„Instruments of the Old Faith”: Magical Words in Three Medieval South Slavic Healing Rites for Snakebite
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Date
2012
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Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM
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Abstract
The line between Orthodox Christianity and pagan/folk customs and beliefs in the fifteenth
century Slavia Orthodoxa was not precisely drawn. The population called upon spiritual
forces of all kinds, to heal illnesses and injuries. Though the official position of the Orthodox
Christian Church was to condemn and suppress these pre-Christian beliefs, certain elements
such as magical words were included in Church-sanctioned texts. The fifteenth-century
South Slavic trebnik (Hilandar HM.SMS.378) is one example of such a text. In addition to
its canonical material, it contains a healing rite for a snakebite, which blends Orthodox
Christian elements and pre-Christian ones, utilizing magical words.
In this article, I examine Hilandar HM.SMS.378 – the magical words, the symbolism, and
the cultural background – and compare it with two similar rites from a medieval South
Slavic lječebnik (‘book of healing’) transcribed by V. Jagić in 1878. I also discuss the possibility
that the three rites share a common origin.
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Keywords
magical words, trebnik, lječebnik, non-canonical, Hilandar HM.SMS.378, pre-Christian, snakebite
Citation
Poznańskie Studia Slawistyczne, 2012, nr 3, s. 75–87.
ISBN
978-83-232-2473-0