When a person falls ill from mrak (dark)

From the old days across Bosnia there was a taboo according to which washed clothes should not spend the night hanging outside because of the danger that the owner might fall victim to evil ghosts. According to traditional belief with the sun setting the Jinn and devils are being released and they spread quickly across the dark and they’re lurking and attacking people. They use various ways with that intent and one of them is to possess washed clothes which is hanging on the balcony or in the yard. Allegedly, people whose clothes is left outside, overnight will be afflicted by various fears, insomnia and mental distress.

Stravarka Fatka Hasanović from Banovići is probably among the oldest folk healers in BiH. She started practicing lead melting ritual back in 1945, when she was nine years old. Speaking about herself and her healing work in the Sarajevo magazine, claiming that she helped women which cannot stay pregnant even after ten or more years of marriage, she spoke how she cured the following: našice, krajčicu, spellbound eyes, fear, smolanice, sapunice, ringworms, ulcers.

Explaining what type of disease is hidden behind the name našice stravarka Fatka warned that we should avoid washing clothes in the afternoon and leaving it wet overnight since in that case “mrak will stick to the clothes and dry on it, when a person puts the clothes on and falls asleep it will rule over his mind. Since the old days this disease was called našice. As Fatka claims našice are best recognised by waking up a man in the middle of the night. When he suddenly jerks and wakes up the man is completely disoriented, and if he stands up to go somewhere, to the bathroom or kitchen, something will pull him back and he will fall down, this happens even to the strongest man, says stravarka from Banovići.


stravarka Fatka Hasanović

-If the clothes stays dry overnight nothing will happen since mrak will not stick to it. But if it stays overnight, wet, then it is better to wash it again in the morning so it can dry during the day or once you pick it up in the morning you should light a candle at dusk and you should bring around it all the clothes that stayed outside overnight. With this, stravarka Fatka claims, you will neutralise all of the negative effects on it.

Stravarkina tikva

 Druga istinita priča desila se osamdesetih godina, u jednom selu, udaljenom desetak kilometara od Velike Kladuše. Prva komšinica, inače jako zavidna i svojeglava žena, nije mogla gledati kravu svog susjeda kako svaki dan vimena punog mlijeka pase nadomak njene kuće pa joj je napravila čarke. Od njenih sihira krava je doslovno preko noći u potpunosti izgubila mlijeko, razboljela se i sva nadula. Vidjevši u kakvom je stanju jadna životinja njena zabrinuta vlasnica odlazi kod lokalne stravarke, koja joj je prvo bacila grah i otkrila uzrok problema, a onda kazala da joj donese tri kokošija jajeta od kuće. Žena je brže, bolje pohitala kući i ubrzo se vratila sa jajima nad kojim je stravarka "naučila" samo njoj poznate riječi te rekla da svako jaje nazove imenom one osobe na koju sumnja da možda stoji iza ove šejtanske rabote. Ako u ta tri imenovanja pogodi ime hasuma (neprijatelja) jaje će istog trena puknuti. Žena se sjetila prvog imena iznad jajeta ali ništa se nije desilo, onda joj na um padne prva komšinica, za koju je odavno znala da joj nije naklonjena, i desilo se upravo onako kako je stravarka kazala - jaje je puklo samo od sebe?!

Sada kada se saznalo od koga je zlo stravarka je uzela praznu tikvu, u nju izgovorila svoje basme i zatvorila je te predala ženi kako bi je odnijela sa sobom kući. Isprativši je na kućnom pragu joj reče:

- Ništa se ne brini, tvojoj će kravi biti dobro a onoj čaralici loše! Dobro upamti, nikome ko ti dođe ne pozajmljuj ovih dana ništa pa makar da ti je rod najveći!

