Demonological Legends from the Vicinity of Jagodina and Cultural-historical Legends from the Vicinity of Paraćin

Folkloristics 10/2 (2025): 189–209
Authors: Smiljana Đorđević Belić, Klara Nikolić, Miloš Radisavljević
Text:

The contribution features the fieldwork material collected by the attendees of the educational program Folkloristics, which is organized at the Scientific, Educational, and Cultural Center "Vuk Karadžić" in Tršić. Cultural-historical legends, focusing on the medieval fortification Petrus, combine historical sources and oral knowledge, concentrating on a series of events and characters, constantly interweaving with etymological legends regarding local toponyms. The corpus of demonological legends consists of nine narratives collected during interviews with a few interlocutors. Beside the new confirmations of the common motifs (such as a demonic wedding, metamorphosis, punishment for taboo breaking, and the like), the material provides good grounds for the observation of the differences in individual narrative styles.

Keywords: fieldwork research, demonological legend, demonic wedding, mora, devil, Cultural-historical legend, etymological legend, belief narratives, Petrus.