A zduhać (Cyrillic: здухаћ, ) and vetrovnjak (ветровњак, []) in Serbian tradition, and a dragon man in Bulgarian, Macedonian and southern Serbian traditions, were men believed to have an inborn supernatural ability to protect their estate, village, or region against destructive weather conditions, such as storms, hail, or torrential rains. It was believed that the souls of these men could leave their bodies in sleep, to intercept and fight with demonic beings imagined as bringers of bad weather. Having defeated the demons and taken away the stormy clouds they brought, the protectors would return to their bodies and wake up tired.
Notions associated with the zduhać, vetrovnjak, and dragon man, respectively, are not identical. The dragon man fought against female demons called ala, which led hail clouds over fields to destroy crops, and consumed the fertility of the fields. The zduhaći (plural) of an area usually fought together against the attacking zduhaći of another area who were bringing a storm and hail clouds above their fields. The victorious zduhaći would loot the yield of all agricultural produce from the territory of their defeated foes, and take it to their own region. The vetrovnjak, recorded in parts of western Serbia, fought against a bringer of bad weather imagined as a black bird. The zduhaći are recorded in Montenegro, eastern Herzegovina, part of Bosnia, and the Sandžak region of south-western Serbia. The dragon men are recorded in eastern Serbia, Banat, western Bulgaria, and Macedonia.
Zduhać and vjedogonja
In Montenegro, eastern Herzegovina, part of Bosnia, and the Sandžak region of south-western Serbia, a man who was thought to be able to protect his estate, village, or region from bad weather was called a zduhać or a stuha. These names have a number of variants, which can be with or without h, with v instead of h, with or without the ending ć, and with č instead of ć.Kulišić, Petrović, & Pantelić 1970, pp. 139–41 According to philologist Franz Miklosich, the Serbian word stuhać is cognate with the Old Slavonic () or () "the elements", which stem from the Old Greek (στοιχεῖον) "element".Miklosich 1886, p. 327 The latter name is the origin of the Modern Greek stikhio (στοιχειό), denoting various kinds of spirits in Greek folklore, such as those fighting for the well-being of their village or area against adverse spirits from elsewhere.Plotnikova 2008, para. 10 According to linguists Petar Skok and Norbert Jokl, stuhać stems from the Albanian "storm".Đerić 1930, p. 48 In any case, the form zduhać may have resulted from folk etymology through association with the Serbian duh "spirit".Čajkanović 1994, p. 264–65
The notion that the human being consists of body and soul is found in traditional Slavic culture. There was a belief among the South Slavs that, in some people, the soul could leave the body and again return into it.Radenković 1996, pp. 12–13 The zduhać belonged to such people in Serbian tradition. It was thought that, after a zduhać fell asleep, his soul could fly out of his body, or "go into the winds", as it was said in Montenegro.Đorđević 1953, pp. 237–38Rovinsky 1901, pp. 528–29 In some accounts, it exited the body in the form of a fly. The zduhać's soul had the power to direct the motion of winds and clouds. If the body of the sleeping zduhać was rotated so that his head and feet changed places, or if he was carried away from where he had fallen asleep, his soul would not be able to return into his body, and the zduhać would die.
Although zduhaći (plural) could be women and children, most were adult men. Their supernatural power was thought to be inborn. In many regions it was regarded that the zduhaći were born with a caul—white or red, depending on the regional belief. The mother would dry the caul and sew into a piece of garment always worn by the child, such as a pouch attached under the child's armpit. In the clan of Kuči, eastern Montenegro, the mother would preserve the caul hiding it from all eyes, and hand it to her son when he grew up. The caul was supposed to protect him when he flew as a zduhać. If the caul was destroyed, the child's supernatural power would be lost. A birthmark of a zduhać in Herzegovina could be a tuft of hair growing on his shoulder or upper arm. In Montenegrin Littoral, the caul played no role in the birth of zduhaći, who were rather born on certain Fridays at a set hour. There was also a belief in Herzegovina that male children who were conceived on the eves of great feast days would become zduhaći.Đorđević 1953, pp. 239–40
A 19th-century ethnographic account from eastern Herzegovina describes a way through which a man who was not born as a zduhać could become one. Forty days after he ceased praying to God and washing his face, the man should go to some level ground, before he drew a circle on the ground and sat in its centre. Soon the Devil would come and ask the man whether he was willing to join his army, and what form he wanted to be transformed into. When the man stated the desired form, the Devil would turn him into that, making him a zduhać. In the region of Semberija, northeast Bosnia, а zduhać could pass his supernatural power on to his son.Kajmaković 1974, p. 102
The appearance of zduhaći was not much different from that of ordinary people, but they had some traits that set them apart. They were deep sleepers, very hard to wake up, often drowsy, pensive, thoughtful, and solemn. Their faces were often puffy, eyes shadowy. They were wise and shrewd, successful in whatever they were doing and resourceful in dealing with problems; their households were prosperous.Đorđević 1953, pp. 241–42 In Semberija, zduhaći were said to be good scapulimantic diviners, and to be able to communicate with domestic animals. The clan of Paštrovići from Montenegrin Littoral claimed that the zduhaći could hear any doings anywhere in the world; if someone stepped on a zduhać's foot, they could hear that too.Kordić 1990, pp. 220–21 The clan of Kuči held that the zduhaći were outstanding long jumpers.