Već sutradan na njena vrata došao je muž prve komšinice tražeći da mu se pozajmi malo soli. Ali, domaćica upozorena od stravarke, reče da nema soli i zatvori vrata. Ne prođe ni sat vremena, dolazi opet isti komšija, ovaj put tražeći kosu za košnju, kako bi pokosio neku travu ispred kuće. Domaćica ga opet odbije govoreći kako joj muž nije kod kuće  a ona ne zna gdje ju je ostavio, i hladno mu zatvori ispred lica kućna vrata. Shvativši da je prozret komšija uznemireno pokuca i poviče za njom da mu otvori vrata:

- Molim te ko Allaha žena mi se sva nadula, ne može mokriti, nit' može da živi nit' da umre, samo ponavlja da joj ti jedina možeš pomoći i kumi te da otvoriš tikvu. Prsnuće sva od muke!

Domaćica uvjerivši se kako je komšinica dobila nazad svoje zlo odgovori da će otvoriti tikvu ali neka svojoj ženi poruči da joj ovo bude za pamet. Od tada nije imala nikakvih problema sa svojom susjedom.

Examples of curing fear

Fight against fear is not simple and often requires a lot of patience. This is best evidenced by stravarke whose work experience is full of various cases. Stravarka Emina Hadžihasanović told the following story to a journalist of a Sarajevo magazine:

-I was melting lead to a man, he was imprisoned by četniks (name for Serbian paramilitary army which committed the most war crimes in BiH), he was imprisoned in a concentration camp and was tortured, also a grenade exploded in his building. He was ready to die. He couldn’t walk normally any more. He wasn’t able to go alone anywhere, so he took his child with him everywhere he went. He couldn’t even go to the toilet without the child taking him there. He was a butcher by trade, a good man. He asked doctors for help but they couldn’t help him, his medical results were good but he couldn’t walk straight. I have molten 77 lead pieces for him and he recovered. He is now working in a butcher shop on Ilidža.

Obviously the issue of great fear in a man requires great effort, which is evidenced by another case from the practice of this stravarka:

-There was once a woman. And an ox wanted to kill her, but he didn’t. And due to such a shock she fell into a coma. From that day she always slept a little and fell into a coma a little. It happened that no matter where she was, she would feel a bit weak, she would then fall to the floor. She would fall unconscious. Here, there are 79 leads that I molten for her until now and now the condition has gotten better, she only feels like this maybe once a week. While I melt a couple more she will recover completely. There is only cure in melting lead. Doctors are oblivious. They’re looking – all is good, all is nice and a person cannot function normally. Fear resurrects in the body and all is negative. It strikes the legs and arms and the head, everywhere. You melt three lead pieces – and it feels as if you took it with your hand and threw it away, everything disappears. From the old days the lead melting ritual was practiced, it is a part of our Bosnian tradition for ages.




Illyrian inheritance

For the lead melting ritual, which is familiar in numerous Balkan countries, but also Middle East such as Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iranian anthropologists believe that it stems from the Illyrian warriors, which spread it across the Roman empire while serving its armies, to all corners that the powerful, ancient Empire covered. That is why the Turks, Arabs, Persians and the Jews took it over, which confirms that we are dealing with an effective and efficient ritual for annulling fear, spellbound eyes but also magic.

Curiosity which is among the folk usually connected with the gift of divination and lead melting is that both techniques are often a gift of supernatural forces to an individual. Namely, knowledge about lead melting, according to a stravarka, it often comes “in a dream”, i.e. the stravarka to be dreams it. One of such examples was the already mentioned Emina Hadžihasanović:

-I dreamt that I will die. And my house in the dream is placed on a high hill. I was looking for someone to say the prayer Yasin for me, and I couldn’t find anyone. I then placed a blanket next to this bed and I lay down to die. I started uttering Yasin and three mubina (chapters) of Yasin I finish, and I die. When I woke up in the morning, I remembered the dream and what had happened, I then went to an Imam on Vratnik to tell him what had transpired.

He said: It is good for you that you dreamt it if you are going to melt lead. I never did, I said, but I can start. From there I came here, there was a woman there – she went from one doctor to the other. She was struck by it, she couldn’t move. She said: I dreamt last night that you will melt lead for me. I smiled and said: I have never molten lead for anyone. She said that I shall to her, now. I said when this is the case then I shall. She entered the house through the stairs on her knees. She couldn’t bend her leg. There I took a spoon and I started melting lead. When I have finished melting lead for her for the third time, she suddenly rose up and started walking. She lived for another three-four years and died. And from that day on I melt lead.


