is very
hardy and is reputed to be the only species to have survived nuclear explosion.
Ginkgo contains two major classes of actives, both contribute to activities: gink-
golides A, B and C, and bilobalide (diterpene lactones) and biflavone glycosides.
The most important use of ginkgo is to reduce or prevent memory deterioration,
due to the ageing and milder forms of dementia, including early stages of Alz-
heimers disease. The effect is thought to be by improving blood circulation to
the brain and also due to the anti-inflammatory (antagonism of the activity of the
pro-inflammatory agent, platelet-activating factor (PAF)) and antioxidants effect.
Ginkgo has generally been safe. Adverse effects most often reported in clinical
trials were stomach complaints, nausea, headache and allergic skin reactions. Cau-
tion should be used when it administrated with anticoagulants and anti-platelet
drugs. In fact documented herb/drug interactions include spontaneous bleeding
when taken with aspirin and intracerebral hemorrhage when taken with warfarin.

Plants and Cardiovascular systems

Congestive heart failure (CHF): A number of herbal medicines contain po-

tent cardioactive glycosides which are potentially useful for treatment of CHF.
Cardiac glycosides increase calcium concentration in the cardiac muscle, thereby
increasing contraction of atrial and ventricular myocardium. However they have
a low therapeutic index, and hence, the use must be carefully controlled. The best
known herbs containing cardiac glycosides are foxglove, which consists of the
drive leaves Digitalis purpurea or Digitalis lanata. Accidental poisonings and
even suicide attempts with ingestions of plants containing cardiac glycosides are
abundant in the medical literature. This is why one other plant with quite dif-
ferent chemical constituents and low toxicity draws attention of scientists. Today
hawthorn (Crategus monogyna Jacq.) stands out as an important cardio-stimulant
herbal medicine, with efficacy in CHF. The activity of hawthorn is attributing to
phenolic compounds (flavonoids and anthocyanidins) Experimental study have
shown that hawthorn possesses many pharmacological effects which are beneficial
for cardiovascular systems. It inhibits arrhythmia, dilates coronary blood vessels,

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reduced serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels, reduces symptom of angina and
CHF and has a hypotensive action due to peripheral dilation of blood vessels.
Hawthorn has been extensively studied and almost all studies showed therapeutic
efficacy of hawthorn. The mode of action is via inhibition of enzyme cAMP phos-
phodiesterase (PDE) and thus increases the intracellular concentration of cAMP
(cyclic adenosine monophosphate) in myocardium, which is responsible for in-
creases of myocardium contractions. No serious diverse effects were reported for
hawthorn therapy. However the concomitant use of hawthorn and cardiac glyco-
sides can markedly enhance the glycosides activity.
Phytotherapy of hypertension: most of the herbal treatments for hyperten-
sion probably act as a peripheral vasodilators. Some of the most important are gar-
lic, olive, snakeroot, evodia, mistletoe etc. Garlic (Allium sativum) contains large
number of sulphur compounds which are responsible for the flavor and odour, as
well as for medicinal effects. Garlic has a lot of health benefits as antibacterial, an-
tiviral and antifungal, chemopreventive activity against carcinogenesis. The hypo-
tensive effects of garlic have been demonstrated in experimental studies, although
the exact mode of action is not known. For garlic compounds hipolipidaemic activ-
ity, antioxidant and antiplatelet and antiatheerosclerotic effect were demonstrated
in several in vitro studies. For hypertension dose of 600-900 mg of dried powder
extracts are recommended.

Phytotherapy and inflammatory diseases

Inflammation is triggered by the release of chemical mediators from injured

tissue such as amine (histamine), lipids (prostaglandins, leukotriens and PAF) and
proteins (cytokines such as interleukins and TNF). Characteristic inflammatory
response is redness, pain, heat and edema.
The most important anti-inflammatory plants are: arnica (Arnica montana),
willow bark ( Salix alba), Indian olibaum (bosweiia, Boswellia serrata), Devils
claw (Harpagophytum procumbens), feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), rosmery
(Rosmarinus officinalis) etc. Although plants with anti-inflammatory activity play
only a minor role in the treatment of inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid
arthritis and osteoarthritis, compared to steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflamma-
tory drugs, some of them have shown promising clinical efficacy associated with to
mild adverse reactions. Various plants and their constituents reduce inflammation
by different mode of actions. Devils clove is African plant, widely used in South
African traditional medicine to cure rheumatic diseases, fever, stomach upset etc.
Preclinical studies in humans suggest that anti-inflammatory activity of this plants
is related to inhibition of lipooxigenase, enzyme responsible for leukotriene bio-

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synthesis. For the activity iridoids harpagoside is most responsible for plant activi-
ty. On the contrary willows bark contains salicin, compound similar to aspirin, but
has a more prolonged action without adverse effect on stomach mucosa as aspirin
has. Nettle (Urtica dioica.) is also promising anti-inflammatory herbal drug. Ex-
perimental biochemical studies show that nettle leaves extract inhibit both cicloxi-
genase and lipooxigenase enzymes and thus inhibits prostaglandin and leucotriens
production. Beside nettle leaf extract reduced cytokine production. Modern uses
of nettle extracts are focused mainly on benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and
adjuvant treatment of arthritis and rheumatism.

