Are you a Muslim?

When a girl or boy would die one would place a stalk of nacre (ruta graveolens) above their heads. According to the custom one places an herb of a distinct smell next to the deceased in order to chase the Jinn away. One would usually use nacre, whose bouquets often adorned the grave of a girl or a boy. Nacre is according to this an herb dedicated to the cult of the dead in Bosnian tradition.

As soon as a person would die one would make "dead man's paste" and would distribute it across the neighbourhood. Necessity to follow his departure into the other world with good deeds, in order to ease it, was pronounced before and during the funeral. That's why next to the head of the deceased one would place a bowl of flour, or wheat, with a few tallow candles stuck inside of it. On the next day the candles and the flour were given to the poor.

According to folk knowledge, the deceased should be buried as soon as possible. Depending on the case the funeral should be done the same day, and if death occurred at midnight or during the evening - then the next day. If the person died suddenly in his bed, and he wasn't lowered to the floor prior to that, to die there, then it is done once he has died. His head is tied with a bandana and his eyelids are squeezed, so he can have a nice face. The deceased is placed so that his body is straight, it used to be a habit to tie the thumbs on the legs in order for the body to keep that position, while a heavy object was placed on the stomach, such as a knife, or a piece of earth, out of fear that the dead body wouldn't bloat, since that was explained as him "prikazati" i.e. - becoming  a lampir. This is the reason why the house cat was locked away until the funeral has passed, out of fear that the cat will cross the deceased' body.

Deceased is covered with a white sheet and positioned so that his right cheek is turned in the direction of the holly city Mecca. One of the inhabitants, using a straight stick, takes a measure of the deceased, which is called "unčija" or "ulčija" in order to know the length of ćefin, the cloth of the dead, and digging of the grave. When the deceased is taken from the house, to the outside then care is taken that a part of him doesn't get stuck by a door or wall, since if that happens, it is believed, that his spirit will come back to the house and will disturb the inhabitants.

Bosnian folk believe that the soul can return home up to 40 days after the funeral. That's why lights or candles were turned on in the room where he lie, for the entire period, among the more affluent families, while the poor families would practice this ritual for seven or three nights. Place where the deceased was bathed was passed with fire, so that the Jinn and devils don't gather, and the room in which he lie was sprayed with water or was washed "so that the soul doesn't return". If the room was swept after the body was taken out, then the broom would be thrown far from the house.

After the body of the deceased is washed and all present men and women forgive him, halaliti, the body is taken to the grave where it is buried with a prayer. It is believed that when the Imam leaves the graveyard, since he has uttered all the necessary verses and prayers, the soul stays in the community of the dead. An interesting belief is that during the Imam's question of the deceased: "Are you a Muslim?" - the deceased in the grave lifts his entire body on the small finger of his right hand and answers readily: "I am a Muslim!" He does so that he is received by the dead. It is evident that the soul, according to belief, can resurrect the body so that it can lift itself up.

Jesi li musliman?

Kada bi umrli djevojka ili mladić iznad glave bi im se stavljao struk sedefila (ruta graveolens). Prema običaju pored mrtvaca se uvijek stavlja neka biljka upečatljivog mirisa kako bi otjerala džine od njega. Najviše se za tu priliku koristio sedefil, čijim se buketima često kitio mezar djevojke ili momka. Sedefil je, prema tome, biljka posvećena kultu mrtvih u bosanskoj tradiciji.

Čim bi čovjek izdahnuo pravila se „mrtvačka halva“ i dijelila po komšiluku. Potreba da se odlazak njegove duše u zagrobni svijet isprati sa dobrim djelima , kako bi mu se olakšao taj put, naglašena je u prije i nakon dženaze. Upravo zato se pored glave mejita stavljala posuda sa brašnom, ili pšenicom, i u njemu zabodeno nekoliko lojnih svijeća. Sutradan su se svijeće i brašno darivale sirotinji.