Doctors cannot cure fear

Stravarka Hadžinca from Potur in Travnik is another one of the rare people which haven’t received much attention from internet portals and media in general. During an interview with a journalist, Hadžinica revealed some of the secrets of this ancient technique.

-This is no divination, it is useful, but there are people which think otherwise, and I wouldn’t like if you would reveal my identity. I wouldn’t like it because of my family either, you know how it is, she explained. She says that people come from all over the place, from central Bosnia, Zenica and even Sarajevo. Everyone comes with his own story and his own troubles. From workers, up to doctors, politicians and singers. It is a tradition to charge for lead melting. Someone gives some money, someone a present, but for everything to be complete, a reward must be given. That’s why lead cannot be molten by closer relatives which live in the same house. Although it is popular belief that this ancient exorcist skill is solely practiced by women, lead can be molten by men, but they say that it is not appropriate for a man to melt lead for a woman, because of the conservative society.

The ritual with lead without a doubt stems from shamanism which is based on animism. Probably because of its somewhat mysterious power of transformation, to change from solid into the liquid state and reverse, the lead spurred ancient Illyrian shamans to try and change the state of the diseased with the help of lead, through a magical ritual. Besides, stravarke, but also some Imam’s, which practice this method, agree that lead has a lethal power towards humans but also demons. Namely, as a rifle bullet can kill a man so too can lead in a shamanistic ritual kill i.e. more precisely trap energy of a spirit and so remove it from the diseased person.

In three consecutive lead melting rituals, the figure of lead does actually come out in a form similar to the thing that caused the fear.

-Women come to me and they don’t know that they’re afraid of their husband. I reveal this immediately and I tell her – you are afraid of your husband! Of course, sometimes I find a figurine which shows that the husband is afraid of his wife. To remove the fear it is important to find the cause.


She helps only to those that need such a help

When talking to other stravarke with which I had the opportunity and pleasure to talk to, I came across an identical opinion. Each of the categorically claim that everything that is shown in the lead can no longer hurt the diseased person.

-Lead melting will always help to the one who is a case for it, i.e. who is full of fear or some other negative energy, and if his problem cannot be solved by the ritual then he will have no use from it, said Mevlida O. from Velika Kladuša, one of the stravarka which inherited her knowledge from her mother in law.

-No one knows how old this custom is. I feel sad because it is dying out, there are no young women which would like to learn it, and there are few of them that could – says Hadžinica and she explains the stern predispositions: the one which is experienced in lead melting, gives to the student izun, i.e. permission. The woman needs to be pious, with a covered body and it would be good if she is educated, especially in an Islamic spirit. She doesn’t have to go to Hajj, but as Hadžinica says, it won’t hurt.

Continuing the discussion stravarka Hadžinica said that they brought her a singer which sang in a nearby restaurant.

-He says, I don’t know what is wrong with me, I just want to quarrel?! I thought tha someone must have frightened him. I melt lead for him, and each time a figure of a man shows. I ask – who scared you? He then told me everything, that he accepted a friend in his house so he can spend the night there, but in actuality the man was a crook and he wanted to rob him. The singer kept quiet about this event and kept the fear to himself, but when the problem escalated he came to seek help.

Power of a human hand

As already written, our hands, tips of fingers and our palms, have an outstanding ability to receive and send energy. That’s why we shouldn’t be amazed that we have lines on our palms and that our fingers are adorned by a unique imprint which confirms the primordial thesis that we all are unique beings, whose body is nothing else but a condensed energy, the same energy we call life.

Knowledge about the manipulation with that energy was never completely lost, it is present in numerous segments but people today have difficulty in recognising it and even greater difficulty in understanding it. Ritual movement of hands and feet are an ancient practice in Bosnian occult tradition. The following examples from practice show how knowledgeable were stravarke in the basis of energy’s magic.

Namely, as a stravarke Ajša B. told me once while she is uttering exorcist formulas it will not have a healing effect if the person which is being healed has his legs or arms crossed. Allegedly, the person is blocking itself and prevents the transfer of energy.


