The Sword

In appearance a very simple symbol, which might tempt us to think that it is only a way to represent the status of a deceased person, but there is much more underneath the surface.

The sword was always an object with an important role in our legends; the most famous example being the Arthurian stories, but what does this faithful steel companion of ours hide?

The answer is to be found directly in our tradition, it was common practice the passing of a sword from father to son, it was not only a simple inherence of an object, but with it the accumulated honor was also transferred, this sword would be connected with the deeds of the possessor, by committing a dishonorable act the name of all those who have carried the sword would have been stained.

The sword is a symbol of the ancestral energy also called Honor (Hamingja from old norse that can also mean luck) that can be transmitted exclusively through a specifical bloodline.

The Knighthood initiation (the accolade in French, deriving from the Latin ad "to" + collum "neck", this term was later used generally to mean "praise" or "award" or "honour") is another example of a common medieval tradition with a deep meaning: the king lays its sword on the shoulder on the kneeling initiate, only then the initiate arises and the king gives him the honor of the new role. This elaborated ritual is clearly symbolical: the king represents the Sky God (the crown is a symbol of the sun rays), with his sword which is as well a symbol of the sun/vital energy/thunder/divine light is transferred to the initiate/fetus/newborn. This ceremony is used as a symbolical rebirth.

It was a common practice to bury someone with a sword on his chest, this custom was not only a way to show the prestige and the warrior class of the deceased person, but it is an ancient tradition that can be traced back to the European Bear-Cult, where instead of a sword a biface stone/axe was placed on the heart of the buried person. During the period of today’s Halloween feast, a group of initiates around the seventh year of age descended in the Burial mount (that was often a cave) to dig up the dead and collect the previously mentioned stone with which they would light a fire. This ritual symbolized the rekindling of life and thus the rebirth of the ancestor, the biface stone represented the heart that was revived symbolically because the fire is an avatar of the blood in our mythology.

Near the tombstones archeologist have found traces of fire used for ritualistic purposes, some have thought about a possible cremation practice, which could be possible, but I think it is also connected to the previously mentioned stone age tradition that can also be found in the symbol of the sword, which represent the rekindling of the fire/vital energy and thus it represents rebirth.

 

The Golden Apple

Bili stećci ispod Šuvara, danas ih nema. Na jednom bila zlatna jabuka. Krali je, ali se preko noći vraćala. Dosjeti se jedan mladić ukrasti stećak i jabuku. Podigne jabuku lagana, pa je stavi na pod. Podigne stećak, lagan i on, ali kako sad dohvatiti jabuku. Stavi on jabuku na stećak, ali ih ne može uopće podignuti pa odnese jabuku i vrati se po stećak kad na njemu jabuka. Donese onda torbu pa stavi u torbu jabuku, a stećak ispod ruke. Kad bi nadomak svoje kuće, ispred ga dočeka starica. Upita je tko je i koga čeka, a ona mu kaže: “Čekam mladoženju već 50 godina”.

Once upon a time there were some tombstone near Šuvar, on one of them there was a golden apple. People were always traying to steal it, but the apple reappeared in the same spot every night. A young man came up with the idea to steal both the stone and the apple; he tried to lift the apple and it was light, so he put it on the ground, then he tried to lift the stone and it was also light, but now he had not hands to carry the apple, he then put the apple back on the stone but he was not able to lift both, so he decided to take the apple and return later for the tombstone. When he came back, the apple had reappeared on the stone, he then took a bag and put the apple in it and carried the stone with his hands. When he returned to his home, an old lady was standing in front of the door and he asked her “Who are you? Who are you waiting for?” She responded, “I’ve been waiting for my husband for 50 years.”

European myths are full of stories about golden apples; for example: in Greek mythology with Paris and his choice of the most beautiful Goddess and in Germanic mythology with the goddess Idun and the golden apples of youth. From our myths and fairy tales we can say that the golden apple is always a symbol of youth, beauty but also marriage. We can say that whenever there is a golden apple, there is also a choice, not everyone is worthy to have one. We can also connect it to a common European tradition in which a young man asks his maiden to marry him by giving her an apple.

Our story starts with the information that on one of those tombstones there was once a golden apple, people used to steal it, but the apple returned always in the same spot. We can see that not everyone is worthy to possess the apple, we can draw a parallel with the Arthurian legend of the sword in the stone. A young man has come up with the idea to steal both the apple and the tombstone, here we have two objects: the stone and the apple, but in fact they symbolize the same thing, which is the ancestral knowledge. The apple and the stone (which also symbolizes the womb) can’t be separated because the ancestral knowledge is tied to pregnancy and thus the process of rebirth. The young man tries to lift both the objects without success (from the previous fairy tales we have seen that when the stone is heavy this symbolizes that the pregnancy have started), he then brings a bag to put the apple in; this is again a symbol of the womb and the amniotic bag which in our mythology is symbolized by the Phrygian hat. The young man/fetus has been chosen and now he is ready to be reborn. The bag and the stone are both the womb, only in different physical/mythological stages.

The chosen one is now on his journey home when he meets an old lady that has been waiting for her husband for 50 years, she obviously symbolizes the ancestor that is waiting to be reborn. Marriage is often used in our myths to symbolize the birth process; for example: the Slavic myth of the divine marriage between the twins Jarilo and Mara (they are twins because they represent the ancestor and the fetus, they are in reality the same person). In conclusion we can say that the ancestor is giving himself to himself and through the conquest of his lost knowledge, symbolized by both the apple and the stone, he is now reborn.