Holly bull of Bosnian forefathers

Tur is not a Slavic but a Latin word – Taurus, and a lot of similarity is seen in certain Illyrian names such as Teut or Trit, forms such as Tritan or Tritatron, and even Tana or Medauros. It is interesting to note that in the Bosnian language Tur is used for the part of pants, long johns or even pantaloons which connects tights, actually the hem between the legs, which connects them into a whole. Similarly the word Tur can be seen as an abbreviation from the terms poturiti or podturiti i.e. underlay something in order to keep a load or mass from falling. Tur (taxonomically and Latin: Bos primigenius) is an extinct genus of a wild bovine, which lived in Europe, Asia and North Africa, it is a forefather of today’s cattle. The last European exemplar lived until 1627. Tur was from the old days an important animal for the survival of mankind; that’s why the drawings and descriptions of it are present even inscriptions “Comments on the Gaelic wars (Commentarii de bello, Gallico) from Julius Cesar. His character became the status symbol of numerous European states and cities: Alba-lulia, Kaunas, Romania, Moldavia, Turka, province Mecklenburg and Swiss canton Uri, which was named after him. Tur was larger than cattle today which is familiar to us. It was 160-180 cm tall (males) and 150 (females), 2.8 meters long without the tail, the tail was 0,8 meters long. Tur’s had pronounced sexual differences, besides the basic biological differences in the built of sexual organs, they differentiated themselves by colour and size, females were shorter and smaller (smaller backbone) than males. Males were black-brown, and females red-brown, both had light, almost white, horns with black tops. Tur was abundant in almost entire Europe. Their habitat were usually steppe, taiga, wet swampy forests and river valleys. These bovines lived in herds, except a few older bulls which lived alone, until the mating season when they would join the herd. In the herd which had a few dozen units, there was a dominant male, and during the mating period there were fights over the females. mating took place during the end of summer, and calf’s were born during the end of spring. Tur usually fed off of grass, but also fruit, leaves and softer branches. Unlike most cattle today which are in essence day animals, Tur was active at dusk and night. According to the research of the paleontological museum of the University in Oslo, the first exemplars appeared on the area of today’s India before two million years BC, from where they migrated to the Middle East and other parts of Asia. They reached Europe around the year 250 00.

Illyrian religion

By its natural wealth Bosnia and Herzegovina was always full of forests and numerous water streams, which by itself, in a very logical manner, predetermined the religious system of the Illyrians, this system was entirely dedicated to worshiping natural forces. This is why Tana and Vidasus became symbols, but also personifications of the human environment, and as such they signified the strength of nature and everything that nature offers to mankind. With them, of course, comes an entire pantheon of other gods and goddesses such as Bindu, Tur, Anzotik, or the divine serpent Boa, whose roles in the religious system were not negligible. But, as a starting point for further observation when researching ways of healing by our forefathers the most important are Vidasus, Tana, Tur and Bind.

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].

                                                             Illyrians

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[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.

 

Ilirska mitologija: TANA

Thana ili Tana, boginja šuma i lova, kod Ilira se zvala i Šumska Majka i za nju se vezivalo niz magijski i ritualnih vjerovanja, koja još uvijek možemo pronaći u bosanskim magijskim vjerovanjima o Gorskoj vili koju žene u basmama nazivaju "sestrom, majkom" a opisuju kao prelijepu mladu ženu u bijeloj odjeći i sa dugom kosom.
Na jednom reljefu prikazana je sa raspletenom kosom, odjevena u kratku opasanu tuniku, koja zapravo izgleda dvodjelno, jer je samo suknja izražena naborima, dok je gornji dio odjeće, sa ušivenim rukavima posve gladak. Tana ima napola raskriljene ruke te u jednoj ruci drži lisnatu granu a u drugoj granu jele.

 

Thana se često povezuje sa bogom Vidasusom (Vidas). Njima su posvećene četiri zavjetne are što su otkrivene u Topuskom, u blizini jednog toplog izvora. U Topuskom su otkriveni ostaci hramova i brojni natpisi posvećeni rimskom bogu šuma, pašnjak i izvora, pa je na osonovu toga zaključeno da se ilirski Vidasus po svojim atributima podudara sa tim rimskim božanstvom i da, prema tome, njegova pratilja Thana odgovara rimskoj Diani.