It is interesting to mention that people still today, especially older women, are afraid of those guests who enter the house holding their arms crossed behind their back and once they enter the home they cross their hands on their chest. With this, according to experienced stravarke they’re practicing black magic and invoking evil and bad luck to that family. That’s why the housewife should repeat this short formula which will prevent them in their intent and better yet reverse the evil:

What you are thinking and doing,
you shall see it on your body,
if god wills, veledalin amin!

Refusing or stopping the transfer of negative energy in Bosnia was well known in the middle ages, probably in the ancient age, and the proof that our forefathers the Bogomil were acquainted with the rules of energy magic is best presented on the reliefs of individual tombstones – raised right hand, palm facing the observe, while the left hand is behind the back.



Namely, as Bosnian stravarke claim if we turn the palm of the right hand towards a negative person, to observe them through spread fingers of the hand, that person then won’t be able to hurt us with an evil gaze or thoughts. Actually, we are disabling the transfer of negative energy i.e. magical attack.




However, the palm also has incredible healing properties. From experience it is familiar that every man, as soon as he feels pain places his palm immediately on the painful place with the desire to ease the pain. This reaction is instinctive. If a man feels back pain, he won’t think about placing his hand on his back, the hand will go by itself without him thinking about it. That is a reflex similar to the one which makes our eyes blink when something flies towards our face. All people hold their hand on a painful spot, even both hands if the pain is stronger. If the pain is unbearable, people press that place. Often times we can see a diseased unconsciously massaging the painful place on a leg or some other part of the body wanting to use ritual movement to “break” the pain with a massage and energy of the palm.

No one is asking themselves why is this so and if there is some purpose behind this, however I believe that most people would say that they feel better while holding their hand on the painful spot. That’s because people have the ability to heal with the help of lifeenergy, which comes from space, since prehistory, but only rare individuals can use it consciously. We need to mention an important thing which is – every man can cure with his palms, no matter the age, from a small child to an old man. Education level is unimportant, intelligence, social status, neither race, nationality nor religion.

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.

Bosniaque ritual avec plomb

Dans la tradition de la Bosnie-Herzégovine est présent dans la médecine populaire depuis les temps anciens, un rituel intéressant de plomb connue sous le titre de la fusion du plomb ou salivanje olova, de la fusion de la peur ou salivanje strahe, de la fusion des grains ou salivanje zrna, déversement horreur ou prelijevanje strave, etc. Il annule les effets négatifs du mauvais œil, de la magie noire, de la rencontre avec les démons et de la chance bloquée, par exemple, quand une fille ne peut pas se marier ou l'elève ne reussi pas a l'ecole. Cependant, le plus souvent ce rituel se pratique pour les enfants qui pleurent frequemment ou ont le sommeil agité.

La personne qui pratique ce rituel est appelé stravarka ou stravaruša , si c'est une femme,  ou stravar, si il s'agit d'un homme . Habituellement,  la connaissance de la pratique du rituel est hérité d'un membre de la famille qui s'en est occupé toute sa vie. Lorsque cette personne est vieille ou pour cause de maladie ne peut plus être engagé dans la fusion du plomb alors ce savoir elle l'enseigne a son successeur .
Pour effectuer un rituel de fusion du plomb il faut prendre que quelques petits morceaux de plomb, un récipient métallique dans lequel on verse l'eau, il est recommandé que ce soit de l'eau de source, et une casserole dans lequel faire fondre le plomb sur le feu. Le patient est recouvert d' un tissu rouge sur la tête. Stravarka récitant des prières sur un bol avec de l'eau, en disant des le départ ceci:

«Ma chere Hazrat Fatima, ma chère mère,
dites à votre père Mohammed
de me venir en aide comme a ce patient " .

Puis il dit que la première et les trois derniers chapitres du Coran, soufflant dans l'eau chaque fois qu'il arrive a la fin de la prière. Si pendant que  stravarka fais ca elle a des réactions telles qu'un étouffement dans la poitrine, l'apparition d'une odeur forte, elle sais qu'il est question d'un grand mal, et il est prononcé le chapitre 36. du Coran. Le même chapitre sera prononcé une fois de plus après la fin du rituel, mais cette fois sur un morceau de sucre que le patient doit manger .

