Cult of fertility among the Bosnian People

Great Mother, often times depicted
on reliefs and monuments alongside
god Vidasus. Wheat plays a
pronounced role in the cult of
fertility and the act of offering
of wheat to the goddess has the
goal of securing her grace and
successful harvest. Dominant
symbol of the one that gives life,
first deity in human history, for
the Illyrians wheat represented
the biggest sanctity but also
ancient sin.
Illyrian legends
Mythological involvement of the
snake in the cult of fertility is
evident through ancient Illyrian
legends, with whose analysis we
can discern in greater detail the
connection of the snake with other
elements of this cult, especially
wheat. In the book "Ancient
pledged monuments on the locality
of BiH" (1977), author Enver
Imamović mentions an interesting
piece of information about the
connection of wheat and a female
deity: "For example, in Herodotus
we find data about a female deity
among Paionians which are
identified with the Greek
Artemisia. Illyrian women
sacrifice wheat straw to her".
Artemisia is known as the goddess
of hunting, nature and animals,
all things that Illyrians ascribed
to the goddess Tana. With this
data we are closer to the
conclusion that Tana is behind the
Raif Esmerović
During the time of the Roman's i.e.
Roman occupation there was a
father with seven sons and one
daughter in Illirika. At one
opportunity the sons out of
boredom and wanton took the bread
out of the house, placed it on a
larger stone and used it for
target practice with spears. The
father was unaware of their
actions, but hearing their
laughter he decided to see what
was going on. At the same time,
while the father was exiting the
house, the spear of one of the
sons hit the bread, and to
everyone's surprise, blood started
to flow out of it. Seeing this the
father yelled at his boys, asking
what they have done, because now
they caused the wrath of gods,
which will punish them surely.
Punishment is ruthless since god's
sentence sons to banishment and
they have to leave the home,
parting on all four sides of the
globe, and the only ones left are
the father and his daughter. Soon
the father died out of great
sorrow for his sons. The girl wept
and mourned since she was the only
one left in the house. The god's
decided to turn her into a huge
Cult of fertility among the Bosnian People