Original scientific paper

Krsnik: from Tradition to Actual Healing

Luka Šešo ; The Ethnology Division, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Abstract

The paper examines the traditional phenomenon of the krsnik as a supernatural being, on the basis of the manuscripts and published materials obtained from the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research in Zagreb. The phenomenon of the krsnik appears in Slovenia as well as in certain regions of Croatia, namely, Istria and the Croatian Littoral with the islands of Kvarner. The paper discusses the birth and life of the krsnik, various other similar supernatural beings, and the krsnik as medicine man and healer, focusing on the example of a living krsnik from the island of Krk. The author presents the krsnik as a traditional phenomenon that is a constituent element of a genre belonging to oral literature, but also as a vital element of the spiritual folk culture in Croatia.

Keywords

'krsnik'; folk belief; tradition; healer; supernatural

Hrčak ID:

47756

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/47756

Publication date:

1.3.2004.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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