Duh

Duh i duša kao dva apstraktna pojma zapravo su temeljna okosnica cijele duhovne niti koja se provlači kroz ljudski rod od njegovog postanka. U bosanskim mitološkim vjerovanjima izuzetno je dominantna ideja sličnog, skoro identičnog, prikazivanja nekoliko nadnaravnih aspekata samog čovjeka. Naime, kada analiziramo neke segmente tradicionalnih predstava o ljudskom duhu i duši, koji se često dovoljno ne razliku u narodnim predajama pa izazivaju konfuziju, jasno se uočava pomalo divlja narav onoga što prema mitološkoj predodžbi čini samu esenciju svakog čovjeka.
Dok se u klasičnoj europskoj mitologiji duh, ali i duša, predstavljaju prozračnim bijelim siluetama, koje u ljudskom obliku lebde zrakom ili se naglo pojavljuju i nestaju, u bosanskoj predstavi duh najviše podsjeća na energetsku lopticu čiji oblik ima zapanjujuću sličnost sa mišom. Pojedine mitološke predaje izgled duše opisuju kao “plod jabuke” odnosno takav opis nas zapravo i asocira na svjetlosnu lopticu koja izlazi iz rupe (usta) i kreće se brzim koracima po površini, ispuštajući zvukove slične ciktanju miša. Ovakvom usporedbom stiče se dojam kako je ta energija nemirna i nervozna, odnosno neobuzdana, što dokazuje i svojim izlascima iz ljudskog tijela.



Miš nije nimalo slučajno izabran za životinju totema jer se koristi i pri opisima drugih nadnaravnih zbivanja, usko povezanih sa samim čovjekom. Neki od primjera su sljedeći:
Miš je u narodnoj priči o Nojinoj Arki izuzetno negativan lik koji je htio grizući rupu u podu pustiti vodu unutra i tako uništiti sav živi svijet. U toj bi namjeri sigurno i uspio da ga na vrijeme nije spriječila zmija. Zapravo, miš je inkarnacija zla, demon koji teži uništenju čovječanstva.
Snijet, koja se u mitologiji BiH smatra plodom zmajskog općenja sa ženom, opisuje se kao malo dlakavo stvorenje, najsličnije krtici ili mišu, koje čim iziđe iz žene bježi i cikti, penjući se čak i po zidovima sobe u strahu da ga ne dotakne ljudska ruka, ili još gore, da ga prisutne žene ne ubiju metlom.
U egzorcističkim seansama bosanskih derviša i hodža, u ritualu poznatom pod nazivom “skupljanje daire”, finalni znak uspješne izvedbe, obično izlječenja nekog psihički oboljelog čovjeka, jeste obješeni ili mrtvi miš na obližnjoj ćupriji. Time se od strane džina ljudima signalizira da je džin-napadač kažnjen najgorom mogućom kaznom.

Mythological world of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dragons (Zmajevi): in the past Bosniaks believed in dragons, they described them as giant snakes with wings that were able to live both in the sky and on the land. It can be concluded from the folklore that dragons were males, there was no mention of a female dragon, and the dragons fulfilled their desire for offspring with human woman and animals, especially cows. According to folklore if a dragon was attracted to a woman, he would come to her room at night or wait for her somewhere outside, on a meadow, and he would use his magical powers to put her in a trance like state. After the intercourse the dragon would fly away and the woman wouldn't have any recollection of the incident.

Fatima K. from Bosanski Novi claimed that she gave birth to a dragon in 1974: "I gave birth inside the house, sometime after midnight, after half an hour of painful labour, out came a child in a white placenta and after a few moments it disappeared?!" She claimed that she never saw the child again and therefore she concluded that she didn't give birth to a "Snijet" but to a dragon. Another confirmation to this claim is that her breasts were full of milk in the evening, but when she woke up in the morning they were all drained. This occurred on a daily basis for a couple of months. Being afraid she told this to her neighbour, an old lady, who in turn told her that it was the dragon-child that came each night to feed himself with her breast milk. After some time the night visits ceased. 

Snijet

In the past in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 19^th and half of the 20^th century among the Bosniaks numerous strange cases of mysterious births were mentioned where pregnant women would give birth to strange creatures called by the people "Snijet" (Mola hydalidora). In the medical terminology we are talking about an abnormal product of conception in which the offspring doesn't develop, instead it only proliferates the placenta's embryonic tissue into a timorous formation which is called Mole by the medical profession. The belly of the pregnant woman would grow, imitating a normal pregnancy. Because the Mole is today regarded as a tumor it is natural that such a state is considered life threatening for the pregnant woman. Probably because of this most of Snijet were born during the first three months of the pregnancy.

Most ethological documents agree that the Snijet would leave the pregnant woman during the first three to four months of pregnancy, although some documents that are found in the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina claim that the Snijet could be born after nine months of pregnancy. As soon as the pregnancy would prolong itself or get complicated in any way, the midwife would suspect a Snijet, because in such situations the woman would bleed much more than usual and it would take longer for her to recuperate. Even though it was considered a good deed to give birth to Snijet, it was usually killed with a broom and buried where horse manure was stored. According to the beliefs, a woman who would give birth to three Snijet's would immediately, after her death, go into heaven.

Midwife's described the Snijet as a living being that needed to be killed as soon as possible. It had red hue and it was horrible. In the past, under the guise of Snijet a lot of criminal activities (infanticide) were committed, when a woman would want to get rid of her child that she got out of wed lock.

In certain ethnological documents Snijet was often connected to dragons. Namely, in Bosnia and Herzegovina it was believed that dragons could make love to a woman that was sleeping and as a result of that children that were born had dragon origins. Besides women, the dragons impregnated cows. In both cases the dragon child would fly off as soon as it was born in fear of human retribution. However, it would return every night while the woman was sleeping, to feed itself with the milk of its mother. Such women would claim that their breasts were empty in the morning which further sparked the belief that there was a mysterious birth. According to written testimony of such women, they claim that their pregnancy was normal and had all the accompanying symbols of a pregnancy, until after nine months the woman would wake up one morning with an empty belly and her child missing. Such a case would automatically be considered a Snijet or worse a dragon birth and such a case would immediately become a taboo and people avoided talking about it. People thought this appropriate because they didn't want to incur the wrath of the dragons by talking about that event.

Bosnian people describe dragons as winged snakes that fly in the sky usually on days when rain fell during a sunny day. Among the Bosnian people the memory of dragons was relieved through one of its fiercest combatants for freedom and independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, captain Husein Gradaščević called Bosnian Dragon. Evidence that such beliefs are not only connected to the glorious past is the National soccer team which is nicknamed Dragons, because the dragon is a symbol of power, strength and freedom.