Folklore of the Krk island tells us that our old gods (and other mythical creatures) inhabit the highest peak of Krk island called Obzova, Belević (Velebit mountain), and also Vučka (Učka mountain). In the summer, we can find them on the plateaus of Velebit and peaks of Alan^{^[1]}, where the weather is nice and chilly during the intense summer heats, and when snow covers the ground there, they move to mountains Učka and Obzova. Names of the highest mountain peaks confirm that this was indeed what had happened in the past, Perun is the highest peak of the Učka mountain, and Sveto brdo (Eng. Holy hill) is the second-highest peak of Velebit. Except for Obzova mountain, the gods inhabit many others around the island, so narrators will often mention mountain peaks Hlam above Punat, Triskavac, Bojno and others.

Every season once had its own god or goddess. Davor was responsible for the summer. He brought warmth, work, navigation, traveling. storms, short and strong summer Bura (Bora) and war. Autumn was the season of Dažbog, with lots of rain and humidity. It was the time when crops that were planted during the season of the goddess Visna (Vesna) ripened. Goddess Morana that brought coldness, snow, ice and death, would take the throne in the wintertime. Goddess Visna is spring, the new life.

There are many old Croatian gods, Hor, Davor, Pirun (Perun), Trimuš, Trojak, Veliš (Velež), Ruš, Kurent (Korent), Kiš, Davor, Tuman, Mrak, Dobrinj (Dobrina, Dobrila), Dažjak (Dežbog), Burut, Jadar, Zarat (Zarut), Žol (Mjesec), Mrjan and others. Croatian goddesses are Aštur (Ištur, Uštur), Visla (Visna), Morana, Cvita, Žinta, Lada (Lara)… Some of them have unusual names, so the question arises whether they are our gods and goddesses or whether deities of other nations have wandered among them. The answer lies in the story: Abra Cadabra, you are not one of us! (Chakavian[2] Croat. Uš, paš nisi naš) and it goes like this: They are ours! People never bow to foreign deities because worshipping a god defines affiliation to a group, ethnicity, tribe or nation. Although our old gods became unwanted and wrong (pagan) with Christianisation, and it is not allowed to worship them anymore, they are still ours.

We can see mutual family relations between gods and goddesses. There are gods of war, revenge, love, evil, seasons, Sun and Moon, Earth, god of sea and god of waters, gods of underground, gods of the other world, and even gods of crafts such as medicine, soldiership, or blacksmithing. Many have their aides that help them lead the „department“ they are in charge of and accompanying godly creatures. Some have their own derivative in the form of homonymous demons and some of the helpers we recognize in the world of insects. The location of the temple of Croatian gods, as already said, is not unique but can be located on mountain peaks around the area where Croats live. In the old homeland, it is located near the praised Horovo, the city where the Croatian ruler, ban, king, emperor, or kniz (prince) resided, whatever the narrator named him. The Croatian pantheon of the Krk Island can be related to Slavic, Early Slavic, and ancient „divine systems“ we know from the records of medieval travel writers. It is the most similar to the one by Prince Vladimir Sviatoslavich the Great (Volodiměrъ Svętoslavičь, Prince of Novgorod, Grand Prince of Kiev, and ruler of Kievan Rus' 980 – 1015.), from the end of the 10th century, in which the Croatian god of Sun and war Hor(s) is the second most important god, standing next to his father Perun.

In the following pages, we bring you descriptions of gods in the way narrators from Krk see them in their poems and stories, which are collected in this book.

HOR

Hor (Har, Hr, Hrv, Horak) is the Croatian god of Sun, victory, courage, pride, defiance and prosperity. He is the main pre-Christian Croatian god, also known among Eastern Slavs. People of Punat say that the wooden statue of Hor stood above all others on the božac (altar)^{^[3]} of the old gods, and next to him was the statue of his father, the god creator Pirun. In the Krk folklore, he appears as Hor, Har, Hr, Hrv or Horak, and his people are called Hrvati, Haravati or Horvati, depending on his name in different parts of the country. Together with goddess Aštur and other old gods, he leads the Croats in their migrations from the territory of Afghan Arachosia (Harahvatiš) into the Harezman Empire, northern Black Sea coast, the Carpathians, Pannonia and Roman province Dalmatia, all the way to the coast of the Adriatic (Sinjmore; Jadran) where they still live today.

