On the other hand, bajalica, in English language the term magical
whisper would most closely be associated with the meaning of the word bajalica,
which is uttered by whispering like a basma, as a word this doesn't
exist among the Bosnian people and instead of bajati we say "naučiti"
i.e. utter ("ona uči ono svoje"(she utters her things) -
uttering secret magical words, or when one advises a diseased to go to a woman
which hears magical formula: "idi kod nje neka ti nauči, ona zna dobro
učiti na vodu" ("go to her so she can utter her words, she can
utter well with water[1]"). Probably
that's why the term bajati among the people is not interpreted as an act
of uttering magical formulas but gossip, lying, which is confirmed by the
statement "neko o tebi baje! “(someone is throwing spells at you) -
"someone is telling lies about you[2]!".
Women that use magical formulas (baju) are not called bajarke
instead they are called stravarke, stravaruše or even just "baba" ("idi kod te babe
pa neka ti nauči"), which is a Bogomil heritage about the function
which was performed by Baba,
wife of the priest Did. During
the middle ages up until the advent of the Ottomans, when the Bogomil faith was
the dominant religion in BiH, cult of healing with medicinal herbs and water
was emphatically present both in the domain of the Bogomil priests which were
called Didovi and their
wives Babe. While Didovi were in charge of transmission
of religious ideas and solving everyday disputes, Babe dealt with
healing using herbs, water and magical words. It is known that they used bajanje
from nežita, a disease which is manifested through pain in the body and
that the name nežit itself is actually of Bogomil origin. Similarly, in
certain parts of BiH bajalice are called bogomolje or shortened mole
which certainly comes from the name bogumil.
Bajanje is an extremely interesting form of oral magic, connection of poetry
and magical symbolism, whose genesis dates from the period of paganism. As
ancient invocations and celebrations of god's were exchanged for prayers from
the Bible and Qur'an in monotheism, magical formulas intended for chasing away
evil spirits suffered a similar faith, i.e. their content remained pretty much
the same with small additions of some Christian elements such as mention of
saints by name, Jesus Christ, Virgin Marry, cross or even the ending of the
most appreciated verse from the Qur'an, surah El-Fatiha "Veledalin
amin", invitation to "božiji emer" i.e. God's
command, "božija hazma", beginning of certain chapters of the
Qur'an such as Elif lam mim, which received its shortened form such as Elzalif,
etc. In certain formulas the daughter of god's messenger Muhammad is asked for
help, Hazrat Fatima. This practice was taken over from the Ottomans, in whose
cult a dominant place was taken by Hazrat Fatima with the emphasis on the power
of her hands i.e. her hand: "This is not my hand, this is the hand of
Hazrat Fatima!" The word bajanje itself, usually present in the
Balkans, probably comes from the area of south Caucasus primarily because of
the word bayati which in Azerbaijan signifies an ancient form of folk
poetry or better say folk wisdom represented through verses.
[1]
Today we
come across an interesting statement which describes someone's success in some
sphere of their life: -"ide mu k'o da mu je naučeno na vodu!"
- "he's successful as if someone threw a spell on him!"
[2]
In the
north-western part of Bosnia it is believed that when someone's tongue itches
that he is the target of someone's bad mouthing, then that person, in order to
stop the negative propaganda, spits into fire three times and utters: "Ko
baje u guzicu staje!" - "May the one that badmouths me go up the
ass!" after which it is believed that the badmouthing will stop.
