Good evening everyone!
Today's topic is myths and legends from my region. About some, there is no written evidence.
Some don't even have records. I hope you will like it.
Today we walked in the forest again. We took some photos.
The idea of today's blog is not closely related to photos. It's good for me to use the photos, but also to write about this.
So let's get started.
I was born and raised in a small town near Koprivnica.
I was quite lively as a child. No fear, I loved to explore. In order to try to scare me and calm me down, they told me some of these legends and myths.
A ten-minute walk from the house where I grew up,there is an underground castle. It is known to us locals by the name Zakleti breg. Which in translation means cursed hill. Unfortunately, there is very little information about this place on the Internet, and even if there is, every page has almost identical text. As far as I know, the research was conducted several times, but why it was not completed, I don't know.
In front of the hill, there is a board with some information. The fortress dates back to the 14th century.
Barbara Celjska is better known to our people as the Black Queen. She had black hair, practiced magic, and always wore black clothes. She cursed the fort, swallowed the key, turned into a black snake, and escaped under the ruins. Some say that the enemies buried the insult with sand.
The aforementioned key was found by archaeologists as well as sand.
In front of the fortress there is a meadow and a stream. A cemetery used to exist in that place. About 30 years ago, they found bones there.
In front of the meadow, there is a small house.
The guard's house. There are two versions of the story.
The first one says that under that house there was a tunnel into which the Black Queen threw her opponents and fed them to the lions.Another version that turned out to be true, there really was a tunnel entrance at that place. The tunnel leads all the way to almost the center of the city. The place is called Basca, and the Renaissance festival is held there every year.
Two minutes' walk from the Haunted Hill, near another hill, there is a small house whose story really scared me. The story was told by my great-grandmother to my grandmother. Since we loved going there as children, and the place itself is a bit dangerous, my grandmother told me this story.
In the time of the Turks, they lived in that house as priests. They did not want to bow down to their enemies. As a punishment, they were bricked into the walls of the house. They prayed until they breathed their last.
They cursed the enemies. One evening during the new moon, my great-grandmother was returning home from the city. She saw several priests holding hands, walking around the house, and praying. She knew about the legend, got scared, and ran as far as her legs could carry her.
Baba Roga or Baba Yaga. If you are from the Balkans, you must have heard of this grandmother. They scared us as children, if we are not obedient or good, Baba Roga will come. When I was about five years old, there was a well near the entrance to our house. They told me that Baba Roga would come out of that well and bring me into it. Fortunately, that well was demolished after a few years, and Roga never dragged me into it. She just left me taume. 😅
Saint Lucia. I have no idea why we were reminded of this saint every December. Apart from scaring us and creating additional traumas.😂
Although Lucia was a Christian martyr whose eyes were dug out and her head allegedly beheaded, how did they manage to scare us with her? I still don't know. However, her day is celebrated on December 13. Exactly twelve days before Christmas. They told us that if we were not good during that period, Saint Lucia would come. They will dig out our eyes, and put them on a plate just like they put hers. But that's not all, they will cut off our heels.
Is it a childhood trauma lol.
Krampus. That character comes a little before Saint Lucia. December 6 to be exact. He is represented as a demon. It has long goat legs, a long tongue and large horns on its head. He carried with him chains that accompanied him with their clanging. It was created to scare naughty children. In the evening, we usually cleaned one boot or shoe and put it on the window for Saint Nicholas. Nikola would leave sweets, and Krampus would leave a siba if the child did not listen to his parents.
Curse of King Zvonimir. This is not exactly from my area, but it is related to my people.
King Zvonimir is the only Croatian king who was crowned by the pope. When he was lying in a pool of his own blood and dying, he cursed his own people with the words that they would never have a Croatian king again. There is also a song called The Curse of King Zvonimir.
Fairies.
I'm sure you know about them. Little creatures, good. They are not really what they seem.
Beautiful fairies with long blonde hair were believed to be the bearers of death.
People used to claim that fairies took their horses from the barn after dark. They are brought back at dawn, tired and hungry. Their hair is braided.
What do they say about fairies in your area?
This is pretty much all I could think of. At least in the area where I lived.
What myths, legends or stories have you heard about?
I would love to read about other mystical beings or events from the past that you have heard about.
How did you like it?
The second part, if she were to write, would definitely be about these three topics, but from all over the world.
And that would be it from me. Sunday is coming to an end, Monday is just around the corner, and with it comes a new working weekend. New work victories😂