Hepato-protective herbal drugs

They are remedies which help to reduce the damage to the liver from hepat-
ic stressors and diseases. Among many plants recommended (artichoke, menthe,
turmeric, liquorices, schizandra) to threat liver diseases, only efficiency of milk
thistle (Silybum marianum) is confirmed in long-term clinical practice. Its hepat-
ic-protective effects are accomplished via several mechanisms of action. The most
important is stimulation of liver regeneration, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
effects. It is shown that the main bioactive substance is flavanolignane complex,
sylimarin, which stimulates RNA polymerase which by several further steps result
in stimulation of regenerative capacity of liver.

Plants with phytoestrogens

There are many plants that contain oestrogenic substances (phytoestrogens)

and pharmacological and epidemiological evidence suggests that the act as mild
estrogens or, in certain circumstances, as anti-oestrogens (by binding to estrogen
receptors and preventing occupation with natural oestrogens). They generally have
beneficial effects, including cancer chemopreventive activity. The main chemical
types of phytoestrogen are isoflavone, coumestans and lignans. The most import-
ant plants reach in phytoestrogens are red clover (Trifolium pretense) and soya
(Glycine max). Recent clinical trial suggests that consumption of plant reach in
phytoestrogens can reduce the risk of breast cancer, reduce level of cholesterol
and LDL. There are also some other plants that contain substances that have the
capacity to regulate hormone levels without necessarily being oestrogenic: Black
cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), chasteberry (Vitex agnus castus), evening prim-
rose (Oenothera biennis ). These plants were shown to be effective in reducing
premenstrual and postmenstrual symptoms in women, as well as BPH in man.

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Phytotherapy in cancer chemoprevention

Several recent epidemiological studies have demonstrated that dietary fac-

tors may reduce the incidence of cancers. Almost 600 chemopreventive agents
are known and they are usually classified as inhibitors of carcinogen formation (
ascorbic acid, tocopherols, phenols), inhibitors of initiation (phenols, flavons) and
inhibitors of postinitiations events (terpenes, carotene, retinoids). Many are food
constituents and are called functional food or nutraceuticals. Recently a great
attention is devoted to the plants belong to Brassicaceae family (mustard, radish,
cabbage), especially those containing sulphur compounds known as glucosino-
lates. According to several authors, dietary intake of glucosinolates (from broc-
coli, cabbage, cauliflower, and especially brussel sprouts) might have a protective
effect against colon cancer. Degradation products of glucobrassicin, especially
indol-3-carbinol interfere with metabolism of carcinogens: they inhibit procarcin-
ogen activation and induce some enzymes (glutathione S-transferase and NADPH
quinine reductase) which detoxify metabolites that may induce carcinogenesis in
cell. It was found that prevention can be achieved by regular consumption of brus-
sel sprouts (300g/per day). Anticancer activity of some other plants such as Mis-
tletoe (Viscum album), and Aloe vera are confirmed by several clinical trials. In
the last 30 years nearly 300.000 natural chemopreventive agents are discovered.
The most of them were found in microorganisms and fungi about 180 000, than
in plants 114 000 and 16 000 in marine organisms. Unfortunately only negligible
number is confirmed by clinical practice. Although a great number of natural bio-
active products are isolated and investigated, nature is still an endless source of
medical drugs that are waiting to be discovered.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruneton J., Pharmacognosy (1999). Phytochemistry, Medicinal Plants: Intercept
Ltd.
Capasso, F., Gaginella T.S, Grandolini G., Izzo A.A. (2003). Phytotherapy-A quick
Reference to Herbal Medicine. Berlin Heidelberg New York: Springer-Verlag.
Heinrich M., Barnes J., Gibbons S., Williamson EM (2012) Fundamentals of
Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy. Second edition: Elsevier.
Mimica-Duki, Nda (2005) Fitoterapija. Interne skripte za studente biohemije.
Novi Sad: PMF.
Samuelsson G. (1999). Drugs of Natural Origin, Apotekarsocieteten. 4th revised
edition.
Yarnell E.N.D./Abascal K.B.S.,/ Rountree R.M.D. (2009). Clinical Botanical
Medicine. Second edition: Mary Ann Liebert Inc.

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 EDITORS NOTE

The book Plants and Herbs in Traditional Serbian Culture: A Handbook

of Folklore Botany consists out of nine papers, in Serbian and in English, and an
anthology of Serbian folklore texts. What the research papers and the anthology
have in common is the interest in the botany and the beliefs connected to the plants
and herbs in the past (as reflected in the rituals and healing practices, and in the
oral literature). All of these present the basis for research of the modern folk be-
liefs and knowledge on the botany, the application of the knowledge and the use
and abuse of herbs in folk medicine nowadays. The book was meant to serve as
a handbook for the students of the International Summer School of Serbian Folk-
lore, organised by the Centre for Serbian Folklore Research of the Department of
Serbian Literature and held at Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad and should be
used primarily for that purpose. On the other hand, the papers in the book cover a
wide range of research material and reference books, use various approaches and
present significant results, so they go beyond their initial purpose. They can also
be treated as small studies of the problems they address and can also be examined
as an indication of the exceptional ethics and poetics of the herbs in the tradition-
al Serbian culture. I hereby kindly thank our colleagues Biljana Sikimi, Tatjana
Vujnovi and Valentina Pituli for their contribution to our Anthology of folklore
texts on plants and herbs. It is important to say that the poems quoted in the papers
were translated literally (it was impossible to retain their poetic characteristics and
value), so the readers can get, at least, a glimpse of their contents. The verses in the
paper by Mirjana Stefanovi have not been translated due to their hermetic nature,
and they are kept in the original in the English version as well.

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