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THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN LEGENDS ABOUT TURKISH ATTACKS
Anja MLAKAR
University of Maribor, Faculty of Tourism, Cesta prvih borcev, 8250 Brežice, Slovenia
e-mail: anja.mlakar2@um.si
ABSTRACT
An analysis of Slovenian legends about Turkish raids was made to identify and 
analyze religious elements in them. The legends express superiority of Christian-
ity, but also contain belief elements that diverge from Christian teachings, such as 
traditional Slavic beliefs about the afterlife. The mixture of different beliefs can sum-
marized under the term “vernacular religion”. The Turks in folklore represented an 
archetypal demonic “Other” and as such they threaten the “Our” world. In these 
legends traditional and pre-Christian beliefs were intermixed with Christian symbol-
ism and characters and as such they express the diversity and flexibility of religious 
imagery.
Keywords: Turkish raids, vernacular religion, Christianity, otherness, sacred space, 
sacrilege, miracles, the world beyond 
IL RUOLO DELLA RELIGIONE NEI RACCONTI SULLE INCURSIONI 
TURCHE
SINTESI
L’articolo presenta un’analisi dei racconti sloveni sulle incursioni turche realizzata 
allo scopo di identificare e spiegare gli elementi religiosi in essi contenuti. I racconti 
comunicano la superiorità del cristianesimo, ma allo stesso tempo contengono anche 
elementi di credenze incongruenti con la dottrina cristiana, come, per esempio quelle 
tradizionali slave sull’aldilà. Questa mescolanza di credenze diverse si può identificare 
con il termine «religione vernacolare». I turchi nel folclore rappresentano l’archetipo 
demoniaco «Altro» e come tali minacciano il «Nostro» mondo. Nei racconti le credenze 
tradizionali e precristiane si intrecciano con il simbolismo e i personaggi cristiani, mani-
festando in tal modo la varietà e flessibilità dell’immaginario religioso.
Parole chiave: incursioni turche, religione vernacolare, cristianità, alterità, spazio sacro, 
sacrilegio, miracoli, aldilà
Received: 2021-01-18                            DOI 10.19233/AH.2021.12
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INTRODUCTION
The Turkish1 raids to Slovenian lands lasted for around 150 years, from 1408 to 
around 1560 when they almost completely ceased (Simoniti, 2003, 73). Though their 
intensity and devastation varied during this time they imprinted a sense of continuous 
danger and uncertainty into the inhabitants of lands they targeted (Simoniti, 2003, 73; 
Voje, 1996, 32–36). In the collective perception and memory, they took the place of 
barbaric invaders that threatened Europe in previous centuries (the Skits, the Huns, 
the Hungarians, the Mongolians) and were ascribed a drastic otherness and similar 
characteristics than their predecessors: savagery, lack of civilization, greed, dirtiness, 
animality (cf. Gießauf, 2005). In Slovenian collective memory the time of Turkish 
raids is perceived as an extremely difficult time (cf. Bartulović, 2012), yet simultane-
ously the fight against the Turks was given patriotic dimensions and an important role 
in Slovenian nation building process (Baskar, 2000, 4; 2012, 141).
Slovenian folklore also casts the Turks in the role of the demonised barbaric 
“Other” lacking any individuality and whose only aim is to destroy (Mlakar, 2019, 
55). Many of the Slovenian legends about Turkish raids express the importance of 
Christianity that is intensified in this fight against the demonic infidel. 
The legends about the Turkish raids clearly express the superiority of Christianity. 
However, while the characters in these stories are Christian saints and the divine 
agency is understood as being the Christian God, there are motives that diverge from 
what can be considered official Church doctrine. While all the elements might seem 
Christian, they sometimes express beliefs that can be categorised within vernacular 
religion. While these elements constitute a very small part of what can be considered 
vernacular religion they still offer a glimpse into a diversity of beliefs that do not 
limit themselves to official Church teachings. The Catholic Church had a very strong 
influence on the beliefs, identities and conduct in Slovenian territory which is clearly 
expressed in Slovenian legends about Turkish attacks. Yet this did not mean that all the 
psychological needs of the community were met within the official Church teachings. 
Among the ley people these teachings were adapted, transformed, new elements were 
added, along with pre-Christian beliefs that received a Christian makeover. 
In the minds of the carriers of this folklore these elements are probably not consi-
dered to deviate from Church teachings and the contradictory nature in regards to them 
might not be recognized. This is very typical for vernacular religion. While in scholarly 
discourses a sharp divide between the “official religion” and the “folk religion” was 
determined, this does not exist in everyday life. The focus of this contribution will be to 
explore the mixing of these different beliefs. This mixing of different beliefs and their 
adjustments is not limited to the past. Today the plurality of beliefs is more accessible 
1 In this article I use the term “Turk” which is not the most appropriate term as it actually refers to the Ot-
toman Turks, i.e. peoples of the Ottoman Empire. The number of inhabitants of Turkish origin within the 
Ottoman Empire was rather small compared to other peoples that came under domination of the Empire 
(Pust, 2007, 210). Yet I still use the term “Turks” because this is a term used in Slovenian folklore. 
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than ever and new forms of religiosity exist. Religious expression, despite seeming 
quite rigid (especially regarding institutional religions such as Christianity) is always 
in flux and adapting to contemporary needs of society and the individual. 
In order to try to understand certain motives and elements regarding belief 
and religion in Slovenian legends about Turkish raids a diachronic aspect will 
be used in order to see how they could have developed in through time. Stu-
dying vernacular religious beliefs from the past is difficult as aspects of beliefs 
that diverged from the official ones were either condemned, but most often 
simply not written about. Therefore, when analysing such beliefs in folklore 
one must take a cautious approach. I do not claim that the legends collected 
in contemporary times derive unchanged from the Middle Ages, however I do 
believe it is important to recognize the historical aspects that contributed to the 
insight that these legends give about religiosity. There is no way of knowing 
how these legends changed throughout the centuries, as systematic collecting 
of Slovenian folklore only started in the mid-19th century. Yet some elements of 
Fig. 1: Battle with Turks. Copper engraving by Janez Vajkard Valvasor, dated to 
1689 (Wikimedia Commons).
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folklore have proven to be very resilient through time and despite adapting their 
content to current socio-historical circumstances in order to make sense to their 
current bearers they still reflecting older concepts. Therefore, I find it useful to 
explain their diachronic aspect.
