engleski

Folklore Notions of the Post-Mortal and Cataleptic Soul

In the introductory, first part of this paper, I examine Croatian folk beliefs, or more precisely, the remnants of the beliefs about the Bird-Soul which denote the post-mortal soul in the guise of a bird (cf. Bird-Soul, Leach 1949, 143), due to the fact that the soul as a flying existence is connected with the notion of its travel in the shape of a bird in various mythologies and beliefs (cf. Eliade 1974, 477–82 ; Maerčik 2003, 38 ; Armstrong 1958, 213 ; Tate 2009, 32–3). In that way, certain cultures identify the bird with birth and believe that the human soul comes to Earth in the guise of a bird. A remnant of that belief is also present today (in Croatia, too) in the remnants of narrative, the legend about the storks that children are told bring babies, which is connected with the customs of migrant birds ; the stork’s return corresponding to the awakening of Nature (Chevalier and Gheerbrant 1987, 563)

soul, post-mortal soul, cataleptic soul, Bird-Soul

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