At the altar of gods on the Hor's field, gods Hor and Davor were above, and Kiš was in the pit underneath them. Priests of god Hor were always by the Croatian ruler, ban, and his general, the Great cossiz (Chakav. veli kosiz). The Croats never swore to gods Hor, Davor, Kiš and goddess Aštur because they were gods of battle and revenge. Anyone who offered a sacrifice to Hor always had to leave something for Kiš too, to prevent making him angry.

Hor is the bravest son of the god Pirun (Perun) - Creator of the world, brother of gods Dažjak, Mrak, Kurent and Tuman (and probably all others). He reigns in the daytime and commands the Sun, warmth and wind, and is the Sun himself. Hor's arrival in daybreak is announced by the crowing of the god’s rooster. He is standing on god's egg, waking up people so they would bow to him and greet him. In the mornings, every creature greets the god Hor: plants, animals, people, all winds and waters. After the rooster's second crow, the dawn breaks, and then Hor's golden carriage appears in the East, which will lighten up and warm up the whole planet Earth (Old Croat., Chakavian and Old Slavic Mir). Four, or sometimes even five komazec horses, which are also called hopazecs, are pulling his carriage. He is armed with a golden bow, shield and arrows, with which every morning he shoots at his eternal enemy, god Mrak (somewhere Veliš) and his aides, and forces them into the darkest pits and caves. He lives in a golden castle somewhere in the sky, and his helpers are Moon (Chakavian Žol) and Morning Star that report to him about what happens during the night. The Moon (in one song) is his groomsman, and the Morning Star, his bride. When Hor's carriage is in the zenith (Chakavian zatamiće), the god's rooster will announce it to the world by crowing towards the four sides of the world, ishoj (east - black), zahoj (west - white), urinj (north - blue) and sorinj (south - red). As the carriage travels toward the west, Hor's horses are getting tired, and the western sky is dancing in thousands of colors. When it sets behind the horizon, it turns dark yellow, and god's rooster then crows and invites people to come and bow to him and get ready to go to sleep because soon, god Mrak^{^[4]} will cover the whole world. There, behind the western horizon, Hor falls asleep. His helpers then replace the horses with rested ones and fill his quivers with golden arrows, so he would be ready for the morning battle. God Mrak reigns in the nighttime, and he begins his hunt. He throws a net made of Fog over the tired Hor, and while he is closing it slowly, the Morning Star appears in the sky. She rips the net with a cold sword, frees Hor, his golden carriage and komazec horses. Hor rushes on god Mrak by shooting lights at the sky that turn into svitlac (dawn, daybreak), and then with fiery arrows, he forces him into the darkest pits. Then, on the eastern horizon appears Hor's large, blood-red shield that changes colors while it slowly rises across the sky. Hor's warm arrows quickly beat Dew, Moist and Fog. Then horses appear in the sky and, after them, the carriage with shiny^{^[5]} Hor. Lights, arrows and sparks that flicker beneath his hooves warm the Earth and all creatures that live on it.

Hor is a mighty god creator that helps his father Pirun create the world by crushing rocks, evaporating waters and creating clouds, rising winds and sea. With his brother Mrak, he is the starter of the continuing alternation of day and night that lasts from the beginning of the world and will last until the brothers reconcile. He gives strength and life to everything in this world. He is born in the winter solstice and is the most powerful in the summer, during the summer solstice. He is the weakest in wintertime when Morana reigns over the world. Sometimes the Sun needs help warming the Earth. That is why the Croats light bonfires. Sometimes at dusk on Ivanje (The Feast of Saint John, June 23) people would gather on glades to light bonfires, and one boy, a military call-up, would start a fire. Boys turned into men by jumping across the fire. Women would predict the future from the embers, and tomorrow day they would carry some of it home to keep the ivanjski oganj (Saint John's fire) burning the whole year in their fireplace.

