Whether they’re viewing it from a religious or from a secular/political perspective, Serbian folks register the date of June 28 as something extraordinary: it’s the fateful date, in 1389, when the Serbian emperor Tsar Lazar Hrebejanović’s armies fell to the invading Ottomans led by Sultan Murad I at the Battle of Kosovo. There is curious folklore that showcases the overlap between the fairy women, vile (VEE’-leh), and the cult of the ancestors. In the stories I was told as a child by both my parents and by teachers in my Sunday Serbian school, several vile chose men from Serbian noble families to be their mortal husbands. On the eve of the Battle of Kosovo, the vile roamed the field of battle (Kosovo Polje), keening and wailing, warning of the deaths of Tsar Lazar and his knights. A handful of the latter category observed the vile; the fairy women gave them red wine to drink, transforming the warriors into dragons who would someday avenge the deaths of Tsar Lazar and his retinue, all of whom became canonized as martyr-saints in the Serbian Orthodox Church.

serbian vidovdan folklore and the plant medicine of pimpernel

The Slavic god Svetovid/ Świętowita/ Su’vid is a deity of light, divination, abundance, and war. When and why His cult was grafted onto a supposed fourth-century Sicilian saint named Vitus, who is petitioned for protecting people against dog attacks, is quite a mystery. (Even the Catholic Church admits the man’s hagiography is pure legend.[1]) Perhaps it’s because the saint’s feast day in the Catholic Church, June 15, replaced the earlier Pagan celebration of Svetovid. In the Julian calendar observed by the Orthodox Church, the feast day of St. Vitus (“Vid” in Serbian) is today, June 28.

Intriguingly, in South Slavic folk magic, it’s the Slavic god and not the Catholic saint who is addressed in divinatory spells and healing magic done on this day, magic which is focused on peoples’ eyesight and on the ability to psychically “see.” On this day, the first magical act is to rise very early in the morning and pluck the plant whose folk name is Vidovčica trava, “Vid’s grass,” which is comprised of both varieties of pimpernel: scarlet (Anagallis arvensis) and blue (Anagallis foemina). Those flowering plants are placed in a vessel containing spring water and folks ought to wash their faces with it in order to prevent optical diseases.

Near the Fruška Gora mountain in Serbia’s far northern Vojvodina region, ethnologists in the field have recorded this variation of the Vidovdan face-washing ritual among carpenters and woodworkers by trade: As the men wash their faces, they say: “Oj, Vidove! Vidovdan! Štoja očima video, toja rukama stvorio!” / “Oh, Vid! Vidovdan! All that my eyes see, my hands may create!”[2] By magical inference, then, their talents will have no limits.

A slight variation on this spoken charm, now involving a mother and a daughter, has been recorded further northeast in the same Serbian region, in the village of Banatski Dvor. A mother takes her daughter out to the fence post that borders their field; they wash their faces and say together: “Vido, Vidovane! Što god očima vidim, sve da znam raditi.” / “Vido, Vidovane! All that my eyes can survey, I will know how to work.”[3] In other words, Vid will magically endow the women with whatever knowledge they need to be able to carry out their work. As they survey a limitless horizon, so too will their skill sets be limitless.

The colors red and blue, based on the pimpernel flower varieties, repeat themselves in other magical acts, carrying symbolic currency. This leads some scholars to speculate that red and blue could very well have been the cultic colors associated with the worship of the God Svetovid/Vid, at least among the South Slavs (the god’s cult was strongest amongst the West Slavs). In a dream incubation ritual recorded in Bosnia by single women looking to dream of their future husbands, both varieties of the pimpernel flowers are placed under the pillow. The woman drinks a cup of rosehip tea (more red symbolism) while brushing her hair before her bedroom mirror. She says the following before immediately going to bed:

“O moj Vide, Viđeni,

O moj dragi suđeni,

Ako misliš jesenac da me prosiš,

Dođi večeras, u prvi sanak na sastanak.” 

