SEDEF TRAVA: LIJEK I SREĆA ZA SVE

 Od starih vremena mnogi narodi su imali veliku vjeru u iscjeliteljsku moć sedef trave (Ruta graveolens), pa su je zbog toga zvali Sveti Sedefil ili Sveta Ruta. Posadili bi je s dubokim poštovanjem u svom dvorištu tvrdeći da ukoliko se ne primi da će neko u porodici ubrzo umrijeti, dok se recimo među bošnjačkim narodom vjeruje da sedef trava hoće da se primi i zakorijeni samo pobožnoj osobi. U Hondurasu se kaže da u onoj kući ispred koje nema grma sedefila stanuje sam đavo. U toj zemlji postoji tradicionalna praksa da čim se kod nekog člana familije pojavi nekakva bolest da mu se stavi grančica sedef trave pod jastuk. Bolesnik bi kao lijek pio horćatu (horchatu) s mljevenim lišćem sedefila, što je tradicionalno slatko piće koje se i u današnje vrijeme koristi u narodnoj medicini.

BOG BLAGOSLOVIO SVE ŠTO MOJE OČI VIDE

Poznato je da dušmansko zlo, bilo da dođe preko urokljivih očiju, nečijih kletvi odnosno zlih riječi, preko vradžbina, nagaze ili od samih duhova uvijek i konstantno narušava i blokira ljudski mir, zdravlje i sreću. Najčešće zlo s kojim se susrećemo jeste urok a on, prema vjerovanju naroda Latinske Amerike, ponajviše dolazi od strane čovjeka čije je srce prljavo ili puno mržnje i zavisti. Naravno, svako od nas može u nekom trenutku biti ispunjen negativnom energijom i sklon uricanju pa je stoga profilaktička metoda sprječavanja takvog nečega vrlo jednostavna. Naime, usvojite naviku prilikom gledanja u nešto što vas zadivljuje da kažete: “Bog blagoslovio sve što moje oči vide!” Desi li se da postanete žrtvom uroka stavite nekoliko listova sedefila u vodu, prokuhajte i umijte lice.

Imate li sumnju da se neko od komšija bavi crnom magijom i upućuje vam zlo onda svakako slijedite sljedeće uputstvo. Kako bi se od kuće otjerala vještica, a samim time suzbilo njeno pogubno djelovanje, potrebno je uzeti grančicu sedef trave i njome se pomoliti na tri ugla kuće te izaći u dvorište i tu se pomoliti četvrti put. Prilikom svakog moljenja po tri puta se kaže slijedeće: “Sveti Silvestre od velike planine, zaštiti moju kuću i ukućane od žene vještice i muškarca čarobnjaka.” Onda se ta grančica objesi iznad ulaznih vrata ali sa unutarnje strane. Najbolje ju je vezati crvenim koncem. Također, poznato je i da ljudi nose grančice sedef trave u torbi ili unutar svoje odjeće kako bi se zaštitili od vještičarenja.

Zaposjedne li zli duh čovjeka onda se on treba okupati sa vodom u kojoj je prethodno stavljenja grančica sedefila a zatim na suhom tijelu napraviti tri znaka krsta sa sumporom i to na čelu, grudima i pupku. Duh koji je okupirao tijelo bolesnika neće moći izdržati snagu ovog egzorcističkog rituala i moraće napustiti tijelo te se dati u bijeg.

ZA  SREĆU U NOVCU

Za uspjeh u poslovanju stavite grančicu sedefila i grančicu crvenog geranijuma u čašu svježe vode koju ćete potom postaviti ispred trgovine ili firme. Svaki dan, prilikom mijenjanja vode, poprskajte ulazna vrata poslovnog objekta i po prilazu do njega. Ovo činite bar sedam dana. Osim toga, možete koristiti i drugu verziju recepta: u čašu zašećerene vode uronite sedam listova sedef trave i onda tom vodom poprskajte okolo svoje kuće i ispred poslovnog prostora kako biste privukli sreću.

 

I za kraj ne treba zaboraviti spomenuti kako je ova nesvakidašnja biljka milostiva i prema onima koji traže ljubav i žele da budu voljeni. Naime, da bi neki muškarac imao sreće sa ženama treba staviti 7 pupoljaka cvijeta sedef trave u vodu, a nakon toga se sa njom oprati odnosno politi niz glavu i ostatak tijela.