In some stories from Krk, Hor fights against the god Veliš (Velež), who has features of god Mrak. Hor's helper Moon (Chakavian Žol) appears in Krk also as god Žol. During the clear nights with a full moon (Chakavian žoldan), he lights up the Earth, and with silver arrows, forces the god Mrak and his helpers in pits until Hor arrives at dawn.

In some Slavic legends, thunderer Perun drives Hor's carriage across the firmament. Academician R. Katičić, talking about the identical Perun's vehicle, says it is undoubtedly the same as real Indo-European war chariots driven by gods in Rig Veda hymns, Indian epic and Homeric heroes, in which Hittite kings had seriously endangered Egypt…

Hor is an East Slavic god of Sun and war. Hor, Hrs, Hors or Xors, the deity originating from the south, with a Slavic and pre-Slavic phase (E. PAŠČENKO, 1999.,2006.). His wooden idol was located in Kyiv in the 10th century, next to Perun, Dabog, Stribog, Semargl and Mokoš. There he stood first to Perun and was the main god of local Croats. One old Ukrainian legend about the god Hors is also mentioned in The Tale of Igor's Campaign (Slovo o polku Igoreve) from the 12th century. In an apocryphal text: Khozhdeniia Bohorodytsi po mukakh from the 12th century and some later records, he is mentioned as Great Hors (Velykyi Khors). Among the Eastern Slavs, Hor is the god of the Sun, but also the god of the Moon. As the deity of the Sun, he is the victor over the Darkness, the righteous one and the guarantor of prosperity. Traveling the sky from the east toward the west, he turns from a boy into an old man. His two daughters follow him, the Morning Star and the Evening Star, and his brother, the Morning god, god of the full Moon that brings a new day. Hor, as Morning god or Jarilo, is the god of Moon and moonlight, abundance and health, adored in folk dances (Croat. kolo), and somewhere also the Ancestor of mankind. The belief in Moon-god was alive in the 19th century in Ukrainian Carpathians. At the end of the 20th century, a pagan sanctuary attributed to Hor was found in an archeologic complex of Eastern Croats in Stiljsko. Hor (Hors) is etymologically connected to the old Iranian deity of the Sun Hvare-kšaeta (hvarə хšаētəm), the glistening Sun described in the Avesta. He is chased away by the god Mitra, who is connected to the Sun in the Eastern Iranian tradition, that is, with the first rays of dawn (Chakavian zabela) while he is riding across the sky in his carriage. In folklore from Krk (poem Zorotusi), we can see the reflection of the new religion Zoroastrianism that will integrate Mitra.

The name Hors comes from Iranian languages (Scythian and Sarmatian), from Avestan: hvarə хšаētəm, Middle Persian: xvaršet, and Persian: xoršid, meaning „the Sun“. It is truly possible that Croats got their national name Horvat (Hrvat) after their main pre-Christian deity. In Krk dialect, the adjective horav means lovely, divinely beautiful, and also many toponyms hide the name Hor, especially on the territory of former Great Croatia (White Croatia). Here we have the mountain Horovo near Jajce, although maybe the name comes from the Slavic word hora (Croat. gora), meaning mountain. Croatian expressions harno (honest, neat, good, strong, firm, grateful) and harati (to ravage, to devastate, to destroy) may come from his name. The worship of Saint George and St.George's customs of southern Croats have some characteristics of Hor's pagan cult.

DOBRINJ

Dobrinj (Dobrina, Dobrila, Dobrinja) is a Croatian god of joy, abundance, beauty, youth, newlyweds, weddings and celebration. The town of Dobrinj on the Krk island was named after him, just like many other places in Croatia. Croatian names and last names Dobrilo, Dobrila, Dobroslav, Dobrota and Dobračić originate from his name. Stipanje, the day of Saint Stjepan (August 3rd), the protector of Dobrinje, people of Krk sometimes call Dobrinjeva.

