Cult of fertility among the Bosnian People

Cheating evil destiny
Frano Murgić in his ethnological
work "Visoko in Bosnia - Folk life
and customs" mentions high birth
rate which was frequent in the
previous centuries among the
Bosnian folk, mostly in rural
areas. But, reason for this was
hidden mostly in the average life
span which was at that time
between 50-60 years and extremely
long and cold winters, when
temperatures dropped to -27
degrees centigrade, which caused
frequent deaths among the people,
especially children, from
hypothermia and fever. Besides,
the author notes that every month
or two there was a registered case
of a child dying.
People which have one wife, used
to have up to twenty children,
those that had two wives, were
known to have up to 25 children.
There are women, which gave birth
up to three children at once, and
in short time they give birth to
two at a time. There are around 10
women which never gave birth.
There are those which when their
husbands died, gave birth to her
second husband's children. Halil
Vranac thought that there was
nothing else but infertility which
caused women not giving birth.
This quote is important because of
some data, from the fact that
polygamy wasn't present just in
some areas of BiH, as some authors
are trying to show, but that its
radius encircled a much larger
area, and that it was alongside
high birth rate a classic
Raif Esmerović
28
phenomenon for less inhabited
areas while its intensity was lost
in urban areas. Also, it is again
confirmed through the statement of
the quoted Halil Vranac that the
Bosnian people had the least
understanding for infertility.
In accordance with what is written
it is pretty clear that sterility
and fear of children dying were
very pronounced in the past and as
such they caused the emergence of
various prophylactic rituals and
measures with one very clear goal
- trap misfortune, which could be
hiding a family curse, as it was
believed by folk, spellbound eyes,
black magic or even unlucky
predestination of a woman to give
birth to dead children. Antun
Hangi also touches this topic
mentioning that there is a certain
category of pregnant women on
which the supernatural influence
is stronger and they are more
prone to giving birth to dead
babies.
There are women which give birth
to dead children. This happens,
when a woman has sweet blood, and
ghosts, witches and other
apparitions torture her and so
suffocate the child inside of her.
For her child to survive while it
is still in the womb she must take
off a horse shoe from a dead horse.
She needs to get a black smith to
forge a hoop in the middle of the
night and she should girdle the
hoop and wear it until her child
is born, when it is born, she
needs to bend the hoop and place
it under the child's head.
Similarly it is good for such a
woman to go at night in front of a
Cult of fertility among the Bosnian People