Lorsque le plomb a fondu stravarka prend une cuillère et verse le plomb fondu dans un bol d'eau qu'elle tient au dessus de la tête du patient. Tout en versant au dessus de la tête, elle regarde dans la direction d'une grande colline pour que le mal s'en aille loin du patient. Pendant ce temps-là:

"Le plomb se brise et de N (nom du patient ) tout le mal s'en va".

Au contact du plomb fondu et de l'eau froide celui ci va prendre differente forme qui seront analysés par stravarka pour connaitre la cause de la maladie ou d'un problème qui touche les patients. Si vous voyez un serpent dans la forme elle conduira à interpréter « que le mal est venu de l'ennemi " si il y a des formes qui ressemblent à des clous on dira alors que c'était la peur ou le stress,  si on voit sur certains des morceaux de la couleur verte on va interpréter le signe disant «Quelqu'un a travaillé par magie avec l'aide de talismans ", etc .

Lorsque vous interprétez ce que vous voyez dans les formes de plomb, les ramasser et les remettre de nouveau a fondre dans le feu. Le Plomb fondu sera de nouveau verser dans un bol d'eau par contre cette fois ci il sera tenu au niveau de l'abdomen des patients. Après ré- analyse des formes au fond du bol d'eau stravarka les ramasse à nouveau et refait fondre sur le feu une troisième fois. Cette fois ci le plomb fondu est versé dans un bol d'eau, qu'elle garde au dessus des pieds du patient. Le rituel est terminé, le signe que le mal ou la maladie est annulée se voit grace a une forme dans le plomb en forme de larme, appelé le «cœur». Si cette forme apparait c'est que le rituel a réussi.
Après ca stravarka prend trois allumettes, les allume une par une et les jette dans un récipient avec de l'eau , en disant :

«Je n'e brule pas des allumettes mais je brule tout le mal,
les maladies et les démons avec N ( dire le nom du patient ) de la mère N ( dire son nom »),
avec l'aide de Dieu. Amen!



«cœur»

Stravarka sort alors les allumettes et le plomb du recipient et reverse l'eau dans une bouteille vide et la donne au patient pour la prendre à la maison. L'eau sert a la toilette du patient pendant sept jours, matin et soir, et il boit un peu à chaque fois de cette eau. Le meilleur jour pour effectuer ce rituel est le mardi qui était un jour saint de la Bosnie Bogumil. Si vous ne voyez pas après la troisième fusion du plomb la forme de coeur alors le rituel doit etre répété les deux mardi suivants.

Dans le contenant utilisé pour le rituel on emmiette des morceaux de pain en tout petit morceaux a fin de les jeter dehors et qu'ils soient mangés par les oiseaux. La signification de ce rituel est de donner l'aumone aux oiseaux afin qu'ils emportent avec eux le mal et les maladies qui ont frappé les patients.

En fin de compte , il convient de noter que la performance de ce rituel n'est pas anodine, car il se produit un transfert de l'énergie négative des patients sur stravarka qui fait qu'il ou elle ont généralement certaines réactions comme l'insomnie, la douleur de poitrine, les cauchemar,  la dépression, etc.  Par conséquent, le rituel devrait s'engager seulement par ceux qui ont des connaissances sur l'élimination de l'énergie négative .

Melting the fear - salivanje strahe

Stravarka Aiša from Sarajevo practices a form of ethno-medicine characteristic for Middle East  and the Balkans, a method called salivanje strahe or salivanje zrna „melting the fear“ in Bosnia. This method consists of ritual behaviour and a special text known as a „basma“ (or bosnian magic poetry), used together with the aim of healing the patient.

Another part of the technique is the melting of lead (or 'melting the fear'), which consists of the ritual melting of a small piece of lead, by means of which stravarka Aiša ' sees' the cause of the illness. This piece of lead represents the condensed illness and its cause as well. The shape the melted metal assumes is interpreted by the conjurer (stravarka). At the end of the interpretation, the conjurer gives this piece of lead to the patient and he must liberate himself from it by throwing it ritually back over his shoulder without turning back his head, while pronouncing a charm.