In the old times on his day, which was called Dobrinja or Dobrinjeva, young men and women were getting married. People would travel from distant places to be a part of the celebration, and many people would gather. The wedding was held at the field of the god Hor. The priest would blow in a horn, and then all young men and women that were to get married would stand in a line, opposite to their couple. The priest would take the bride from her father and the groom from his best man. He would hold them by their hands and bring them before the altar of the god Dobrinj. He would tie the bride's left hand and the groom's right hand with a string and tell them they are tied together for eternity into a family. He would hold them by the tie and bring them to the white, decorated horses which waited for them behind the altar, on which they rode into a new life. In a few hours, the couple would come back, and then they would thank the god Dobrinj and gift the priest. In the evening, they would make a big celebration where they ate, drank and danced the whole night until the morning. At night, the newlyweds would get a special tent in which no one was allowed to enter. The next day, all young women would line before the god Dobrinj and change their yellow scarfs with green ones, which meant they were happily married (an ancient custom in Punat). The one that did not want to change the scarf was considered not married, and someone else could court to her.

Dobrinja was once a village and today an urban district in Sarajevo.

DAŽJAK

Dažjak (Dežbog, Dažbog) is a Croatian god that rules the clouds and brings rain, Chak. daž, Kajk. dež, dežđ, dažd. He is the son of god Pirun and brother of Hor, Mrak, Veliš, Kurent and Tuman. He often fights with Kurent and Vitran (the goddess of wind), who makes him angry while she chases away his clouds in the sky.

In stories about the world creation, Dažbog placed the clouds around the god's egg (the world's egg, the cosmic egg), which protected him from Hor's fiery arrows. In another story, Dažjak is a crying husband of the goddess Uštur (Aštur), who cries from sadness and happiness, and whose tears flow in streams and irrigate valleys, pits and sinkholes. That is how rivers, streams and lakes on Krk, Cres, Rab and kirija (mainland) from Istra to Plitvice were created.

When he fights with Kurent, he often cries, and his tears often turn into torrents that flood and destroy Kurent's watermills.

That is why Kurent pursued him on the Earth and in the sky, with help from goddess Vitrana that would move the clouds with her winds.

In the middle of August, somewhere around Vela Gospa, Dažjak often causes great mischief. If he gets angry in the autumn, he spills a lot of tears and causes a great storm on the Earth, and if father Pirun interferes, he shoots his arrows (thunders) and svitlice (lightning) at clouds that chase Kurent away.

Just as his father Pirun, brothers Hor and Mrak and goddess Mokoš, we find Dažjak (Dažbog) Russ. Дажбог, Old Russ. Дажьбогъ, Church Slav. Даждьбог in East Slavic medieval sources where he is the god of giving and abundance. The ancient idol of Dažbog stood on a hill in Kyiv, together with idols of Perun, Hor, Stribog, Semarglo and Mokoš, as third in importance.

According to Vatroslav Jagić, the theonym became from two words: Croat. daj bože (дажь боже, “дай, бог!”).

ŽOL

Žol (Moon), one of the Croatian pagan gods in the folklore of Krk, is mentioned as a helper of god Hor together with the Morning Star. As Žoldan, Žol appears in a shape of a full moon.

On the night of the Full Moon, the people of Krk would gather around the fire, and they would sing and celebrate. One of their songs tells how Croats would: „Celebrate the Moon and the Star, fall to their knees at dawn, turn their faces to the east and wait for the warmth of the Sun, thank the shining Sun and go to work. At dusk, they would kneel again, thank the setting Sun, and during the night bow to Žol and turn their faces to the Morning Star.“

As Hor in the daytime, Žoldan (the Full Moon) lightens up the Earth in the night and chases away the god Mrak in holes, together with all his helpers, Dew, Fog, Frost and Coldness. During Easter (Vazam), people on Krk would light bonfires to chase away the god Mrak and his helpers into pits and help Žoldan until god Hor arrives, who will destroy Mrak with his golden arrows.