THE HISTORICAL AND RELIGIOUS ASPECTS 
OF THE LEGENDS ABOUT TURKISH ATTACKS
Although the atrocities performed by Turkish soldiers and the Turks them-
selves are completely demonised in folklore, the defences against them often 
fictional (e.g. miraculous salvations) the legends to some extent still express 
collective memory of the time of the Ottoman attempts of conquering Slove-
nian lands (for example legends that refer to anti-Turkish forts as a means of 
defence that had actually existed). An important purpose of collective memory 
is providing a usable past for the creation of coherent individual and group 
identities and the legitimation of the present social order as participants in any 
social order must presuppose a shared memory (Connerton, 1989, 3). The role 
that Slovene legends about the Ottoman Turks have had for their communities 
in terms of self-identity and strengthening of the sense of belonging has been 
thoroughly demonstrated (cf. Mlakar, 2014; 2019). But what is the difference 
between history and collective memory? Researchers point out different aspects 
that set them apart. Novick (1999, 4), similarly to Eliade (1954, xi, 34–48), 
summarizes that collective memory simplifies and sees events from a single, 
committed perspective, it doesn’t tolerate well ambiguities of any kind and 
reduces events to mythic archetypes. Historical consciousness focuses on the 
historicity of events that they took place then and not now. Memory, by contrast, 
has no sense of the passage of time. It denies the “pastness” of its objects, but 
rather focuses on their continuing presence. Additionally, collective memory 
generally assumes that it reflects the unchanging essence of a group, and it is 
consequently less likely to recognize any transitions it has undergone (Wertsch, 
2002, 43).
Slovene folklore displays the lack of historical objectivity that is part of all 
interpretations of the past. The complex relationship between the past, collective 
memory and folklore has been quite well researched (for a detailed summery of 
references regarding these topics (cf. Mlakar, 2019), but in summery we can say 
that the past offers a timeframe for folklore, that chooses certain historical periods, 
events and personalities from it in order to make a story more credible. While it 
can contain historical data, being historically accurate is not a priority for folklore. 
What matters is to fulfil society’s needs in regards to its identity, beliefs, fears and 
desires. 
One of the most prominent features of Slovenian legends about Turkish attacks 
is the religious dichotomy between Turks and Christians. The Turks are ascribed 
to have immense hatred towards Christianity (for example in sacrileges acts they 
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attempt to commit). Yet the 
legends express nothing about 
the nature of their own religion 
– Islam. The emphasis is on the 
“wrongness” of their religion. 
They are almost seen as having 
no faith at all. Being seen as 
faithless or demonic is a typical 
characteristic ascribed to “the 
Other” (Belova, 2007, 336–337). 
Christianity is portrayed as the 
superior religion and the only 
correct one. It is presented as 
a strong identity factor for the 
bearers of folklore (cf. also 
Hrobat, 2010, 50–51, 54; 2012, 
43). It is thus not unusual that 
the Turks are sometimes equated 
with the Devil himself.
VERNACULAR RELIGION
While Slovenian legends 
about Turkish attacks always 
display a strong bond with 
Christianity they also contain elements that diverge from Christian teachin-
gs. The plurality of beliefs that is shown to coexist in folklore can best be 
explained by the term “vernacular religion”. Vernacular religion is sometimes 
described with terms such as “folk religion”, “popular religion” or “unofficial 
religion”. Leonardo Primiano (1995) expressed his criticism regarding these 
terms as he sees them as derogatory. He also problematizes the opposite of 
these terms, i.e. “official religion” as religious beliefs and practices cannot be 
so clearly divided between this dualistic system – this dichotomy is a scholarly 
invention (with “official religion” being a standard against which variations of 
religious expressions are measured). Instead he proposes the term “vernacular 
religion” and defines it as religion as it is lived and as people understand, 
interpret and practice it (Primiano, 1995, 44). Despite this understanding and 
wider adoption of the term it has often just replaced previous terms of “folk”, 
“unofficial” or “popular religion” in academic writing (Johanson & Jonkus, 
2015, 119) and the erroneous dichotomist relation to “official religion” is still 
present. Primiano’s emic viewpoint that primarily acknowledges the correc-
tness of interpretations and understanding of religion by the people themselves 
is rather impossible to apply to materials of historical or archaeological nature 
Fig. 2: Turkish soldiers taking captives (by 
Niklas Stör, 1530) (Wikimedia Commons).
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or even to collections of folklore used for the analysis made in this contribu-
tion. Therefore, as Johanson and Jonkus (2005, 120) put it “the wisest thing 
to do is to acknowledge the multifaceted character of our source material, the 
absence of clear and unambiguous patterns, but continue with classifications, 
statistical analyses, and other academic tools needed for drawing wider gene-
ralisations”. It is also worth considering that the characteristic of “vernacular” 
maybe completely scholarly in nature and does not reflect the way practiti-
oners or believers consider them. This is not to say that they are not aware 
of the difference their beliefs and practices have from the official ones, they 
may just not put them in such categories2 (Johanson & Jonkus, 2015, 121). 
Historian John Kent (2002) proposes a different term intended to encompass 
the complexity of human belief: “primary religion”, but its definition remains 
rather elusive3. Scholars such as Gay (2006) have pointed out how different 
scholarly paradigms and agendas (such as nationalism)4 have influenced the 
perceptions and definitions of “folk traditions”.
Not only are the official and vernacular religion not forming two opposing 
systems of belief, they are interconnected and influence (cf. O’Connor, 2012, 
2 Researchers have theorised about cognitive explanations of coexistence of such un-uniformity 
in belief and practice. For example, Harvey Whitehouse (2004) and Ilkka Pyysiäinen (2004) 
offer interesting theories that there are types of religiosity that are more natural to human 
cognition (i.e. cognitively optimal religion) and types that are more complicated and that need 
to be learned and rehearsed (i.e. cognitively costly religion). Theologically correct religion is 
cognitively costly, while some facets of vernacular religion derive from everyday thinking and 
are focused on practical solutions for everyday problems, not on creating general theories (Hu-
kantaival, 2013, 104).
3 He proposes we distinguish »a primary level of religious behaviour, when human beings, caught 
between strong, limitless desires and fears on the one hand, and a conscious lack of power over their 
situation on the other – and this applies whether one is talking about material or moral needs and am-
bitions – assert that there may be supernatural powers which can be drawn advantageously into the 
material environment; they also suspect the existence of hostile supernatural powers, against which 
defences must be devised. […] Institutional theologies are imposed on the primary level of religion 
and breed sects, denominations, churches, what you will – sources of power in themselves, social 
and political. But the primary level, with its basic belief in intrusive supernatural power survives at 
all times (and this is frequently forgotten) at all social levels« (Kent, 2002, 5–6). In that sense the 
theological teachings of official churches could not completely eliminate non-Christian supernatural 
beliefs as the folk stuck with religious beliefs and practices that could answer their primary religious 
needs (Gay, 2006, 79).
4 For example: in the 19th century early folklore scholars saw elements of vernacular religion of the 
peasants that diverged from the official theological teachings (e.g. magic or legends of mythologi-
cal characters) as “remnants” of pre-Christian belief systems, often disregarding the importance 
of Christianity in vernacular religion. Gay (2006, 76–77) rightfully emphasizes that “[t]he his-
torical insights that the methods of folklore and the history of religions provide us should not be 
allowed to overwhelm the insights of phenomenological and ethnographic approaches to the study 
of these religions if our goal is to understand the religions as experienced by the believers” (cf. 
also Watkins, 2007, 144).
