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Drekavac
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'''Drekavac''' (literally "the
yeller") is a
mythical creature in south
Slavic mythology.
The creature is not consistently described; it is usually described as an animal, but sometimes as a bird. The one feature everyone agrees about is its horrifying yell. Another belief, most popular in
Sumadija, is that a drekavac is the
soul of a dead
baptism unbaptised child which wanders around and yells at night
[http://www.tolkien.co.yu/viewtopic.php?t=3310].
Drekavac is practically never depicted in the modern
fantasy of the region. However, belief in it is sometimes described in
fiction. An example is the book
Eagles Fly Early by
Branko Copic. A more recent and much more popular example comes from the movie
Nice Village, Nice Flame[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116860/] where (lack of) belief in drekavac is present in one of the central points of the movie:
:Halil (Bosniak): "Who torched my house?"
:Milan (Serb): "And who slaughtered my mother?"
:Halil: "I haven't slaughtered your mother."
:Milan: "And I haven't torched your house."
:Halil: "Then who did, Milan? Maybe it was drekavac from the tunnel?"
Drekavac is often used as a
child scare, in a similar way a
bogeyman is in the
Western world West. It is probably more useful than bogeymen in
rural areas, as children will surely sometimes hear a sound of some animal and attribute it to drekavac, thus becoming convinced that it really exists; which would then probably prevent them to wander far from home. In the cities, however, belief in it has faded, and
Baba Yaga Baba Roga, which more closely resembles western bogeyman, is much more used.
Though the creature is used as a child scare, adults do believe in its existence. According to the guide of a reporter of
Duga magazine, numerous villagers on the mountain of
Zlatibor report seeing it, and almost everyone reports hearing it
[http://www.vreme.com/arhiva.html/525/17.html]. In
1992, it was reported that in the
Krvavicka river the villagers have found remains of an animal which doesn't look like any known, and claimed that it is drekavac; it looked like a
dog or
fox, but with hind legs similar to those of
kangaroo[http://www.svetlost.co.yu/arhiva/99/216/216-2.htm]. A more recent encounter is from
2003; in the village of
Tometino Polje near
Divcibare, a series of attacks on
sheep took place, not unlike those which are in other parts of the world attributed to
chupacabras, and some villagers have concluded that they must have been perpetrated by a drekavac; other have concluded that it could not have been a drekavac because they have only heard the yells during the night, and sheep were mutilated during the day
[http://arhiva.glas-javnosti.co.yu/arhiva/2003/10/20/srpski/R03101902..html].
It is also beleved that when Drekavac screams all night long someone from the house that heard it well, will die. Also it is beleved that there are many kinds of Drekavac, but his size is oftenly said to be one meter in height and sometimes more. Acording to some stories Drekavac can live in packs. His is told to be living deeply in caves during the daylight.
Drekavac belongs to group of Ridiculae (bauk).
{{Slavmyth}}
Category:Slavic mythology
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