In Punat, there was a folk tradition that happened every July on the night of the Full Moon. On that night, Žoldan would light up the sky, earth and sea, and girls from the whole island would come to Puntarska Draga to Prvo more (by St. Dunat) holding bouquets of flowers.

When Moon was at the zenith, they would walk into the sea barefoot. They would walk around in the shallow sea throwing flowers, believing that the one to whom the bouquet floats will soon get married and have lots of kids.

In another tale, in the old times, the night before nowadays day of Saint Magdalene, people would go to what is today a dry lake on Sus not far from Punat and gather around a well where shamans had a ceremony that would reveal how rich the harvest would be. They waited for a moment when the Moon or its reflection would fall into the well (come to the zenith). When it appeared above Cuka, they would greet by shouting: „There goes Žol“ and then remain quiet. They counted the time with an hourglass and marked it with a comma on tally stick, and one Moon's quarter after another would enter the well. Then the shamans and the people would dance kolo around the well and sing a thank-giving song to Žol, who helps plants grow, and animals and people give birth. When the entire Žol was in the well, they would spin in kolo and sing: „Thank you Žol, who gives life to big and small, we always gifted you and prayed to you nicely“. Then the chief shaman would sign to light a big fire and start the celebration that would last until dawn. At the beginning of the 20th-century, people of Punat used to go to the well on Sus to see if Žol was inside because it meant there would be no hunger that year.

In a manuscript dictionary of Punat dialect written by Rado Žic Mikulin, žoldan is a Moon's day or a clear night illuminated by moonlight, žodan is a sleepwalker (perhaps from where the last name Žodan comes from), Žol is the Moon and žola moonlight. The belief in the Moon-god was alive in the Ukrainian Carpathians in the 19th century. As in Krk, in East Slavic folklores the Moon is linked to the god of Sun Hor(s), and some scientists see them as two shapes of the same god.

People of Zadar still celebrate The night of the Full Moon in July each year.

We find the Moon together with the Morning Star in the oldest Croatian crest.

MRJAN

Mrjan is the Croatian god of the dead whose name comes from the Chakavian word mrt that means death, dead. He is similar to Had, the Greek god of the underground world. He comes for the soul (lovača) of the dead when the deceased is equipped with an obol of three coins on his eyes and forehead and is scratched (not specified where exactly). Then the soul has to travel a long journey to get to its destination. First, it has to cross a wide river Malpas which can be dula (full of water) and crossed by a boat, or shallow (during a drought), and then crossed by a carriage pulled by four large and dangerous dogs Arnubrods. Kuturožac transports the souls (also Kuturaš, possibly kolar or kotrljan) with a boat or carriage. Before each departure, he feeds the dogs Arnubrods and shouts: „Huj, huj, haja, huj!!“, and the dogs go. For the transport of the soul, Kuturožac charges a fee that the god Mrjan pays him with the first coin that he took from the deceased's eye. If he does not get paid, the soul waits and suffers by the river. If Kuturožac is satisfied with the pay, he transports the soul either by boat or carriage to the other side of the river. Then the soul gives him the coin from the other eye to buy a jug of wine, which will give him the strength to travel back across the river. The souls on the other side of Malpas wait until many of them gather. Then the judge (Mirač) comes and places each soul on the scale (bilanča) to see what good or bad it did on the Earth, and by that, he determines how the soul will spend the rest of the afterlife, which is far longer than the life on Earth. Mirač is corrupt, so the third coin is there to cheer him up and make him send the soul to a better place, and if he is not tipped, he can get angry and send it somewhere with cold, rain, ice or burning flames.

The tradition of burying the dead with ? and coins was present in many cultures around the world. It was present among pagan Croats, and in some places, it has stuck until today.

The god of the underground world Mrjan that reigns the souls of the dead we most likely find in the name Mrđan, last names Mrđan, Mrđen, Marđetko and others, and many locations named Mrđina.