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116) each other.5 Vernacular religion may even get inspiration from the official 
religion, use its symbols, characters and project its own beliefs into established 
elements of official religion (e.g. the concept of sacred space being projected 
to the church building). For example: written hagiographies (i.e. biographies 
of saints) could be based on oral legends, or, vice versa, folk narratives were 
often retellings of written texts, updated with new details that seem important 
and correspond with folk traditions that later transformed to legends (Moroz, 
2014, 222, 225). Additionally, the boundaries between the beliefs of the folk 
and the official teachings were not as clear cut in history – not for the folk 
and also not for the clergy (cf. Watkins, 2007, 146). What people in the Slo-
venian lands believed was certainly influenced by theological considerations 
and events, such as the Council of Trent and the Protestant Reformation in the 
16th century, yet on a daily basis the folk was probably much more occupied 
with life struggles than with theology (Makarovič, 2006, 188–189). Another 
problem is that in historical records many of the beliefs and practices were not 
recorded due to being to ordinary (everyone knew about them) or too vulgar. 
Or sometimes the clergymen purposely turned a blind eye to them if they did 
not see them as harmful (Corteguera, 2016, 3). Furthermore, vernacular religion 
changes constantly and what could be categorised as vernacular religion in the 
Middle Ages is not the same as the contemporary one. 
What was perceived as elements of “folk religion” was used in the nation-
-building process as it projected an idea of a coherent set of beliefs in the 
pre-Christian era that gave a sense of ancientness and a common past and the 
concept of “folk religion” as “remnants” of these presumed set of common 
beliefs and practices (cf. Valk, 2014). Simultaneously “folk religion” as “he-
athendom” was positioned in a dichotomous relationship with Christianity, 
the latter being associated with rationalism and modernisation and the former 
with modernity’s otherness (Valk, 2014, 154). That concept of residualism 
remained present in folklore research for a long time (cf. Primiano, 1995, 
39). Yet vernacular religion is also not just about remnants of pagan time, but 
also about fulfilling emotional and psychological needs of people. Thus, not 
everything classified as elements of “vernacular religion” are survivors of pre-
-Christian belief systems (cf. O’Connor, 2012, 116). Historical, mythological 
or philological research often drew conclusions that some Christian saints 
just replaced old pagan deities which often leads to unjust simplifications (cf. 
Moroz, 2014). However, some vernacular elements do have pedigrees that have 
old roots and are international in their content, although their meanings might 
have changed and been reinterpreted with time (Hukantaival, 2013, 104). This 
5 Vernacular imagery and official Christian teachings did not exist separately, but intermixed and in-
spired each other. A good example of that is saint George whose imagery was inseparably linked with 
the character of Green George, a pre-Christian mythical character whose parallels can be found in 
European and Near-eastern folklore (cf. Šmitek, 2012, 169–198).
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might consequently lead to rethink the concept of “pagan” as often times in the 
past something that was described as “pagan” or “paganism” was actually, for 
example, a vernacular interpretation of Christian traditions that were demonised 
by Christian writers (Johanson & Jonkus, 2015, 139). Despite the often claimed 
assertions of disenchantment of the world (cf. Thomas, 1991), superstition and 
magic being replaced by rational thought, enchantment never really went away. 
The boundaries between concepts such as religion, superstition and magic were 
in the perpetual process of being readjusted and redefined6 (cf. Walsham, 2008). 
Vernacular beliefs have and still do present alternatives to official Church tea-
chings. Superstition, for example, that often penetrated vernacular discourses 
was attempted to be systematically eradicated by different Christian Churches 
as uncontrolled folklore processes and beliefs can undermine official religious 
truths and the authority of the Church (Valk, 2012, 25–26). However, resear-
chers such as Primiano (1995) or Bowman (2004) have recognized the relation-
ship between organised religion and “folk religion” not as opposite discourses, 
but rather as partners in partners in a symbiotic relationship (Valk, 2012, 26). 
What results from this intermingling is a dynamic and non-consistent whole that 
includes elements that seem contradictory, but cause not conflict in the minds 
of the practitioners (Hukantaival, 2013, 104). In the territory of Slovenia ver-
nacular beliefs and practices such as magic (cf. e.g. Kropej, 1999), witchcraft 
(e.g. Mencej, 2006), non-Christian beliefs about the world beyond (e.g. Mencej, 
1997; Šmitek, 2003; Hrobat, 2009) and stories about pre-Christian mythological 
characters (cf. Kropej, 2008a), although often highly criticized by the Church 
and authorities (many examples of that can be seen in the newspapers of the 
19th century like Kmetijske and rokodelske novice) as signs of backwardness 
and superstition, in actuality coexisted without much conflict on a daily basis. 
As also attested by the Slovenian legends about the Turkish raids, elements of 
vernacular religion that diverge from official Christian dogma do not appear as 
problematic, but coexisting peacefully with the Church’s teachings. 
Some vernacular elements are universal by nature in the sense that they 
correspond with intrinsic psychological modus operandi of human cognition. 
Thus they can be found in different belief systems through different times, yet 
in the form that corresponds with prevailing belief systems and religions of 
the time. The Turks in Slovenian folklore function in the role of the demonic 
enemy or “the Other”, an element of Chaos that come from the “world beyond” 
and threaten “Our” Cosmos. These are archetypal roles that are manifested in 
different cultures and historical eras with contemporary “figures” (e.g. enemy 
6 The Reformation, for example, did not represented a complete break with the Catholic past in regards to 
perceptions of the sacred and the divine intervention in the world, but rather it modified it. It did not com-
pletely abolish the concepts of holy persons, places or objects, but rather it forged rituals and magic of its 
own. Also places such as churches and churchyards continued to be regarded, in a way, as sanctified. Con-
sequently, with these forms of consecration and setting apart of these special, sanctified places the concept 
of sacrilege also survived the Reformation in modified form (Walsham, 2008, 500, 508, 512–513).
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that was threatening in a particular historical moment) taking places of the 
threatening “Other”. The popular (collective) memory thus has an antihistorical 
character and consequent inability to retain particularities of historical events 
and personalities due to its tendency to transform them into archetypes (Eliade, 
1954, 46).
In the legends about the Turkish raids elements of different belief systems 
were interwoven. Such is the case of divine interventions, unclean souls, tre-
asures and other elements that will be explained in the continuation. They are 
all presented within the Christian and actual historical framework with figures 
being presented in them having names and appearances of the Christian God, 
the Virgin Mary, the saints, the Devil, the Ottoman Turks, yet a closer inspection 
reveals theological and historical divergences from the official teachings of the 
Church and historical reality.
THE SUPERNATURAL, OTHERWORLDLINESS AND RELIGION 
IN RELATION TO THE RELIGIOUS ELEMENTS IN LEGENDS 
ABOUT TURKISH ATTACKS
Researchers in the field of cognitive anthropology have noticed a strong 
tendency in humans toward religious expressions7. As Pascal Boyer (2001, 
329) puts it “religious concepts and norms and the emotions attached to them 
seem designed to excite human mind, linger in memory, trigger multiple 
inferences in the precise way that will get people to hold them true and com-
municate them’. 
