Supersistions and folklore in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Well, I'm back in the UK. The volcano subsided and the flights returned to normal by the time I was due to fly home (26th April). After two weeks of speaking exclusively Serbocroatian and talking/hanging out with only Bosnian and Herzegovinian people, I am feeling rather disorientated to be back in England with its different climate, different people and using English more or less exclusively. But my eyes have once again been opened to the often dramatic cultural differences and beliefs which are found in my hometown and the surrounding regions, so I thought I'd make a post on that while it is fresh in my mind.

In particular this is on superstitions and folklore. Most Balkan people will tell you that they are not superstitions at all and will tell you they do not believe in ghosts, but pagan beliefs, superstitions and folklore are for some reason still so rooted into society that most people take them for fact. In no particular order, here are some of them:

If you go out with wet hair you will get an inflamed brain (Upalu mozga) , which means you will probably die. Unsurprisingly, no one seems to agree about what exact illness this "inflamed brain" actually is, but wet hair is apparentely the only cause. If this was true I'd be long dead, as I have lost count of the number of times I have stepped outside with soaking wet hair since moving to England, sometimes even in the Winter.

Wind (vjetar) is to blame for just about every illness, and it can also apparentely kill you. Even in the summer, when temepratures regularly get to 40 degrees Celcius or above during the hottest part of the day, there are some people who shut bus and car windows because they fear the wind, and I even know of one gentleman, a former neighbour, who stays inside even if there is just the slightest breaze blowing. There is even a saying; "many have died from the wind, but no one has died from a bad smell". People also fear of being "napuhan/a" (roughly translated as "being too blown (by wind)" because this apparentely also makes one ill. This usually results in car windows staying firmly shut when one is travelling at fairly high speeds. Some people also believe that sitting next to an open window will give you a stiff neck.

Drinking cold water will instantly give you a sore throat and possibly a full blown cold. (I sometimes wonder if the people of the Balkans have ever considered the fact that bacteria and viruses may be the reason to blame for illnesses).

It's bad to cut nails at night. No one knows why, it's just "bad".

Standing underneath a door frame is not good. Again, it’s a mystery why that is so, it’s just “bad”.

If you think of or talk about someone, the person who is being thought or spoken about will instantly get hiccups. I remember thinking and talking about my family and friends when I was little in an attempt to give them hiccups.

Eating too early is "bad". Historically for this very reason the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not eat breakfast; breakfast was only introduced in the last 100 years.

Wrapping one’s feet in vinegar soaked socks when the person has a fever will cure it. I have never heard of this “cure” being used anywhere else in the world.

One must never say that a newborn baby looks beautiful. You must say it is ugly, for saying it is beautiful will mean it will be ugly when it grows up.

Ladies who expose their stomach and back to cold air or draughts will have their ovaries freeze and die, leaving them unable to have children.

Similarly, anyone, regardless of gender, who leaves any part of their back exposed risks having their kidneys freeze.

Don’t even think about sitting on a corner of a table. If you do it means that you will never get married.

Dog and cat hairs can kill you, even if the animal is immaculately clean. Yup, you heard that right. I have heard many horror stories of how someone somewhere inhaled a dog hair into his or her lungs and either died or got seriously ill. An alternative story is how someone has eaten a dog or cat hair and died (apparentely just 1 is required to cause serious illness or death). But surprisingly enough, no one I have spoken to know anyone personally who this has happened to! I have given up trying to persuade people that it is not possibly in any way, shape or form to inhale a dog or cat hair into the lungs because all the spit, snot and mucus in the mouth, throat and nose would stop it in its tracks long before it reached the lungs, and if a dog hair was swallowed the bacteria on it, as well as the hair, would be quickly destroyed by the hydrochloric acid in the stomach.

I have also given up on pointing out that not a single modern medical source from western Europe or North America makes such statements about cat and dog hairs. I myself have lived with a dog for 7 years, and he lives in the house and moults constantly and a lot, meaning I must have accidently eaten his hairs at least a few times by now, but I am still alive and kicking. (But according to everyone who I tell this fact to, death is just around the corner for me!) This silly and irrational fear of animal hairs translates into all cat and dog owners into keeping their animals exclusively outside-I have not yet found anyone who keeps their cat or dog permanently inside as is typical with an English household. *

* Edit: I've just been informed by a realiable source that certain parasites from dogs can be transferred from dogs to humans and this is what causes these illnesses. However, people still believe that it is the HAIRS by themselves that make you ill and no one really tries to differentiate between hairs and the pests on them.