Folk medicine – curing faery disease

According to old Bosnian belief, faeries when angry and vengeful, if someone hurts them on purpose or accidentally, can hit people with their arrows; so called “heavenly arrows”, which cause people to be sick.



When someone has a sudden headache, pain in the leg, arm sleeps poorly and has puncturing pain in the body, it is believed that he has been pierced by faeries. Help is sought from stravarka, which melts lead for the person and utters with a low voice:

Nine faeries flew,
from nine clouds,
from nine mountains,
from nine forests,
from nine seas,
from nine meadows,
from nine crossroads,
from nine streams,
from nine rocks,
from nine rue plants,
they sang along the way,
danced in circles,
their path crossed by Ahmed*,
he angered the faeries.
They hit him with their arrows in the head,
in the heart, in the legs,
they floored him completely,
Ahmed got sick.
Ahmed yelled: “Help me Mujo, help me Halil,
I’m shot by faeries!”
When the faeries heard this,
each of them took out their arrow out of fear,
Ahmed was cured.
Out of nine faeries and arrows,
with my formula and god’s will,
only eight remained on Ahmed,
out of eight only seven remained,
out of seven only six remained,
out of six only five remained,
out of five only four remained,
out of four only three remained,
out of three only two remained,
out of two only one remained,
out of one none remained.
By my hand, formula and lead – good deed,
and from god salvation, peace and cure, amen!

*or however the diseased is called.


Lead is being poured three times: above the head, chest and legs. It is poured until in the molten lead, at the bottom of the vessel with water, one finds nine needles (thorn). In the first pouring above the head one can find one or two needles, then one observes how many will there be above the chest and legs. If there are a total of nine in the end or more the healing is finished. If they’re not located, then the procedure is repeated in three days. After nine or more needles, the diseased is cured. Those needles are thrown down the water or one by one is placed in nine holes in the ground. The diseased washes his face with the water, his arms and legs and drinks some water, the rest is poured on a nacre bush.

Rue – plant which one nurtures better than a child

Sedefil, sedef or sedefat, also known as rue, Latin name Ruta graveolens, is the most famous plant in magical tradition of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its purpose is manifold, it is used to cleanse living space, repel parasites, and is used to clean the human body and spirit from negative thoughts and energy. Rue is a plant whose origins are from the Mediterranean region and it grows well in dry conditions. It naturally has an inclination towards sunlight. In BiH it is used for its peculiar fragrance as well as a fly and mosquito repellent and traditionally one stem is left inside a wardrobe.

Among the Illyrians, Greeks and Romans rue was used for the expulsion of negative energy and for curing various health issues. Remnants of these ancient beliefs are present in folk medicine where, for example, it is claimed that rue successfully cures all heart ailments, etc.

Even Shakespeare uses a peculiar name for sedefil “holly plant of the Sunday” because of the ritual practice that its stem is dipped in water and is used to spray people with water who were believed to be possessed by evil spirits. Curiously, when it comes to this plant, certain Mediterranean cultures it is profusely used in cooking because its leaves are rich in vitamin C. In Bosnia and Croatia, sedefil is added to schnapps, in order to get a cure for better digestion.


Plant against disease and evil

Sedefil is from the family Rutaceae, it is rich in silicic acid, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenol and numerous other substances which are used in pharmacy. With all of these benefits, sedefil is used when one gets poisoned by henbane, it is also a great remedy for bad breath. In natural healing sedefil is used to help the kidneys, bladder, intestines and inside of the ear. It can also be used for eye infections, constipation, sciatica, asthma, headaches, dermatitis and stroke. However, one needs to be careful when using rue and use it in appropriate doses, since if one overdoses a completely opposite effect is achieved. Pregnant women and those women which want to get pregnant should avoid consuming any part of this plant.

Besides its healing properties, rue possesses amazing power against evil, mostly because of its fragrance but also unusual appearance of the leaves which remind us of a human hand, i.e. five fingers. It was reason enough for it to receive a reputation as a plant against evil along the entire Mediterranean coast. That’s why in BiH rue is traditionally grown alongside a house, close to the entrance door, because of the old belief that in such a way, with its vicinity, it protects the home from spells, spirits and magic. A few leaves of this plant were usually placed under the pillow of children as a protection against spellbound eyes. Still today old women before autumn would gather the hard seed of rue and make so called “tespih” (beads) out of 33 beads, by using a needle and a string, they would tie it and place on a wall of a house, so that the beads would bring good luck into the house.