Different fields of study, such as psychology and cognitive science (e.g. 
Boyer, 2001; Atran, 2002) have observed that humans tend to assign human 
properties such as intention or will to inanimate objects, non-human entities 
or natural phenomena (Pongratz-Leisten & Sonik, 2015, 51). Even when the 
divine is seemingly immaterial it is still usually imagined in anthropomorphic 
terms or attributed anthropomorphic behaviours (Pongratz-Leisten & Sonik, 
2015, 51).
7 When trying to explain the origins of religious thinking Boyer (2001) proposes that human beings 
have an overactive agency detector due to our long history of predation and being victim of predators 
as this has been vital for our survival as a species. This also means that humans intuitively interpret 
events that they encounter in the world in terms of agency. Therefore, when a person encounters an 
externalized religious representation that attributes certain agency to an event it will easily make 
sense to them, it will be easy to process and to recall (Dulin, 2011, 227). Boyer also proposes that a 
successful religious concept has the characteristic of being “minimally counterintuitive”. That means 
that it only contains one or two violations of domain-specific expectations (for example that a person 
can walk through walls). The counterintuitive elements make the religious concept attention grabbing 
and consequently more likely to be internalized and recalled. However, Panchenko (2012, 59) believes 
that when studying religious expressions biology is not sufficient to explain their nature and that the 
domain of religion is socially constructed and that counter-intuitive categories and agents are arranged 
in collective imagination in accordance to specific needs of various communities.
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Also, the supernatural categories can be surprisingly durable and there are 
cases when despite a change in ideology (for example conversion to Chri-
stianity) its new categories continued to mirror older mythological ones (cf. 
Dulin, 2011, 234). An example for this would be the perception of the Turks 
as archetypal demonic “Other”. In Slovenian legends they are presented as a 
generalised, stereotypical figure without any individuality, as demonic “Others” 
whose intent is to destroy Us in the physical and religious sense (Mlakar, 2019, 
55–56). The Turks in these legends could be characterised within Eliade’s 
(1987, 29, 47) theory that traditional societies divided space between the 
“known” space that belonged to the community (“Cosmos”) and the “unknown” 
outside world, characterised by chaos and danger, where demons and foreigners 
reside (“Chaos”). Every intrusion from “Chaos” into “Cosmos” represented a 
risk that the world would collapse into the primordial Chaos. In this sense the 
Turks can be seen as foreigners that intrude into Our world from “the world 
beyond” that has connotations of Chaos. In a certain historical moment, the 
historical Ottoman Turks thus took over the archetypal role that is in itself 
much older. This could be a reflection of something that researchers have noted: 
when processing new information, individuals retrieve old schemata to make 
sense of the new experience. As Wertsch (2002, 55–56) points out »narrative 
is one of a few different instruments we have for representing settings, actors, 
and events of the past«. Others means include chronicles and annals, but they 
employ a different kind of memory (Wertsch, 2002, 56). Other researchers have 
also noted the prominent role that narrative has in human consciousness (cf. for 
example Bruner, 1990) and that it represents “a metacode, a human universal 
on the basis of which transcultural messages about the nature of a shared reality 
can be transmitted” (White, 1981, 6). Alasdair MacIntyre (1984, 216) even 
claims that humans are basically »story-telling animals« and that our thinking, 
speaking and other actions are essentially shaped by narratives. The “narrative 
tools” we use in this sense are shaped by the particular cultural, historical, and 
institutional circumstances in which we live. He additionally claims that the 
narratives we use to make sense of our lives to come from a “stock of stories” 
from which any particular individual may draw as they form part of a “cultural 
tool kit” of its society and culture.
ABOUT THE CONCEPTUALIZATION OF SACRED SPACE 
IN LEGENDS ABOUT TURKISH RAIDS
Legends are a folklore genre that is not detached from the physical environment 
(like, for example, fairytales), rather they are embedded into the familiar setting 
of its bearers. Collective memory is often tied to the physical landscape (cf. Nora, 
1989; Hrobat, 2010, 36; González Álvarez, 2011, 137). Telling and listening to 
stories is an essential practice of building places and in this process some places or 
features of the landscape are prioritized and start being perceived as sacred (Valk 
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& Sävborg, 2018, 7). Places can store collective memories of the mythical past 
(cf. Tuan, 2001). Legends are also oriented to everyday life and they tell of events 
that happened to real people in real surroundings. They draw from the realm of the 
unknown, of the otherworld, and enchant the world of everyday by shifting ele-
ments that derive from the legendary into the daily environment (Valk & Sävborg, 
2018, 19). They also often offer explicit or implicit arguments against other, often 
dominant systems of belief (Valk, 2012, 26).
Simultaneously with dramatic content, legends also contain guidelines for be-
haviour in certain (critical) situations. With localization to a familiar setting these 
legends charge certain places and objects, such as churches, with supernatural aura 
(Valk & Sävborg, 2018, 19). The localization of events in legends into the physical 
landscape is also characteristic for legends about the Turkish attacks. Many of these 
attacks were directed towards the church. The church represented more than just 
one of the most valuable material objects of the community. It was a symbolic 
centre of the community and a place of contact with the divine. Thus, attack on the 
church endangered the community not only materially, but it also represented an 
attack on its very core, its values and its God.
However, there is nothing inherently sacred about a place or an object – it 
is the human agency that gives them the qualities of the sacred. Places are 
empowered through narratives existing in numerous variants that mark them 
as extraordinary locations. The landscape itself, when it becomes “storied”, 
turns from a passive surrounding into an active participant in creating the su-
pernatural environment (Valk & Sävborg, 2018, 10). For defining the sacred we 
can use the definition by Durkheim (1964, 47) who described sacred objects as 
“things set apart and forbidden” in opposition to the profane ones. Durkheim 
postulated that that nothing is inherently sacred, but that society itself imposes 
sacred character on certain objects. The sacred, as it is understood in Western 
European Christianity, refers to the earthly presence of a transcendent divinity 
(Hunter, 2006, 109). At this point, we have to take into account the concept of 
“the sacred”. The famous historian of religion Mircea Eliade sees the sacred 
and the profane as two modes of being in the world. For homo religiosus, a 
traditionally religious person, the reality, according to Eliade (1987), is “non-
-homogenous”, divided into the “sacred” and the “profane” spheres. Eliade 
(1987, 313) also proposes the term “Hierophany” to refer to the material mani-
festation of the sacred. These objects become the focus of veneration and are 
no longer just material things, but become the representations of “the Wholly 
Other” (Eliade, 1987, 313). He also acknowledges “sacred time” as occasions 
of festivals or religious rights that is, similarly to sacred space, set apart from 
the “profane time”. Sacred space and time are thus manifestations and echoes of 
ilud tempus, the primal time recognized in mythology as times of creation and 
salvation, when divine powers were strong. Temples and rights are reminders 
of ilud tempus and provide access to it. Holly sites and sanctuaries are thus a 
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symbolical “centre of the world” (Eliade, 1959, 39),8 a point that is equivalent 
to the creation of the world.
