What we need to stress at the beginning is the fact that thanks to these
deities of our forefathers, today we can be proud that we have a durable cult
of healing, which has a deep reach in the ancient times. Documented data from
the National Museum in Sarajevo present examples of continued ritual practice
of visiting streams and washing the diseased, which ends in leaving a piece of
clothing or food next to the stream or even throwing a coin inside of it, which
is without a doubt a preserved tradition of respecting and seeking help from
god Bind, which our forefathers the Illyrians worshiped as a deity of streams.
In pagan Bosnia he was offered animal sacrifices, usually of smaller animals
such as goats, which was latter exchanged by symbolic gifts. Cult of Bind was
especially dominant in the part of Bosnia, which was dominated by Japod's, as
well as boarder parts of the Croatia at that time, especially in Lika, where it
was practiced until the middle of the previous century. Belief that spring
water, especially the one taken before sunrise, medicinal and suitable for
healing is another segment of the mentioned cult.
Tana and Vidasus
Sculptures which depict god Vidasus, sometimes accompanied by Tana, show
him encircled by girls dancing or in the form of nymphs, water faeries. Beside
the data which confirm that the Bosnian folk were familiar with faeries from
ancient times, this information is extremely important for further study about
correlation with persons which came into direct contact with faeries and gained
healing powers as well as texts of spells. From Bosnian tradition we know
that faeries are skilled in healing with medicinal herbs and spring water in
which, according to legends, they would bathe.
What was especially interesting to notice when gathering materials for
this research are individual ways of initiation of certain persons into the
world of magic and healing and for which it is impossible not to find a direct
link with Tan, Vidasus or even a snake, holly totem of our forefathers[1].
[1]Bosnian folk believes that spells are a gift from
spirits, especially faeries, which is evidenced by numerous testimonies about
initiation. A large part of older women in the past that used to work with
spells were illiterate and they used to live in villages. Their initiation into
supernatural was always based on weird dreams in which young and beautiful
girls used to appear, usually three, they would teach the chosen woman healing
formulas in the dream. There are different examples. According to sayings of a
well-known witch from Velika Kladuša called Ćanka, an unknown man and woman
appeared in her dream, clad in white clothes. They pulled her by her large toe
and "woke her". Then they told her that they chose her to heal and
help people. Another woman received her initiation into the world of magic by a
snake bite. Namely, at one time while she was out working in the field she got
tired and she laid down to rest. Without realising she fell asleep and when she
woke up she felt pain in her lips. As soon as she came home she saw that her
lips were swollen and dark. She quickly went to a doctor who determined that
she was bitten by a snake. It wouldn't have been a sensational event if she
hadn't felt that she "knew" strange things and that suddenly she knew
how to perform love magic and cure people of it.
