Magic and Witchcraft Survivals in Croatian Traditional Beliefs and Practices with Laboring Woman

Prema definiciji šamanizma kao magijsko-religijskog fenomena, u kojem šaman određenim postupcima manipulira vatrom i vremenskim prilikama te uspostavljanjem komunikacije između ovostranoga i onostranoga, nastojanja vračara/vračeva u svezi su s ekstazom, lječenjem i iscjeljivanjem. Polazeći od razmatranja antropologa Mircea Eliadea (1907. – 1986.) i Claudea Levi-Straussa (1908. – 2009.) da pri rađanju djeteta nazočnost osobe koji govori s bogovima jamči kozmogonijsku i mitsku povijest društvene zajednice u kojoj se rađa novi život, autorica nastoji pokazati da je dio hrvatski tradicijskih vjerovanja i postupaka, ugrađenih u pojedine običajne postupke vračara, babica i kuma s udavačom, rodiljom i babinjačom te novorođenčetom i djetetom do njegove prve godine starosti u svezi s predneolitičkim i neolitičkim magijsko-religijskim shvaćanjima na hrvatskom tlu.According to the definition of shamanism as a magical and religious phenomenon, in which shaman in certain procedures manipulates fire and weather conditions and establishes communication between this and that reality, the efforts of sorcerer/sorceress are in relation with the ecstasy, cure and healing. Taking as a starting point the study of the anthropologist Mirce Eliade (1907-1986) and Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009), according to which the presence of a person who speaks to gods in childbirth guarantees cosmogonic and mythical history of the social community in which new life is born, the author tries to show that some Croatian traditional beliefs and practices, embedded in customary procedures of sorcerer, midwife and godmother with marriageable girl and laboring woman and newborn child and child up to his first age, are in connection with Preneolithic and Neolithic magical and religious understanding on the Croatian territory