That ritual can be performed by man or woman, but women perform it more often, as they used to, traditionally, care about their family's health. Women who does that ritual in Bosnia is called „stravarka“ or "stravaruša", and she is usually older lady who has been passed through menopause. The illness which stravarka Aiša heals and from which the term 'melting the fear' originates are defined in the folk speech as straha or strava - a terror, a fear, a spell, or evil eyes. These are different psychic crises, neurosis, states of stress and nervousness.

Stravarka, in the process, uses a few props; metal spoon, bowl for water, 3 or 4 pieces of lead and red towel or scarf. Ritual follows the strict religious pattern and therefore Stravarka, before she starts performs abdest (muslim religious washing). Stravarka, over the lead and bowl filled with water, pronounces some individual Quranic prayers, with El-Fatiha first Quranic chapter and Ikhlas 112. chapter dominating.

When treating a frightened child, Aiša first put little pieces of led through the gun barrel and then puts them in a spoon and melt in the fire. However, when treating her adult patients she holds a larger or several small pieces of lead in her hand and rotates them 3 times clockwise round around the patients head saying: „Euzubilahi mineš šejtanir radžim bismillahir rahmanir rahim“. While the lead is melting in fire, Stravarka, over the bowl with water, quietly speaks prayers and basma (magic words) that seek the salvation of God and the health for a patient.

Between the prayers she repeats the following words:"Dear Hazart Fatima, my dear mother, tell your father Mohammed that the patient needs help day and night" - "Draga moja hazreti Fatime, draga moja majko, reci svom ocu Muhamedu pejgamberu da bude u pomoći i u danu i u noći". When she pronounces all the words and prayers due to which she normally experiences some harmless sensations like uncontrolled yawning or tearing eyes stravarka covers patient’s head with a cloth or red scarf (patient sits on a chair). Then, while holding the bowl of water in her left hand over the patient’s head she takes a right handed spoon with melted lead and quickly pours it into the water. On this occasion stravarka says; “lead to break and all evil to bounce from (name of patient) Amen!, Amen!, Amen!” - "Olovo puca i sve zlo razbija sa N Amin! Amin! Amin!"  When pronouncing the magic words she looks out into a high mountain intending, in such a way, to positively affect the recovery of a patient.

Namely, in BIH high landscapes such as mountains, are considers as symbols of happiness and good health; this is originating from the old Bosnian Sun-worshiping Cult. During this ritual, several times encounter the segments of those beliefs when stravarka 3 times moves in clockwise direction; following the path of the sun, when circling lead around the patients head or during her prayers’ chanting over the bowl of water that she, after every prayer, rotates in clockwise circle.

After she throws dissolved lead in cold water, on which occasion leads form various shapes, Stravarka Aiša commences analyses of the obtained shapes what leads her to the cause of problem/disorder. If lead forms in a shape of a needle or number of them Stravarka is convinced that the patient was a victim of an enormous shock of fright. Lead formed in a circle is a sign of a direct patient’s contact with the spiritual world of Jinns, on which occasion spirits harmed the patient.

After Stravarka Aiša performed the analyses of the obtained forms of lead, she collects all the lead by the spoon and brings it back to fire in order to re-melt it. Then, she repeats the same ritual that has already been described above, with a difference in lead being melted in water this time over the patient’s stomach not head. When stage two is completed the last time Stravarka melts lead over the patient’s feet, what is the final/ending stage of the ritual.

srce or heart

The sign of successful treatment is sought in the lead itself. Namely, so-called heart (srce) appears in the very lead  (shape of tear), what is a sign of all the evil being neutralized in the patient. The patient washes his face 3 times with the water lead was melted in 3 times, drinks a bit of it too, washes his/her hands up to his/her elbows and washes his/her legs up to his/her knees. The rest of the water is spilled under bush of rose. 

Heart or tears of lead is kept for a month time under the patient’s pillow and then thrown down the river stream.