“O my Vid, the All-Seeing,

O my dear fated one,

If you’re thinking of proposing to me in the autumn,[4]

Come tonight instead, we’ll rendez-vous in my first dream.”[5]

Again, as the first line reveals, the Slavic god is addressed directly (the future husband then is addressed from the second line onward), and His functions related to divination and His ability to see in the four cardinal directions has remarkably survived intact in South Slavic folk memory more than a millennium after Christianization.

celebrating svetovid and asking for his counsel

The variants of spelling in the god’s name can denote two different but complementary etymological meanings:  in Common Slavic, the prefix “sve-” and its variants translate to “all,” “the totality” of something. However, the distinct prefix of “sviato-” or “swieto-” means “holy, sacred.” The variants of the suffix “-vid,” “-vit,” “-wita,” all derive from the verb videti, “to see.” Hence Svetovid is the “All-Seeing” or “World-Seeing God” and Sviatovyd is the “Holiness-Seer.” Either way, the god’s function of divination is inherently emphasized. My divination and my devotional rituals to Svetovid always include an outdoor fire and offerings of mead to Him. I feel His Presence at my backyard shrine quite strongly in the summer months.

This wooden statue of Svetovid was something I purchased online in 2017 from the amazing, archaeologically educated artisans behind OIUM, who are based in Kyiv, Ukraine. These and other images of Him are derived from the so-called “Zbruch Idol,” a fantastic ninth-century Slavic religious artifact carved out of limestone that was excavated from the Zbrucz River near Liczkowske, Poland (present-day Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine).

Svetovid resonates in my heart strongly. I have never visited the beautiful medieval Polish city of Kraków, but I have toured via the Internet its main museum, which now houses the Zbruch Idol. I’m always moved to tears when I sit in contemplation of this holy artifact. I also sobbed out loud in April of 2022 when a friend and I went on opening night to see the film The Northman (Robert Eggers, director). Scenes of the raids on the Slavic Rus’ villagers, the enslavement of the Rus’ women, the murder of the villagers, and the scene masterfully played by Björk as the temple of Svetovid priestess (photo below) overwhelmed me.

I felt the collective experiences of my Slavic ancestors, and even though the film shows “Polytheist-on-Polytheist” violence, I knew at some level in the scene with the desecrated temple of Svetovid that I was actually mourning the desecration of Svetovid’s most famous temple complex called Arkona. The missionaries of the Christian Danish King Valdemar I destroyed the Arkona temple and slaughtered its priests in June of 1168.

So perhaps this historical fact is the real reason why my Serbian heart feels so heavy on Vidovdan: the Christian violence against the Pagan Slavs, not the medieval Serbian empire’s tragic defeat by the Ottomans on June 28, 1389. Thankfully, Svetovid’s devotees continue to grow throughout the Slavic Diaspora. We are coming out in full force to praise this powerful god, as it is right and just to do so.

spell to invoke svetovid’s protection

On a round piece of linen cloth approximately nine inches in diameter, place one part of each of the following dried herbs: St. John’s Wort, rosehip, sweet basil, rosemary, angelica root, geranium, wormwood, yarrow, juniper. Lastly, add one fresh garlic clove (minced).

Gather the edges of the cloth and bundle upwards, then take a white or red cotton string or piece of yarn and tie the bundle together with the words: “Svetovid rides on His white horse and puts to flight the Unclean Force.”

Carry the bundle with you on your person, hang it from the rearview mirror of your car, place it under your pillow, or tuck it into your desk drawer at the office.

Slava!

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[1] Catholic.org, “Saint Vitus,” https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=140.

[2] Bandić, Narodna Religija Srba u 100 Pojmova, 338. The translation is the author’s own.

[3] Bandić, Narodna Religija Srba u 100 Pojmova, 338. The translation is the author’s own.

[4] The most favored time of the year for marriage among the South Slavs. It’s a time of abundance and celebration, as the harvest has ended.

[5] Bandić, Narodna Religija Srba u 100 Pojmova, 339. The translation is the author’s own.