PERUNIKA (PERUNKA, PER(K)UNOVA, PERENA, L(J)EL(J)UJA, LJELJA, GORKA, VERONIKA, OGNJENA MARIJA (Fairy Mary))

Perun's wife, goddess of lightning, weddings, motherhood, and protector of marriage and justice on earth. Later, under Christianity, her importance was degraded and she was regarded as an evil goddess, described as an evil and ugly woman named Irudika (who was in turn a daughter of Poganica).

Perunika wears a rainbow as her belt, uses a heavy sledge to punish people, and controls lightning. The lightning comes in two so-called forms: elongated watery type and glassy type. The latter is ball lightning, a rare meteorological phenomenon, embodied during old times as apple, rosette, or female genital organ, in the mythical perception of the world. Thanks to Perunika's lightning, people learned about the fire and water in clouds. According to the folk calendar, Perunika's celebration is on July 22, in Christianity it is also known as the feast day of Mary Magdalene. Actually, the Christian saint Magdalene represents a pre-Christian goddess known as Ognjena Marija (Fairy Mary).

The flower perunika, iris, sabljarka, bogiša (bogisha, this name originates from the region around Dubrovnik town, southern Croatia), is dedicated to the goddess Perunika. In Medjimurje (northern Croatia), one greeting used on the feast day of St. Stephen (Dec. 26) mentions God with lelulja (ljeljuja), i.e. perunika, in his hand. This is the most probable origin of the alternative Perunika's name Ljelja. According to a legend, this flower grows at the place where Perun's spark hit a fertile soil. In the same way, a place hit by lightning was considered sacred and objects, like a stone or tree, from such a place were consecrated. Since Perun is a heavenly god and Perunika is an earthly goddess, it is believed that this represents a divine sexual act: Perun, the thunder, penetrates the earth, releases the heavenly waters inseminating the earth with heavenly semen, i.e. rain.