A faery fell asleep on a leaf of rue


In Bosnian mythology rue is a plant dedicated to good faeries. According to folk belief faeries love to sleep on the leaf of this plant because of its specific fragrance. It is probably corroborated by certain women’s love formulas, which are uttered while holding a stem of rue. In one of them, a girl which wants to be noticed wherever she shows up and with that have more suitors, would first bathe in order to wash away all the dirt from herself and then naked and wet, with her hair down, she takes a pre prepared stem of rue and a dish with warm water. First she pours some water in her mouth and holding it in her mouth, in her mind, she repeats the prayer Ihlas nine times. After that she spits the water out of her mouth back into the dish with warm water. Then she places the stem of rue and utters this magical formula:

On the leaf of a rue a fairy fell asleep,
from her it spilt over onto me
gold, silver and silk.
Gold, gilded me,
silver cleansed me
silk wrapped and a fairy blessed me;
to be healthy and happy,
to everyone in the world the best and prettiest,
veledalin amin from God amin!

Bosnian:

Na listu sedefila zaspala vila,
sa nje se na me prosulo
zlato, srebro i svila.
Zlato me pozlatilo,
srebro očistilo,
svila obavila a vila blagosila
da budem zdrava i čila,
najbolja i najljepša svakom ja bila!
Veledalin amin od Boga amin!

After repeating this formula three times the girl blows into the water and washes herself from head to toe with it and lets the water pour down her. With that the ritual would be completed. From the bottom of the bathtub she picks up the stem of rue and after she is dressed she throws it out, somewhere where no human foot goes. Stravarke claim that with this spell cleanses the girl from spellbound eyes, hate and envy, and her kismet or fortune can open up, if it was closed. If she is completely unlucky in love, then it is believed that her “kismet is closed”, and then this ritual must be repeated three Tuesdays in a row and her luck will be opened any time soon and she will find her future husband.


Rue doesn’t just help girls to find luck in love but also to married women, especially ones whose husbands are unfaithful. From the old days in the north-western part of Bosnia there was a custom that a wife whose husband is unfaithful, whenever she washes her bra or panties, she would dry them on a rue bush, and then she would wear them. Allegedly, the plant will put a spell on the underwear with its fragrance which will make the woman attractive and desirable to her husband and he will be dedicated only to her.




Substitute for incense


Another unusual characteristic of rue is that it can be a substitute for incense. Namely, in talisman magic it is advised that instead of incense one should burn a few dry leaves of rue, together with the amulet, and with that smoke the diseased is to be fumigated, a person which is suffering from attacks of spirits or black magic. Along with that, the constructors of amulets after they have finished writing and start folding the amulet in its characteristic triangular or square form, they place a few leaves of dry rue in order to increase the power of their text and in order to ensure immunity from evil to the owner of the amulet. Because of all of the enumerated specifics of this plant it is important to mention the frequent statement of Bosnian stravarke that “rue should be nurtured better than a child because of its usefulness!”.

With dry leaves of rue one should fumigate the entire house or apartment at least once a year, in order to chase away all negativity and spells that the space has “absorbed” over time with visits of guests and family members. Namely, every time we go out into the streets we risk when coming into contact with other people or simply by stepping into unwanted negative elements whose span is varied, from various impurities such as urine, blood, trash all the way to purposefully spilt dirty water on the street, which one used to ritually wash away black magic from himself, and spilt the water for a random passer-by to cross the place and pick up all the evil. When a home is filled with negative energy then one can experience unreasonable friction, unrest, nervousness, there is no peace and money is lost and in the end discord and quarrel appear in a family.
Fumigation is performed in such a manner when a fistful of dried leaves of this plant are thrown on a few hot embers and with the smoke created from combustion goes through the entire house. While the smoke is spread throughout the rooms one needs to utter this spell three times:


Whatever the enemy brought,
rue brought it back to him,
the house goes up the hill,
all evil with this smoke flies away from the house,
the house stayed clean, all evil fell away,
with my formula and god’s will, amin!

Bosnian:

Šta god da je dušman donio,
sedefil mu je nazad odnio,
kuća uz brdo kreće,
svako zlo sa ovim dimom od kuće odlijeće,
kuća čista ostade, svako zlo otpade,
sa mojom basmom a božijim emerom, amin!


After the house has been fumigated the windows and doors can be open so that negative energy can go outside and stay there. Residue from coal and dust, after they have cooled down, are brought to a crossroad and thrown there. with that the ritual of fumigation is done.

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.