While the presence of the divine may not be a necessary characteristic of 
sacred space for every culture (as Eliade claimed; see Smith, 1987) the spatial 
organization of people in specific ways is a quality shared by all sacred and reli-
gious spaces. As Kilde (2008, 7) points out: “[h]ow people organize themselves 
and behave within specific places imbued those places with sacred importance. In 
this view, space is sacralised by human action and behaviour, and certain spaces 
become sacred because people treat them differently from ordinary spaces.” The 
concept of the sacred could be understood as a socially marked category that is 
set apart from everyday life (Koski, 2018, 54). In the 19th century, for example, 
the Lutheran church in Finland was see as sacred. There were two reasons for 
that: firstly, it was a symbol of social order and shared values of the community.9 
Secondly, it was sacred because of its supernatural character (Koski, 2018, 54). 
Similarly, as in Slovenian folktales the Finnish folklore also reflected these ideas. 
While the content of these stories may refer to the church building and objects 
associated with it what they actually reflect is a broader value system and religi-
ous ideas of their time. 
Religious space is a powerful space within which the power of the divine is 
often understood to reside. The proximity to this power is seen to give authority 
and spiritual empowerment to individuals (Kilde, 2008, 4). The sacred spaces are 
those sites that serve to articulate the relationship between the community and 
its religious practices. They manifest the relationship between the human and 
the transcendent, the divinity (Aulet & Vidal, 2019, 238). Yet, as mentioned, no 
building or place is sacred on its own – it is the people that give them a sacred 
meaning. Sacredness is a construct and also in a constant process of negotiation, 
confirmation and restauration of its sacred status (Hamilton & Spicer, 2005, 
3–4). Church buildings were important symbols of medieval Christian cosmic 
order, which protected the community from evil and regulated human relation 
with the divine. The church building thus embodied a miniature of the world 
order (Koski, 2018, 56–57).
Understanding an object is part of understanding its historical and cultural 
context and its meaning is always tied to a particular community and the 
8 Eliade received criticism for the selective use of data to support his models and for representing re-
ligion and nature as having an objective, unchanging nature (Ellwood, 2014, 518). For the summary 
of criticism of Eliade’s work see Barth (2013).
9 Shrines were physical spaces where the sacred was tangible and where the faithful could directly 
encounter holiness, which made them symbolic and emotional centres of the community (Pfaff, 
2013, 195). Thus, as Harold Turner (1979, 157) defines it the church building’s sacredness was 
simultaneously derived from being domus ecclesiae, i.e. a meeting house of the community, and 
from being domus dei, the house of God with the latter seeming to be more important in Christian 
tradition (Koski, 2018, 56). However, with time the focus of the sacred moved away from the 
community toward the church building itself (Hamilton & Spicer, 2005, 5–6).
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understanding of the materialization of the divine depends not only on the 
experience of the individual, but also on cultural memory that allow the con-
struction of meaning (Pongratz-Leisten & Sonik, 2015, 5–6, 10–11). Therefo-
re, in the Catholic context in which the Slovenian legends about the Turkish 
attacks were forged, the sacred was in the form of the church building, the 
altar, statues of saints etc. Objects of devotion may not have the likeness of the 
divinity itself, yet they evoke its presence (for example the altar evokes the 
presence of the Christian God) and possess some of the qualities of the divine. 
It is through the cultural learning that the material objects are recognized as 
medium pointing to or marking the presence of the divine (Pongratz-Leisten 
& Sonik, 2015, 32).
As seen in Finnish vernacular beliefs and practices sacredness was much 
more interpreted as supernatural otherness – while Christianity and object 
associated with it provided protection, they could also, if violation occurred, 
possess a threat (Koski, 2018, 61). This could, at least partially, derive from 
non-Christian conceptions of the sacred. The old Finnish system of social or-
ganization was based on dichotomies such as “own” and “other” or “internal” 
and “external” (Koski, 2018, 61). Transgressions of social values, either spatial, 
temporal or bodily, might have fallen into the category of Finnish prehistoric 
sacred (Anttonen, 1996, 52–55; in: Koski, 2018, 61). In this dichotomous con-
ceptualization in vernacular beliefs the sacred is composed of both the positive 
and the destructive and polluted (Koski, 2018, 61). Such concept would fit well 
with Slovenian folklore narratives that depict the church ground as a place of 
benevolence and protection, but also as a place where transgressions of sacred 
and social values are punished (for example in the motives of sacrilege). As the 
Turkish element in Slovenian legends is characterised as completely demonic 
and destructive, only the negative aspect of such conceptualization of sacred 
space is expressed. To get a more complete picture of this conceptualization we 
would have to take into account also the narratives in which the transgressor 
is not a demonic entity (such as the Turks), but a member of the community 
who transgresses in a sacred site and is punished for it or who unknowingly 
transgress and barely avoids danger (e.g. S. Thompson Motif Index category 
E492 Mass (church service) of the dead) in which a person barely escapes after 
accidentally attending a mass of the dead;10 (cf. also Lindow, 2018, 43) (more 
about sacrilege in the continuation). 
Sacred spaces are a thus a reflection of the wider belief system. The sacre-
dness of some points in the landscape can be preserved for centuries or millen-
nia (cf. Roymans, 1995) and sometimes a disregard of its sacredness or even 
its destruction cannot be understood only as an expression of a disappearing 
10 Frightening events that take place in the church often happen at night. Midnight or festive nights represent 
breaks in the temporal cycle and consequently liminal times when the supernatural and otherworldly can 
cross the boundary to »this world« and disturb the living (e.g. Kropej, 2008b, 193–194).
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importance of these spaces for the community, but also as a deliberate act of 
erasing their importance due to ideological, religious or political changes11 (cf. 
Roymans, 1995).  
MIRACULOUS SALVATIONS FROM TURKISH ATTACKS
The motif of miraculous salvation when facing a Turkish attack is very frequent in 
Slovenian legends. 
This happened at Ptujska gora. The church there has a black wall on the side where 
the Turks wanted to attack it. They wanted to rob and destroy it. But the Virgin Mary 
protected it by means of a thick fog that prevented the Turks from finding the church. 
And until this day that side of the church is black. […] (Gričnik, 1998, 285)
The reality of miracles is fundamental for institutions such as the Catholic 
Church12 (Shanafelt, 2004, 321). 
For defining miracle, we can use the definition proposed by Firth (1996, 206) 
who explains it as “an unexpected performance resulting from supernatural power, 
exercised by direct divine agency of through the agency of a divinely inspired 
person, such as a saint”. Therefore, as works of God (though often conducted 
through intermediaries such as saints, angels or relics) miracles are distinguished 
from acts of demonic powers that also have supernatural abilities. Consequently, 
supernatural acts committed by other agents besides God are considered inferior, 
demonic (Shanafelt, 2004, 321–322). But miracles through divine intervention 
not only express religious beliefs, but can also express political ones. The fight 
between the Ottoman Turks and the Christians was not only a fight between 
two religions, but also between two politically and culturally diverse entities. 
