Croatian Panspermic Customs, Rituals, Processions and Divinations in the European Context

Abstract

Panspermic customs, rituals, processions and divinations are, in their essence,archetypal pre-Christian cultures. People christianized them and associated themwith Christian feasts. Položaj (the first guest) on Saint Barbara’s feast day was awoman, and on Saint Lucy’s feast day položaj was a man. On Christmas Eve andChristmas, boys (položaji) used a poker to stir fire expressing their wishes for thecoming year, and the hostess threw grain on them. The decoration of houses andproperty with green shrubs, the decoration of Christmas bread, the ceremonialbringing in of yule- logs and straw and its spreading on Christmas Eve all have apanspermic, apotropaic, and sympathetic function. During the Christmas Eve dinnerand on Christmas, lunch divinations were performed. On Palm Sunday, fir, pine orolive branches were blessed and stuck into fields, gardens, orchards, vineyards andput in houses and farm buildings for a panspermic and apotropaic purpose. It wasbelieved that sprinkling girls with water on Easter Monday would be an aid tofertility. Processions on Saint George feast day (jurjaški) have a panspermic andapotropaic function, and barefooted queens, ljelje, on Whit Sunday transfer theirfertility to soil. On the eve of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist bonfires andcustoms, rituals and divinations related to them are the centre of attention. Croatianpanspermic customs, rituals, processions and divinations are the same as or similarto other European nations.