A birthmark in Bosnia has always been considered a pretty accessory on the body, especially if it was located on a face of a woman. Located near the eyes, the birthmark would make the woman prettier and more attractive and gave her a note of mysticism. In the case of numerous birthmarks on the face or one large birthmark located on the nose or the chin, then it created an opposite effect and made the woman uglier and unattractive.
Since the old times, birthmarks were given magical properties and it was believed that a person born with a birthmark, especially the one with red colour, has an immunity on the effects of black magic. Besides being a blessing , the birthmark can also be a sign of god's punishment for sins. Namely, if the pregnant woman steals something, it is believed that it will be revealed once the baby is born since on the part of the body which she touched after the theft a birthmark will be present on the baby's body at the exact same spot.
A small dark birthmark was since the old days a coveted accessory, especially on the right cheek of a woman. That's why a large number of pregnant women use the state that they are in to steal something small and black from the house that they visit, in order for her child, especially if it is a female, to have the coveted beauty mark on her face. Usually a grain of pepper was chosen as the object that the pregnant woman would steal since it resembled the beauty mark. Immediately after stealing the grain, the pregnant woman would touch her right cheek, close to her eye.
Besides appearing as a form of punishment or intervention of a pregnant woman, the birthmark can also appear on the body as a result of someone's ill intent towards him/her. When a pregnant woman visits a house, her baby is in danger of falling prey to a magic ritual. While the pregnant woman is walking away from the house, a person that wishes ill intent towards her future child, takes a hot coal and throws it after the pregnant woman, without her noticing it, and touches a party of body that he wants the baby to have a nasty birthmark.
According to folk belief a birthmark can be stolen from someone's face?! We're not talking about a plain theft but one done with the help of magic. The conditions for performing this spell are simple, it is necessary for the person whose birthmark one wants to steal to be asleep. The thief takes a warm piece of bread, brakes it in half and brings it close to the birthmark so that the vapour from the fresh bread can cover the birthmark. One needs to hold the bread in place for several minutes close to the face taking care not to wake the individual. If the person wakes up the ritual will fail. However if it succeeds the person eats that bread and soon the birthmark will appear on their face and disappear from the face of the victim. After that, it is believed that the person which had their birthmark stolen will die shortly after the ritual, that's why this ritual was always criticized and classified as a ritual of banned black magic.