Therefore, victory over the demonic Turk that had mythical qualities also meant 
victory over a military, political and ideological enemy. Hence, miracle stories 
also reflect the political situations of the storytellers (Weddle, 2010, 3). 
The miraculous salvation when facing a Turkish attack was usually performed 
by saints or the Virgin Mary or by an un-named, but clearly Christian divine 
force. Miraculous salvations by Christian divine agency against the Turks can be 
11 There are indications that pre-Christina sacred sites were often located in nature (outside). For ex-
ample, pre-Roman and native-Roman cult places were often associated with outstanding features 
in the natural landscape, such as mountaintops, water sources and forests. This intimate bond be-
tween man and nature was seen as problematic in the eyes of the Christian church (Brown, 1982, 
125; Gurevich, 1988, 96). The Church wanted to eliminate old cult places and magical practices 
focused on nature and link Christian faith to the church building itself as a centre of the new 
Christian world (Brown, 1982, 126; Roymans, 1995, 20). Consequently, an increasing opposition 
developed between culture and nature (Brown, 1982, 124–126).
12 There is also a difficulty in regards to the distinction between miracle and magic (cf. Garland, 
2011, 76–77).
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seen as an expression of ethnocentrism, as the Christian (“Our”) community has 
even God on their side. Similar miraculous salvations can be found in Portuguese 
folklore where Christians are saved from the Moors (cf. Parafita, 2006, 69–71, 
190). Saints in general are an important feature of Slovenian folklore. Reasons for 
this can be traced back to the Middle Ages.
In the Middle Ages the popular perception of Christendom was far from do-
gmatic and strictly God-oriented. It focused strongly on cults of local saints and 
the miracles they performed when confronted with demons of all kind and the devil 
himself (cf. Gurevich, 1988, 11–24). It was during this period that was the fullest 
flowering of the “cult of miracles” (Netton, 2019, 8). New information spread by 
the clergy were readily reshaped by the mechanism of collective perception in 
accordance with the laws of folkloric consciousness. The willingness to accept 
any kind of fantastic news in combination with an inclination to believe in the 
supernatural organized the received information in accordance with pre-existing 
canons of story and legend (Gurevich, 1988, 11). I believe it is fair to say that 
this kind of collective information processing can be traced into legends recorded 
much later, as in legends about miracles performed by the Virgin Mary or the 
patron saint of the church under attack by the Turks. I would argue that these 
legends came into existence in the time when the Turkish raids or the (collective) 
memory of them was still topical in the lives of the communities that shared them. 
Stories of active agency of divine objects were numerous during the Middle 
Ages (cf. Bynum, 2015): statues and paintings walked, bled, wept, sacred relics 
exercised miraculous powers. Thus divine or sacred things were recognized as 
persons or at least as social “Others” (Pongratz-Leisten & Sonik, 2015, 16).
Since the Middle Ages13 lay people often turned to saints for help and protecti-
on, rather than directly to God. Saints were believed to provide a go-between the 
individual and God who was viewed as too powerful to be approached directly. 
Thus, praying to the saints and the Virgin Mary constituted a central devotional 
practice of the Middle Ages (Kilde, 2008, 84). The Virgin Mary was the most 
venerated holy person in the Slovenian territory (and in Europe in general; cf. 
Netton, 2019, 8) in the late Middle Ages and was perceived to be at least equal to 
Jesus (Makarovič, 2006, 186).
13 Earlier Peter Brown (1982) concluded that from the period of late antiquity the cult of the saints 
became an integral part of Christianity itself. He also noted that it was not just a product of 
superstitious popular piety, but was also supported by religious authorities. While the Church 
authorities often saw the late medieval cult of the saints as superficial and overly emotional the 
prevailing view was that, as long as the veneration of saints and their relics remained in its place 
and fulfilled its popular role the integrity on a theological level could be maintained at the elite 
level (Beissel, 1976, 72; in: Pfaff, 2013, 196). Also, direct eradication of vernacular beliefs was 
not necessarily the strategy of the Church. Besides appropriation of certain beliefs or cult sites by 
giving them a Christian meaning and name. The principal goal of the Church in imperial Russia, 
for example, was to “confine the sacred” (temporally or spatially) within the ecclesiastical domain 
(for example, that rituals could only be performed in the parish church) (Freeze, 1998, 221–222; 
in: Panchenko, 2012, 45).
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Communities saw their saints as local heroes who offer them help and protec-
tion. They helped to secure the place of the community in the order of the cosmos 
and protected sinful communities from godly retribution (Pfaff, 2013, 194). In the 
Christian tradition of the Middle Ages saints were characterised by extraordinary 
virtues and divinely bestowed supernatural miracle-working powers. The folk 
turned to them for all manner of worldly assistance, comfort and help and regar-
ded them as spiritual counterparts to earthly nobility (Rothkrug, 1987, 145). The 
clergy actually endorsed the worship of saints or their relics in order to enhance 
moral community and the connection with God (Pfaff, 2013, 194). 
The role of saints as a sort of cultural heroes is also visible in folklore. 
In folk narratives they often create certain landscape objects, give names to 
places, they could be presented as nominators of villages, rivers, creators of 
roads etc. (Moroz, 2014, 224). They often leave traces in the physical landscape 
(for example you can still see their footsteps in the stone) that is frequently 
attested in Slovenian legends. Saints and their cults also held strong social roles 
in the community. Public veneration of a sacred object is a powerful affirmation 
of the collective conscience and an incentive to obey the community’s morality. 
During rituals members of the community establish and reinforce collective 
symbols that act as moral representations of the group and they react angrily 
to insult when these symbols are profaned (Pfaff, 2013, 197, 199). Saints thus 
represented collective ideal and an abstraction of communal values and were 
heroes that bridged the sacred and transcendental sphere with the secular and 
worldly one (Pfaff, 2013, 198).
SACRILEGE
Sacrilege occurs when the manifestation of the sacred is misused or violated. 
In the context of the medieval and early modern period when the attacks of the 
Ottoman Turks occurred in the territory of Slovenia, Christianity was not just 
exercising spiritual authority, but also represented a formidable earthly force 
with waste political and juridical power. In this setting sacrilege was both a 
spiritual transgression and an earthly crime (Hunter, 2006, 110).