The soul Chak. lovača is probably connected with loam Croat. ilovača in which the body of the deceased is buried, Chak. jilo, jilovača, žinta. Žinta is a whitish type of loam and a Croatian goddess of fertility and soil.

BURUT

Burut is the Croatian god of wind, after who the Croats named the strongest wind in the Adriatic, bura. Bura is a Proto-Slavic word, and also Russians, Ukrainians and many other Slavic nations use it. Bura and burja in Russian mean a storm, and buran is a snowstorm, a blizzard.

From the name of the god Burut came Croatian names Burko, Buran, Bura, Buro, and last names Burić, Buratović, Buričić, Burko, Burković and others. Burut and Burutus are the leaders of Croats in stories from Krk. The powerful knez Burutus (most likely Porga) in 642 attacked the city of Siponto in Italy with the Croatian fleet, conquered it, killed the duke, freed the captives and came back with a large spoil, about which sings the song „Šipun“. This Burutus later ordered to build the Church of St. Nicholas on Tranjevo at the entrance of Puntarska Draga.

On the island Košljun in Puntarska Draga, inside an underwater cave, still lives a buried underground monster Burac, which locals also call Bures. He is just a demon and probably has nothing in common with the god Burut.

JADAR

Jadar is the Croatian god of weather (weather conditions) and waters, probably of Liburnian origin. Jadro is a valey below Hlam on Krk, in front of which there is a puddle.

We find his name Croatian personal names Jadran, Jadro, Jadranko, Jadranka; in names of waters: river Jadro (Solinčica), Jadransko more (Adriatic sea); in toponyms: Jadrtovac near Šibenik; and the name of the ancient Croatian city Zadar also hides the name of the Old Croatian god Jadro, which becomes much clearer if we look at its ancient name Iadera, Jadra, Jadar and Jader.

ZARAT

Zarat (Zarut) is one of the Croatian pagan gods in the folklore of Krk. He is the god that always watched what people were doing, and they bowed to him in the morning and evening, blessed him because he gifted, kept and protected the earthly values. In some stories and songs, the narrators connect Zarat with the Sun, Moon and Morning Star. They say that our ancestors celebrated Zarat and were zaratusi, zorotusi or zoruslavići. The manuscript dictionary of the Chakavian dialect of Punat and its surroundings states: Zarat is the Moon, Luna; zaratus is zoroslav, the one who adores and celebrates the dawn (Croat. zora), the Sun and Moon; illuminated; zaratusi is zoroslavi.

AŠTUR

Aštur (Ištur, Ištar, Uštur), the Croatian (and not only Croatian) goddess of war, love, hunger, worry, poverty, evil, pain and death, after which one type of nettle got its name. In the saga „On the track of the Sun“, she is the most mentioned goddess of Croats. In the form Ištar, it is the name of the Emperor of Chorasmia's daughter, and as Ištur of the Empress of Chorasmia. Together with god Hor, she leads the Croatian people and their old gods on a path toward the land where Croats live today. In some stories, she is the wife of the god Dažjak. People never swore to her because she was the goddess of battle. According to the folklore, she is a foreign goddess that was „adopted“ in the old times when Croats lived in the Empire of Chorasmia on the coasts of Tigris.

In origin, it is probably the Akkadian goddess Ištar, the goddess of war and sexual love from the pantheon of Mesopotamian religions, Sumerian Inanna and Caananite Astarte, that also appears as Ishar, Istar, Aschtar, Aschtart. Ištar is the protectress of the Assyrian city of Nineveh on the Tigris River and is firmly connected with the Indo-Iranian goddess Anahita, which in the ancient Avesta is called Aredvi Sura Anahita (Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā), where along with Mitra she is the strongest deity created by Ahura Mazda. People connect Anahita with the Slavic goddess Mokoš, the only female deity whose idol was in the 10th century in Kyiv next to Perun, Hor, Dabog, Stribog and Semarglo. According to Persian mythology, Ahaita is a sinless virgin and the mother of Mitra. She is the goddess of water, springs, rivers and lakes, goddess of fertility and plants, war and love. She embodies the characteristics of older similar goddesses and was revered in Sardis, Babylon, Damascus, Persepolis, Bishapur and Hamadan, Afghanistan and Armenia, usually alongside rivers.