Po narodnom shvatanju, mejita treba što prije zakopati u zemlju. Ovisno od slučaja dženaza se obavi istog dana, a ako se smrt desila predvečer ili noću – onda sutradan. Ukoliko je čovjek umro iznenada u svom krevetu, pa ga nisu prije toga stigli spustiti na pod, da tu izdahne, onda to čine nakon što je preminuo. Glava mu se poveže maramom i pritisnu očni kapci, da bi u licu izgledao lijepo. Mrtvac se položi tako da mu je stav tijela ravan a kako bi truplo zadržalo taj položaj nekada je bio običaj da mu se svežu palčevi na nogama, dok na stomak stave neki teži predmet, poput noža, ili busena zemlje, u strahu da se ne bi tijelo mrtvaca nadulo, pošto se to tumačilo da bi se mogao „prikazati“, odnosno – postati lampir. Zbog istog razloga se zatvarala kućna mačka dok ne prođe dženaza, zbog bojazni da ne pređe preko mejita.

Mejita prekriju bijelim čaršafom i pozicioniraju ga tako da mu je desni obraz okrenut u pravcu svetog grada Mekka. Neko od ukućana, ravnim štapom, uzima mjeru mejitu, koja se naziva „unčija“ ili „ulčija“, kako bi se znala dužina za ćefine, mrtvačko platno, i kopanje mezara. Kada se mrtvac ponese iz kuće napolje, onda se jako pazi da slučajno ne bi neki njegov dio zapeo za vrata ili zid, jer ukoliko se to desi, vjeruje se, njegov duh će se vratiti u kuću i uznemiravati ukućane.
Bosanski narod je vjerovao da se i duša može vratiti kući sve dok 40 dana nakon dženaze. Stoga se iz tog razloga palilo svjetlo ili svijeće u onoj sobi gdje je mejit ležao cio taj period, kod bogatiji, a siromašnije familije bi taj ritual prakticirale samo sedam ili tri noći.
Mjesto gdje se mejit okupao prolazilo se sa vatrom, da se ne bi okupljali džini i šejtani, a soba gdje je on ležao prskala bi se vodom ili se opere „da se duša ne bi vratila“. Ako se soba pomela nakon iznošenja mrtvaca tad bi se ta metla bacala daleko od kuće

Nakon što se tijelo mrtvaca opere i svi prisutni, žene i muškarci, halale se, oproste, od mrtvaca truplo se nosi na mezarje gdje se uz molitvu obavi ukop. Vjeruje se kada hodža napusti mezarje, pošto je izgovorio sve pripadajuće sure i dove, duša ostaje u zajednici mrtvih. Zanimljivo je vjerovanje da tom prilikom, kada hodža upita mejita: “Jesi li musliman?” – mejit, u mezaru, cijelo tijelo podigne na mali prst desne ruke i spremno odgovori: “Ja sam musliman!” To čini da bi ga mrtvi primili k sebi. Očigledno je da duša, po vjerovanju, može da oživi tijelo kako bi ono bilo u stanju na taj način se podići.

Mythological world of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Lampir: in Bosnia vampires are called lampir, lapir, lampijer, vukodlak or vukozlačina. It was believed that if a cat crosses over a deceased man that he will become a lampir. Of course the effect would be cancelled out if the cat returns the same way it came. Because people were afraid that this would happen they would place a knife on dead man's chest or they would spike a knife next to his head. There was also a custom where people would place a bowl of wheat or only three grains of wheat where the dead person was lying before he was buried, after the burial the wheat was given to a pauper. There were a lot of lampiers but the most famous ones were Lampir Meho from Glamoč, Pajo Tomić and a certain Korkut from Nevesinje.

 Bosnian witches were able to call forth the deadly power of the vukodlak by going to a graveyard and repeating the formula: "Adali Ada to protect me" and then they would sit next to a grave keeping their eyes closed, and they would grab a handful of dirt and they would take it home. They would hold on to that dirt until one of their enemies would die and they would plant the dirt under the threshold of his house while the deceased is carried out of it. They did this because they wanted someone else dead from that household.

Mythological world of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The following excerpt is taken from one of her field reports: "In Bosnia there was, I found, plenty of belief in vampires. Here they are called "lampir" and or "vukodlak" (lit.: wolfs hair).

 

The incarnation of the vampire in Bosnia is the lampir, which is thought primarily to be the harbinger of epidemics. With no scientific understanding of the reasons or cures for deadly contagious diseases, the first to fall ill and perish is assumed to be at fault. The lampir crawls from its grave as a hideously rotting and disease-ridden corpse for the sole purpose of infecting and bringing grief to those who subsequently succumb and die of disease. It was reported that after the Austrians gained control of Bosnia from the Ottoman Empire in 1878 that the practice of exhuming and burning the corpses of suspected lampirs was widespread in the region – a practice the new regime took a decidedly dim view of.