Author of all texts about mythology on these web-pages is Lidija Bajuk:

   lidija.bajuk@posluh.hr
   scena.hgu.hr/lidija-bajuk/

  1. PERUN
      - The Sky
      - The Mountain
  2. PERUNIKA
      - Leluya
      - Ball lightning
  3. AQUARIUS
      - Candlemen
      WATER MAID
      - Fairies
      - Witches
  4. DRAGON
      - Water
      SNAKE
      - Bogorodica
        (Rainbow)
  5. GREEN GEORGE
      - The Moon
      - Corn Spirit
  6. LEPA MARA
      - Hair
      - Embroidery
  7. GRABANCIJAŠ
      - Light
  8. PESJANEK
      - Forest
  9. LITTLE RED HAT
       (DWARF)
      - The Cap, Little Hat
  10. STRAHE & MRAKI
        (GIANTS)


CORN SPIRIT

Symbol of the harvest, summer, growth, ripening, fertility, abundance, hospitality, blessing and ressurection.

It can be found in the holy and untouchable first, i.e. last sheaf, Perun's/Volos's/Veles's/Ilija's/god's beard or St. Nicholas' beard. The nothern Irish word for ''last sheaf'' is ''mare'', and for the wreath made from the corn from that sheaf ''mare's tail''. The Latvian word ''jumis'' has the same meaning and it is also the name of the Latvian god of corn.

People used to look for cereal with double corn during the harvest because if you wreathe it, it brings you luck. Reapers used to make harvest wreaths, crowns or figurines which were worn by the owner of the field or the head reaper or the most beautiful couple - a young man and woman taking the role of the heavenly couple who led the harvest procession from the field home. There they would be kept as tokens for the next harvest. They also had powers to protect you from ill fortune (like bad weather or illness) and were kept until Christmas Eve or the next harvest. The reapers would also take home a bunch of flowers with corn from the holy sheaf in it. It was supposed to keep the farmer safe from any harm and bring him happiness.





It was recorded in some parts of Bačka and Srijem that there were processions of young women in front of which young men would go waving flags of flowers, corn and ribbons and thus protecting all the present from ghosts. (These were pehaps the origins of flags made of cloth.) In the part of Croatia between Sinj and Imotski the tenth of the first harvest was separated and probably sacrificed to the giving god, called Dajbog/Dažbog. Its statue was usually placed near the fields. The tenth would be burned during harvest festival and its ashes would be covered by stones so the wind does not blow it away. In some parts one sheaf or at least a handful of corn would be thrown to the neighbouring field. Some Slavic tribes used to imagine the corn spirit as a man dressed in white with grass instead of hair. Land farming people believed he was the son of Mother Earth and Father Heaven. Sometimes people used to sacrifice horses before starting to harvest the fields.