It is the Hurrian goddess Šauška and Hittite Šauša from the time of the Kingdom of Mittani. She was celebrated in different periods of Iranian empires, mostly Achaemenid, and her cult was the strongest in western Iran. She was also represented as the planet Venera. Unsoiled, clean and innocent, she was the „Eternal Virgin“, although she had many sexual adventures. She is connected with many aquatic goddesses of Indo-European societies of non-Mediterranean Europe. It is assumed that her name originates from the river she personifies, probably Aredvi, today's Arghandab in Afghanistan (Vedic Sarasvatī, old Persian Harauvatiš, Greek Arachōtos).

VISNA

Visna (Vesna, Visla) is the Croatian goddess of spring, flowers, Sun, light and hope. In spring, she comes out of her hideout and chases away Morana, the goddess of evil, hunger and death. Her arrival represents the birth of a new life that is visible everywhere in nature. She is the spring that brings a new life. Young grass feeds the animals, trees are leafing, everything is growing and flourishing, and the Earth smells fresh. Insects emerge from hiding, bees fly to the flowers, birds’ nest, goats, sheep and cows reproduce, but with caution because snakes are out.

On the first day of May, shepherds place mlaj on drywalls, green branches of the ash tree that represent a sign that the goddess Visna came out of her hideout and chased away Morana - winter. Visna is afraid of Morana and hides in her shelter the whole winter. She has sensitive skin that can not be exposed to the strong Sun in May, so dressed nicely and wrapped in thin transparent veils, she seeks a cover under the mlaj. She constantly changes places, goes from one area to another, and that is why we can find mlaj around on every hill. People would see her cooling under mlaj, but whenever she felt someone was watching her, she would disappear and fly away under another mlaj. When the leaves on mlaj would wilt and wither, people would cut the branches and make rofaš, a shepherd's staff into which the shepherds would carve signs and leave messages for each other about how much cattle they have and where it is located. Rofaš was a sacred wood, and it was not permitted to lie. Whatever was written on it had to be true.

Some rivers and plants were named after this Croatian goddess. It is often a female name among Croats. Vistula (Croat. Visla) is a large river in former White Croatia and the longest tributary of the Baltic Sea. The Vistula River is navigable to Krakow, which lies on its banks. Even today, Vesna in the Russian language means spring.

MORANA

Morana is a Croatian and Slavic goddess of winter, cold, snow, illness, evil, hunger and death, who people always feared. Together with other gods, she lives on peaks of Obzova, Učka, Velebit and other mountains. Morana is winter and reigns in the wintertime when nature dies and life stops. Together with Vitrana, she provokes Dažjak and then his tears become ice rains. Her reign is over in spring when goddess Visna comes out of her shelter and brings a new life. Morana leaves and goes north in the spring and will come back again when early winter (autumn) comes. People will mark her leaving with mlaj, green branches of the ash tree, which they decorate on the first of May.

After goddess Morana the night terrors are called mares (Croat. more) because she comes when a man falls asleep and squeezes him so hard that he cannot breathe. After her, many Croatian women carry their names. Polish people call her Maržana, Russians Marena, Ukrainians Mara… In Slavic mythology, the name Morana is in connection with the pre-Indian word mara, which means to die by force. More are also creatures from folk beliefs similar to witches that harass people in their dreams.

CVITA

Cvita is a Croatian goddess of flowers, inflorescence, fruits, colors and abundance. Even today, Croatian women carry her name, unaware of its origin.

From her name come other Croatian names like Cvita, Cvitana, Cvijeta, Cvjetana, Cveta, Cvetana, and Cvjetan, Cvitan, Cvjetko, Cvijeto, Cvetko, last names Cvitković, Cvjetković, Cvitan, Cvitkušić, Cvitanović and many other old forgotten words like cvit that means color, Turkish boya that means shade or Croat. rascvitak, which means to be colored in many colors and shades. These words are alive among some Slavic people that do not have a lot in common with Turks, and our task is to bring them back into Croatian standard.

