Also called Bukavci.
Their story
In Serbian and Croatian folklore the bukavac is a six-legged, horned monster that lives in lakes and marshes. At night it comes out with a terrible booming noise and strangles people or animals it catches. The same word is the Serbian and Croatian name for the bittern, a marsh bird with a deep booming call, which may well lie behind the legend.
Best times to give to them
- spring nights near marshes
What they like being given
- none; the lesson is caution near deep water at night
How to honour them
- Listen to marsh birds at night and remember where the legend came from.
- Stay away from deep water in the dark.
How they can help you
- water safety
- curiosity about nature behind legends
Symbols
- six legs
- twisted horns
- a booming roar at night
Sparsely recorded; the bittern explanation is a common and plausible suggestion.
Sources
- Š. Kulišić, P. Ž. Petrović and N. Pantelić, Srpski mitološki rečnik (1970)
More Slavic beings
- Div The crying omen in the tree-top
- Vodyanoy The old man of the millpond
- Polevik The spirit of the fields
- Poludnitsa Lady Midday of the harvest fields
- Mavka Hollow-backed maiden of the Ukrainian woods
- Mora The night-mare who sits on the chest
- Zmey Gorynych Many-headed dragon of the byliny
- Firebird The glowing bird of the golden apples