Sacrilege was a core part of Christian sacramental practices and occupied 
the imagery of both popular devotion and theological thoughts (Hunter, 2006, 
110). The topics of sacrilege have also reflected in folktales as confirmed by the 
S. Thompson Motif Index in categories Q 222 and Q 558. The affected sacred 
objects might start bleeding or are impossible to destroy, or the object destroyers 
might be struck by illness or by sudden death. Stories of such sacrilege induced 
miracles were widely spread in the Middle Ages (Kuijpers & Pollmann, 2017, 
151). The ideas that sacrilege against holy images and objects would result in de-
monstrations of divine displeasure, such as bleeding of the holy objects that were 
subjected to sacrilege, were known centuries ago. This idea of divine retribution 
had been successfully promoted by the Catholic Church despite an ambiguous 
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attitude towards materiality, especially materiality of sacred objects (cf. Kuijpers 
& Pollmann, 2017, 151). Material objects were important in Christianity as they 
provided a means through which individuals might experience and express a 
relationship and closeness to the divine, they made the abstract divinity more 
accessible and comprehensible. As such they were often on the limits of what 
Church authorities viewed as idolatrous and prompted centuries of theological 
considerations and regulations. The Council of Trent (1545–1563) reaffirmed the 
veneration of saints and the Virgin Mary, as well as the importance of miracles 
and of the appropriate usage of sacred images and relics (Mitchell, 2013, 325; 
Kuijpers & Pollmann, 2017, 161) which might have contributed to the spread 
of stories about miraculous salvations of Christian churches and objects. This 
might have been also facilitated by the pre-existing folklore motives of divine 
intervention and punishment in case of sacrilege. 
In Slovene legends about the Turkish raids the most common objects of 
sacrilege attempts of the Turkish soldiers (and therefore important bearers of 
transcendent divinity in the eyes of the people) are the church building itself 
and within it the altar or images or saints or the Virgin Mary. A frequent motif is 
that they fed their horses from the altar, which is a big humiliation from a Chri-
stian point of view. The host, the most sacred religious object, is interestingly 
not the target of Turkish sacrilege.14 In these legends the Turks were sometimes 
successful in their sacrilegious attempts (or partially successful – an object of 
their sacrilege might miraculously survive destruction), but often they were 
miraculously prevented from committing them. 
After the evil Turks burned the houses in Šent Janž and devastated the sur-
rounding areas they broke into the church that was filled with devout believers. 
The villagers kneeled in front of the Virgin Mary and begged her to save them. 
One of the Turks took down the statue of the Virgin, took in out of the church 
and threw it into the fire. ‘It’s wood, it must burn,’ one of the Turks said. Then 
he took a sword and stroke the statue twice. He hits the statue’s forehead and 
two bleeding wounds appeared on it. And you can still see them today.
The Turks were unable to stand near the fire in which they wanted to burn 
the statue because the flame kept turning in their direction. Seeing they will 
not accomplish anything they left in the direction of sunrise. 
When the Christians come out of the church they found the statue unharmed 
by the fire. With great piety they carried it back to the church and make 
a prayer to thank for the miraculous salvation from the ferocious enemy. 
(Kotnik, 1957, 64–65)
14 It is, however, the object of desecration of Jews as attested by Slovene folk songs (cf. Grafenauer, 1939, 
343–347; Golež Kaučič, 2007, 7). Stories about Jewish host desecrations were known all around Europe 
(cf. Anglickienė, 2004, 86; Dundes, 2007, 389; Erb, 1993, 680; Toš, 2012, 184). Otherness in folklore is 
frequently associated with an (imaginary) threat to the community’s most sacred values.  
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What is interesting is that traumatic experiences of Turkish attacks on the 
most sacred objects of the community were turned into stories of triumph. The 
sacrileges acts, that might have occurred (or were merely a product of fear) 
were transformed into confirmation of Christianity’s victory. What such stories 
convey is a collective amnesia of Turkish attacks of sacred buildings and (if 
they happened) in the case when these attacks were successful and consequent 
lack of divine intervention (by a Christian divinity) that could undermine 
the belief in the Christian superiority and test the Christian fate itself (why 
would not God protect his own place of worship?). The idea of superiority of 
one’s own religion comes from the concept of Us vs. Them and is part of an 
ethnocentristic logic of one’s religion being the only right one. Victory over 
the Turkish soldiers attacking a Christian sacred site (similarly in Portuguese 
folklore victory of Christians over the Moorish soldiers; cf. Parafita, 2006) 
is presents as an apologetic and theological proof of God’s almightiness. The 
logic behind it is this: if God is almighty, he will do whatever to ensure the 
victory of the righteous. On the other hand: if the Christians win it is because 
God was with them and because they are representatives of “the right” religion 
(cf. Parafita, 2006, 190). Therefore, the sacrilege acts of Turkish soldiers that 
probably did occur at least occasionally would present an extreme challenge 
of existing beliefs of the Christian community. Yet the collective memory (I 
understand folklore about the Turkish raids to be part of it) does not represent 
such violations as a test of faith. Quite the opposite: the stories about alleged 
sacrilege act committed by the Turkish soldiers and the supposed material proofs 
of them (i.e. marks of a Turkish attack on the church building or the intactness 
of the church building itself) were transformed into evidence of the power of the 
sacred and the (Christian) divine.
Why are there numerous stories about Turkish attacks on churches and 
their attempts to perform acts of sacrilege? It is a historical fact that that local 
churches often contained the most precious commodities of the community and 
served as shelters for the inhabitants during a raid. However, the abundance 
of such stories is in my opinion mostly a reflection of the symbolic role of the 
church building as sacred space connected to the divine and as a reflection of 
the great importance of Christian identity for the community (cf. Hrobat, 2010, 
50–51, 54; 2012, 43). In addition, history is written by the victor. The Ottoman 
Turks were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempts of military progression in 
Europe and the victory was in the hands of Christian states. History might even 
be altered by pre-existing folklore motives. Acts of desecration of a church mi-
ght be changed into victory only if a single sacred object survived the enemy’s 
attack – it became proof of the power of the sacred (cf. Kuijpers & Pollmann, 
2017, 152, 160–161).
Motives of sacrilege and punishment from a divine authority are common in 
folklore of different nations (e.g. Parafita, 2006, 69–71; Kuijpers & Pollmann, 
2017) and it can be concluded that in the case of Slovenian legends about Tur-
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kish acts of (attempted) sacrilege and consequent divine intervention this motif 
already had a foundation prior to the Turkish era. As demonstrated, the concept 
of sacred places where rules of conduct are especially strict, is an ancient one 
and preceded Christianity. Christianity adopted this concept and adjusted it to 
its own theological views. The pre-Christian idea of the Chaos and Cosmos 
dichotomy also became part of post-conversion folklore and the demonic enemy 
began being equated with historical enemies, such as the Ottoman Turks. Being 
a Christian (or Catholic) became an important identity factor which is clearly 
expressed in folklore and combined with the sacrality of the church territory 
and the archetypal fear of the demonic invader. The (historically real or imagi-
nary) transgressions made by the Ottoman conquerors were transformed into an 
abundance of legends that not only express the belief system of the folklore be-
arers, but also the consequences of not abiding to community’s rules. The divine 
punishment for these transgressions also reflected the threat of punishment in 
the social aspect when the community’s morals and values would fail to be met.
RITUAL ENCIRCLEMENTS OF CHURCHES
Legends also talk about chains, sometimes encircling churches or kept inside 
the church describing them as a reminder of a certain occurrence connected to 
the Turkish raids. 
