Cult of fertility among the Bosnian People

Time after birth
Before birth the pregnant woman
receeds from the community in
order to bring a new member of the
family into the world in this
short period. Separation is not
coincidental, instead it has
socio-magical characteristics. As
is commonly known men were never
present during birth, in fact, it
was hidden from them if possible,
and if he happens to be in the
vicinity he would be removed
without question. Birth was
similarly hidden from the mother
of the woman who was giving birth,
because of the belief that the
birth will be lighter and that
latter the child will receive all
of his teeth without much pain.
Right after the child from the
pregnant woman a placenta
(posljedak or pošljedak) should
exit, in order to finalise the
procreation process. It was
usually tossed in a river or
stream. If the pregnant woman
doesn't want to get pregnant in a
couple of years, she will cut the
placenta in four pieces, tie them
into socks and bury in the ground.
The pregnant woman is named lohusa
in the next 40 days, because of a
type of quarantine, since
according to folk belief she is
"as weak as a bird on a branch",
and her hair needs to be
Raif Esmerović
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completely covered with a white
scarf, otherwise Jinn and devils
will hang on her every hair and
cause her harm.
Woman which assisted during birth
is called ebejka, or shortened eba
or bika, she covers the young
mother immediately out of fear
that she will freeze, because of
the traditional belief that wind
and cold bring numerous diseases.
Besides the bed, but also the
entire room need to be clean, so
that lohusa can make a full
recovery, which was often not long
enough, usually the young mother
would get up after three days and
would be included in lighter
housework. She did this mostly
because of other people, i.e. so
that she can keep her reputation
of a worthy and hard-working woman,
or earn such a reputation.
Before there was a rule that
lohusa should rest seven days
after birth while women from
richer families stayed in bed
between 14 and 40 days. But, that
wasn't the only social difference.
Antun Hangi describing the
procedure of beautifying the child
actually reveals a classic and
inborn desire of the Bosnian
people to look good, which was
primarily an occupation of the
more affluent part of the society,
such as merchants, craftsmen and
Cult of fertility among the Bosnian People