Zduhać

Lore & Background

The zduhać's power was thought to be inborn, often associated with being born with a caul (white or red, depending on region), which the mother would dry and sew into a garment worn by the child. In the clan of Kuči (eastern Montenegro), the mother preserved the caul and gave it to her son when he grew up, as it protected him when he flew as a zduhać. In Herzegovina, a birthmark could be a tuft of hair on the shoulder or upper arm. In Montenegrin Littoral, the caul played no role; zduhaći were instead born on certain Fridays at a set hour. There was also a belief in Herzegovina that male children conceived on the eves of great feast days would become zduhaći. A 19th-century account from eastern Herzegovina describes a ritual by which a man not born as a zduhać could become one: after forty days without praying or washing, he would draw a circle on level ground, sit in its center, and the Devil would appear to transform him into a zduhać. In Semberija (northeast Bosnia), a zduhać could pass his power to his son.

Zduhaći were deep sleepers, hard to wake, often drowsy, pensive, and solemn, with puffy faces and shadowy eyes. They were considered wise, shrewd, and prosperous. In Semberija, they were said to be good scapulimantic diviners and able to communicate with domestic animals. The clan of Paštrovići (Montenegrin Littoral) claimed zduhaći could hear any doings anywhere in the world. The clan of Kuči held that they were outstanding long jumpers. Their souls could exit the body in sleep, sometimes in the form of a fly, and direct winds and clouds. If the sleeping body was rotated head-to-foot or moved, the soul could not return and the zduhać would die.

Battles between zduhaći were fought alone or in bands, often in spring when strong winds blew, and sometimes only at night. In Montenegro, they 'went into the winds' during the Nativity Fast (15 November – 24 December) and from mid-February to the end of March. They used weapons such as spindles, beech buds, sharp splinters, leaves, stalks of straw, fluff, flakes, sand, long twigs, cornel stones, pine cones, eggshells, and other light objects. In Herzegovina, they uprooted gigantic firs and oaks. The most powerful weapon was a stick of luč (resinous wood) charred at both ends; a zduhać hit with it would surely die. Each zduhać carried a milk bucket and a peck measure (or a shovel or broom from a threshing floor). Seizing the enemy's peck measures transferred the crop yield to the victors' area; seizing milk buckets transferred milk yield.

Reader's Guide

The zduhać represents a distinctive South Slavic folk belief system in which weather protection was understood as a supernatural conflict between human souls and demonic or rival forces. Unlike the related dragon man (who fought female demons called ala) or the vetrovnjak (who fought a black bird), the zduhać engaged in territorial battles with other zduhaći, with the outcome directly affecting agricultural prosperity. This belief reflects the precariousness of agrarian life in the Dinaric regions, where hail and storms could devastate livelihoods. The zduhać tradition also shows linguistic and cultural connections: the name may derive from Old Slavonic stuhia ('the elements') or Albanian stuhí ('storm'), and the concept parallels the Greek stikhio. The detailed accounts of battles, weapons, and the transfer of crop yields illustrate a rich folk cosmology that persisted into the 19th century. The figure of Mato Glušac (1774–1870), reputed supreme commander of Herzegovinian and Montenegrin zduhaći, indicates that such beliefs were integrated into local identity and oral history. The zduhać's legacy endures as a subject of ethnographic study, revealing how pre-modern communities conceptualized natural disasters and sought to control them through supernatural means.

Did You Know?

• If a sleeping zduhać's body was rotated head-to-foot, the soul could not return and the zduhać would die.
• The most powerful weapon of a zduhać was a stick of luč (resinous wood) charred at both ends; being hit with it meant certain death.
• A man named Mato Glušac (1774–1870) from Herzegovina was reputed the supreme commander of the Herzegovinian and Montenegrin zduhaći.