‘Since people can remember St. Lenart’s church under Lepenatko has been 
encircled by an iron chain,’ father Ugovšek told. ‘People tell different things 
to explain why it’s there.’ […] ‘I was told by my mother that that chain has 
been there since the Turkish time. Turkish prisoners were supposed to be 
nailed to it.’ (Radešček, 1983, 146)
This is probably a remnant of ritual encirclement of churches and cult sites. 
This practice was known in the wider Mediterranean area. In the Hellenistic pe-
riod, for example, the “hub of the universe”, omphalos, was depicted as bound 
by chains or knotted ribbons. Later in history pillars in temples were also ‘wra-
pped’ in ribbons or chains (Šmitek, 1999, 192). The church represented a sacred 
space and the sacrality of this most important sacred center of the village had 
to be protected. One of the ways to do that was through symbolic encirclement 
(often with a chain). It’s a symbolic confirmation and enclosure of the sacred 
space from the outside, dangerous space. It is also a way of communicating with 
the otherworld and the divine and imitates the journey of the soul from life to 
death and rebirth. This practice has much older, pre-Christian origins (Mencej, 
2013, 135–138, 141–142). It is therefore not unusual that the Turks as repre-
sentatives of Chaos and their attacks are often focused right on the churches. 
As mentioned, churches often contained the most valuable material possessions 
of the community and served as refuge when attacks occurred (Fister, 1975, 
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61, 66), yet undoubtably the stories about a Christian supernatural power in the 
form Christian saints or the Virgin Mary miraculously protecting the church 
represent the idea of the sacredness of the sacral space itself and the belief in 
the supremacy of the Christian faith (Mlakar, 2019, 64).
BELIEFS ABOUT THE AFTERLIFE AND THE CONNECTION 
WITH THE WORLD BEYOND
Some other non-Christian beliefs in Slovenian legends of Turkish raids relate 
to the ideas of the “world beyond”. 
[…] ‘One of the places near the stream is called ‘Under the Turk’s breech’. 
The elderly people talked a lot about this place. They said it is not safe to 
walk around there at night, because a dead man can appear. People said 
that a tall breech tree grew there. And a Turkish soldier who lagged behind 
was hung there. And often lights were seen appearing in this place. Some 
of the more courageous ones went closer and saw him. They said he was 
walking around as if he was looking for something. The Turks were full of 
sin.’ (Gričnik, 1998, 149)
Legends talk about strange lights or sounds or processions of the dead occur-
ring in places where Turkish soldiers died. Otherness and the supernatural are 
often connected (cf. Belova, 2007) and the dead that belong to the otherworld 
represent the most elementary form of otherness (Matteoni, 2008, 193). It seems 
that imagery of the Turks as “the Other” was mixed with the traditional imagery 
about the unclean dead or souls that belong to purgatory. Such restless souls can 
appear in the form of lights (Šmitek, 2003, 5; Kropej, 2008a, 276). 
These motives can be related to the conceptualization of the afterlife in ver-
nacular religion and mythology. In traditional Slavic societies there was a great 
concern for a “good” death as opposed to a “bad” death. A “good” death occurs 
when it is a natural, “one’s own” time for a person to die, not prematurely or 
violently. It should also occur in “one’ own” place and “one’s own” society 
should be present during the burial. This way the dead could safely pass to 
the other world, while those who died a “bad” death would become an active 
harmful force that intruded into the world of the living and could cause harm 
(Vinogradova, 1999, 46–47; also Warner, 2000, 72, 75; Kukharenko, 2011, 68). 
The concepts of “good” and “bad” death in the traditional Slavic notions of 
the afterlife are related to the concepts of “clean” and “unclean” death. The 
“unclean” dead cannot finally pass to the world beyond and are forced to remain 
in this world causing harm to the living. They become the “walking” decea-
sed, vampires or demonic beings (Vinogradova, 1999, 48). Those who were 
murdered, for example, went back to the place of their death and such souls of 
the unclean dead could roam the roads at night and potentially harm passersby 
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(Kukharenko, 2011, 81). Beliefs concerning such harmful dead that cannot pass 
to the other world form one of the most stable parts of the Slavic mythological 
system (Vinogradova, 1999, 49). The persistence of these beliefs coexisted with 
Christian imagery of the afterlife. Despite not being compatible (Christianity 
does not acknowledge the liminality between this and other world nor the in-
teraction between the living and the deceased) these beliefs about the afterlife 
attest to the diversity of beliefs that fulfilled the social and psychological needs 
of the community. 
One of the most frequent motifs in legends about Turkish raids is the hidden 
treasure. They were either left by the Turks with the intention of once retrieving 
them or the locals buried them to hide them from the invaders. Attempts to find 
these treasures are mostly unsuccessful or are stopped by a supernatural force. 
This motif connects the Turks with the world beyond where these treasures 
and the Turks themselves originate in traditional beliefs (cf. Hrobat, 2010, 54; 
Champion & Cooney, 1999, 198; González Álvarez, 2011, 142)
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Slovenian legends about Turkish raids contain a mixture of traditional beliefs 
about the supernatural, the divine and the world beyond and also strong Chri-
stian elements. Yet while from a theological point of view being incompatible 
they coexisted side by side in folklore without a sense of contradiction. This is 
very typical for vernacular religion within which different beliefs can coexist. 
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VLOGA RELIGIJE V POVEDKAH O TURŠKIH VPADIH
Anja MLAKAR
Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za turizem, Cesta prvih borcev, 8250 Brežice, Slovenija
e-mail: anja.mlakar2@um.si
POVZETEK
Narejena je bila analiza slovenskih povedk o turških vpadih z namenom identifi-
kacije in razlage religijskih elementov v njih. Turški vpadi na področje Slovenije so 
trajali okoli 150 let in so pustili globoko sled v slovenskem kolektivnem spominu. 
Slovenska folklora vsebuje veliko število povedk o turških vpadih, ki odražajo zmes 
zgodovinskih informacij in domišljijskih elementov, ki imajo pogosto arhetipske 
lastnosti. Analiza vsebin teh povedk, ki se nanaša na religijske elemente in vero-
vanja, odraža mešanje krščanskega nauka in tradicijskih verovanj. To mešanje 
lahko umestimo v koncept »vernakularne religije«, znotraj katere lahko soobstajajo 
različna, tudi kontradiktorna verovanja, katerih namen pa je zadovoljiti družbene in 
psihološke potrebe skupnosti. V prispevku so iz diahronega vidika analizirani kon-
cepti, kot so sveti prostor, oni svet, svetoskrunstvo in čudeži. Četudi te povedke jasno 
odražajo superiornost krščanstva in močan vpliv krščanskih idej, pogosto vsebujejo 
tudi elemente, ki sicer lahko imajo krščansko ime in podobo, a odražajo koncepte ki 
so pred- ali ne-krščanski. Turki predstavljajo arhetipskega demonskega »Drugega«, 
ki ogroža organizirani, varen kozmos »Naše« skupnosti, njene vrednote in Boga.
Ključne besede: turški vpadi, vernakularna religija, krščanstvo, drugost, sveti prostor, 
svetoskrunstvo, čudeži, onostranstvo
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