Zanimljivo je kazati kako se kod Bošnjaka sreće ime Tanija.

Bogovi i boginje ilirskog panteona

Kako bi dokučili paganski svijet naših predaka, posebno onaj koji je vezan za njihov religijski život, moramo skupiti sve nazive bogova i boginja ilirskog panteona sa cijelog područja Ilirikuma od Albanije preko Bosne i Hercegovine do Slovenije. Pojedina božanstva imaju nekoliko naziva ali identičnu funkciju čemu je razlog što Iliri nisu nikada uspjeli na cijelom teritoriju Ilirikuma uspostaviti jedinstvenu religiju već se ona dijelila na mnoge kultove. No, po svim raspoloživim podacima, obožavanje zmije inkarnacije Velike Majke, Thane i Vidasusa bili su zajednički svim ilirskim plemenima najviše zbog toga što su se ova božanstva vezivala za kult poljoprivrede i plodnosti. Draconi i Draccena: božanski par. Nutrika: boginja zaštitnica djece. Sentona - boginja koja se vezivala uz kult zemljoradnje. Ika - boginja plodnosti. Histrija (Histria) - boginja zaštitnica cijelog zemljopisnog područja Istre. Boria - bog vjetra. Nebra - boginja oluje i magle. Trita - boginja zdravlja. Njeno ime nema pripadnost istarskom području već se može prepoznati u nazivima sa područja Bosne i Hercegovine, u oblicima Tritan, Tritanon ili Traitano. Smatra se da sam naziv božice ima ilirsko-keltsko porijeklo. Melosok - lokalni ilirski bog zaštitnik. Anzotika, Irija ili Prende: boginja ljubavi. Boa: božanska zmija. Verbti: bog vatre i sjevernog vjetra koji izaziva požare. Lijepi nebesnici (na albanskom: Bukuri i qiellit) u drevno ilirsko vrijeme tri boga koja su dijelila svijet na nebo, more i podzemlje. Thana, Tana, Thiana ili Zana (kod Albanaca): ilirska boginja izjednačena sa rimskom Dianom. Prate je tri koze sa zlatnim rogovima. U albanskim planinama Zana živi kao vila koju krasi hrabrost i ljepota. Kod Bošnjaka Zana ili Tana je Gorska vila (Zlatna) koja živi u bosanskim šumama i pomaže velikim ratnicima, poput Muje Hrnjice. Duboka povezanost boginje Tane uočljiva je i kroz narodne pjesme gdje se opisuje scena kada se Mujo Hrnjica susreće sa vilama prerušenim u koze i svojom mudrošću ih uspijeva razotkriti i potčiniti svojoj volji. Iako se u bosanskoj mitologiji smatra da su Gorska vila i Zlatna zapravo dvije vile odnosno majka i kćerka vjerovatno je riječ o jednoj vili koja na dva različita područja Bosne i Hercegovine nosi drugačije ime. Identifikacija ilirske boginje u imenu kraljice vila Zlatne je i više nego očito u samom imenu, naime, ukoliko oduzmemo od imena Zlatana prva tri slova dobit ćemo ime Tana ili ako oduzmemo drugo, treće i četvrto slovo - Zana. Zlatna se u sjeverozapadnom dijelu BiH naziva Gorska ili vila Zagorka sa jasnim značenjem gorske odnosno šumske vile ili Šumske majke. Njen epitet kraljice potvrđuje povlašteni položaj koji ima kao boginja naših ilirskih predaka. Medauros ili Armatos: bog rata. Prikazivan kako jaše na konju, sa kopljem u lijevoj ruci. Redon: zaštitnik pomoraca. Bog u obličju dječaka pored kojeg se pojavljuje delfin. En: jedan od tri vrhovna boga. Perendi ili Shurdi: bog groma, muž boginje Prende. Zanimljiva je sličnost između naziva "slavenskog" boga groma Peruna i ilirskog Perendi. Ako uzmemo u obzir da su Iliri, pored Grka, najstariji narod na Balkanu onda je vrlo lako zaključiti kako je Perendi ili Perun ništa drugo nego drevno ilirsko božanstvo koje se pogrešno povezuje sa slavenskim panteonom.