Folk explanations of blood-lands: the map of massacres and bestial cruelties

Blood is not solely a body part and a medicinal substance; it’s likewise a metaphor for life. Blood as a social concept has mainly been explored as a symbol of kinship, genetic heritage and lineage, nationalism, race, taboo, in rituals, and blood dona- tions. Besides that, ethnic or national survival is also written on the map with bloody place-names. When the soil is soaked with blood of patriotic defenders and endangering others, the collective memory creates new bloody geographical names. They record the evidence of historically important harsh events, remind us of heroic battles, neighbouring antagonisms, or, provide an insight into religious changes in the area. The stories of violent killings and bloodshed in defence of a country, enriched with fears, imagination and prejudices towards the bloodthirsty foreign invaders, such as Turks or French, upset people’s blood. Though the base kri, blood, Blut, krvav, blutig is proportionally rare in Slovene toponymics, these geographical names describe historic episodes of groups and a nation. The tales about the origin of bloody place-names and about the horrific blood spill, which stops the blood in the veins, became a part of the nation’s cultural heritage