VITRANA

Vitrana is the Croatian goddess of the wind. She is a beautiful, slim, tall and nicely dressed woman, with long blonde hair braided in ponytails that fall to her feet. She lives on the mountain Obzova, the pantheon of Krk. She is a friend to Morana, the goddess of winter, and fights with Tuman, the god of the sea to whom she raises waves. Her helpers are winds Ćuh, Bava, Burin, Burica, Bura, Fortuna, Južin, Južić, Jugo, Levanat, Maištral, Trmuntanica, Trmuntana, Trmuntanež, Nevira, Neverin, Šijun, Vihor, Glbin and Špalmej[6]. Vitrana has power over all winds that blow and cool Mir (Earth). She moves clouds and brings rain, spins mills and sails ships on the sea. Winds blow when she plays with her hair. When she untangles her left braid a little, Vanjska bava rises. If she untangles it more, Jugo starts to blow, and if she does it entirely, Levant, and it becomes stronger if she combs her long hair.

When she untangles her left ponytail a little, Trmuntana starts. If she does it more, Burica blows, after that Bura (Bora) starts, then Fortunal, and when she untangles it entirely an Uragan (Hurricane). Both untangled tails cause Maestral (Mistral). When she braids her hair, Vihor rises. If her braids cross, they cause Šijun, and if by accident her hair tangles, hail falls and destroys the harvest.

When she meets with the god Žol (Moon), they raise the sea (Croat. plima), sometimes even a meter high. Then they flood docks, the coast and fill up canals. They create pools Chakav. Croat. puline, in which salt is collected that ruins the vegetables. Sea birds, gulls and petrels like Vitrana, and with their whistles, they greet the beautiful goddess. Then she throws the sea even stronger on rocks and coasts, carrying algae, corals and smaller fish that cannot resist the waves.

ŽINTA

Žinta is the Croatian goddess of fertility and soil. Žintilin is an area in Punat on Krk that was named after her. Žinta is a Chakavian word for whitish type of loam.

LADA

Lada (Lara) is the Croatian goddess of love, beauty, company and friendship. According to a tale from Krk, the god Creator of the world Pirun created a man from a drop of sweat from his forehead, and of one Lara's hair, he created a life companion to birth him kids that will inhabit the whole Mir (Earth) and be of help when he gets old. He made the woman pretty, just as Lara.

Many Croatian women carry this name, and it is the origin of the last names Ladić, Ladan and Ladinić. The presence of goddess Lada in the Slavic mythology Ivo Pilar illustrates with toponyms Lada's peak (Croat. Ladin vrh) near Obrovac, Ladina, Ladinec, Ladešići, Laduć, Ladovac and Ladovica. He mentions Lada's son Ljelja that hides in many toponyms in Croatia and today's Bosnia and Herzegovina. With goddess Lada, we have to mention ladarice, an ancient folklore celebration that later connected with the celebration of Ivanja (June 24). In that celebration participate nicely dressed girls with flower wreaths in their hair (ladarice), who sing (ladaju) songs with a chorus lado, and dance kolo.

[1] Mali Alan Pass is a mountain pass at an elevation of 1.045m (3428ft) above sea level and Veliki Alan is a high mountain pass at an elevation of 1.414m (4,639ft) above the sea, booth located in the southern part of the Velebit Mountains (Croatia).

[2] Chakavian dialect of Croatian language, used by 12% of Croatians; mostly in use near the Adriatic coast – from Istra to Pelješac, between Zadar and Vodice, in Senj, Istria, Gorski kotar and on Croatian islands. Outside todays Croatia, it is used in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Montenegro. Chakavian hasn’t changed a lot over the years so it is often considered to be an archaic Croatian language.

[3] Croat božac means altar and also a small hill.