Adverse weather such as a storm or hail could devastate crop fields and orchards, and thus jeopardize the livelihood of farmers in the affected area. A role of zduhaći, according to folk tradition, was to lead storms and hail clouds away from their family estates, villages, or regions, to save their crops. A zduhać could take the storms and hail clouds over the territory of another zduhać to destroy its crops. The other zduhać would fly up to confront the bringer of bad weather, and there would be a fight between the zduhaći.Đorđević 1953, pp. 242–44
They fought alone, or in bands composed of individuals from the same area. Thus it was thought that the zduhaći from eastern Bosnia fought together against those from Herzegovina and Montenegro. The zduhaći from Sandžak fought jointly against the Albanian zduhaći. On the Adriatic coast, battles were waged between a band of zduhaći from Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and northern Albania on one side, and a band of zduhaći from Apulia in southeast Italy on the other side. The latter were also called the transmarine zduhaći, as Apulia is situated across the Adriatic Sea from Montenegro. Each band had its leader. A man named Mato Glušac (1774–1870), from the village of Korita in Herzegovina, was reputed the supreme commander of the Herzegovinian and Montenegrin zduhaći;Đorđević 1953, pp. 245–46 he was also a famous seer.Đorđević 1953, pp. 249–50
According to some accounts, zduhaći flew and fought mostly in spring when strong winds blew, and, as held in some regions, only during night. As recorded in Montenegro, the zduhaći "went into the winds" usually during the Nativity Fast (15 November – 24 December), when there was not much snow and the winds were forceful. They also flew frequently from mid-February to the end of March. In some years, they were not active at all.
The zduhaći of a band would leave their bodies in sleep and gather at an appointed place, before flying into a battle. They used various 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. As believed in Herzegovina, zduhaći uprooted gigantic firs and oaks and fought with them. However, the most powerful zduhać weapon was held to be a stick of luč (resinous wood burned to give light or used as kindling) charred at both ends, or any charred splinter of wood. A zduhać who was hit with this weapon would surely die. People therefore avoided igniting the sticks at both ends, and they took care that no splinters were left half-burned.Rovinsky 1901, pp. 530–31
Beside the weapons, each zduhać carried a milk bucket and a peck measure; an alternative for the latter could be a shovel or broom from a threshing floor. If a band of zduhaći succeeded to seize the peck measures from the enemy band, they would thereby transfer the crop yield from the area of their enemies to their own area. Seizing the milk buckets meant that the milk yield would be transferred. According to the clan of Kuči, zduhaći used their peck measures, milk buckets, and other containers to grab off the overall yield of the enemy territory.
The battles of zduhaći were furious. They were accompanied by forceful gales and whirlwinds which uprooted trees and whipped up dust.Đorđević 1953, pp. 247–48 In Montenegro, it was considered dangerous to throw stones in the wind, because that might knock out an eye of a zduhać, who would kill the culprit.Rovinsky 1901, p. 533 A fighting zduhać was supposed to retain his peck measure and milk bucket, while trying to seize these objects from an enemy zduhać; he should hit and not get hit. The victorious band of zduhaći would loot the yield of all agricultural produce from the territory of their defeated foes. The harvest in the coming season would thus be excellent for the victors and poor for the defeated zduhaći.
After the battle, the soul of the zduhać would return into his body, and he would wake up weak and exhausted. If he was wounded, he would be sick for some time afterwards—before he recovered, or died if his wound was mortal. There are records of seriously ill men who claimed that they were wounded in zduhać battles. It was held in Montenegrin Littoral that a mortally wounded zduhać could still recuperate if he revenged himself on his wounder before the eighth day of his wound expired. Pavel Rovinsky, Russian philologist and ethnographer, recorded a story told to him by a man of the clan of Ceklin in southern Montenegro (Rovinsky also heard a similar story in Montenegrin Littoral):Rovinsky 1901, pp. 531–32