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received: 2023-09-14                   DOI 10.19233/ASHS.2023.34
SUPERSTITION, NATIONALISM, AND THE SLOVENIAN RELIGIOUS 
LANDSCAPE OF THE 19TH-CENTURY
Anja MLAKAR
Institute IRRIS for Research, Development and Strategies of Society, Culture and Environment, Čentur 1F, 6273 Marezige, Slovenia 
e-mail: anja.mlakar@irris.eu
ABSTRACT
The paper delves into the concept of superstition in the territory of Slovenia in the 19th century, exploring 
its formation, evolution, and challenges in historical research on vernacular religiosity. The discussion considers 
nation-building, editorial process, and the predominant Christian discourse in folklore analysis. The paper explores 
the coexistence and influence of Christianity and superstition, using examples from the newspaper Kmetijske in 
rokodelske novice to illustrate various types of superstition. It also discusses how intellectuals promoted education 
and modernisation through critiquing superstitions. The term “superstition” is pejorative in nature and may does not 
accurately describe the people actually experienced them.  
Keywords: superstition, vernacular religion, 19th century, Slovenian nation-building, folklore
SUPERSTIZIONE, NAZIONALISMO E PAESAGGIO RELIGIOSO SLOVENO 
NEL XIX SECOLO
SINTESI
Il presente studio analizza il concetto di superstizione sul territorio della Slovenia nel XIX secolo, approfon-
dendo la sua formazione, evoluzione e le sfide connesse alla ricerca storica sulla religiosità popolare. Nel saggio 
si esaminano la costruzione nazionale, il processo editoriale e il predominante discorso cristiano nell'esame del 
folklore. Il documento esplora la coesistenza e l'influenza del cristianesimo e della superstizione, utilizzando 
esempi tratti dal giornale "Kmetijske in rokodelske novice" per illustrare diverse forme di superstizione. Viene 
inoltre affrontata la questione di come gli intellettuali promuovevano l'istruzione e la modernizzazione attraverso 
la critica delle superstizioni. È importante sottolineare che il termine "superstizione" ha una connotazione nega-
tiva e potrebbe non rappresentare accuratamente l'esperienza delle persone effettivamente coinvolte.
Parole chiave: superstizione, religiosità popolare, XIX secolo, costruzione nazionale slovena, folklore
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INTRODUCTION: VERNACULAR RELIGIOSITY 
IN THE TERRITORY OF SLOVENIA 
IN THE 19TH CENTURY
There is so much superstition among our 
Slovenes, oh dear! Much has been written 
about it in the newspapers Novice, Vedež, 
and Slovenska Čbela; let me add what I know. 
That there are indeed sorceresses, wizards, 
dwarfs, etc., is something that an uneducated 
Slovene can in no way erase from his memory, 
because they have heard it from their ances-
tors and other old people, and therefore it 
must be true, no matter what anyone says to 
the contrary! (Kociančič, 1856, 368)
The relationship between Christianity, vernacu-
lar religion, Slovenian nationalism, and enchant-
ment in the 19th century was complex1. While 
in the 18th century the lower social classes were 
considered exotic, the 19th century brought the 
“discovery of the people.” The intellectuals discov-
ered that they themselves and the peasants (who 
before 1800 usually had a regional rather than a 
national consciousness) were actually one and the 
same people (Burke, 1978, 9, 12), based on the 
idea that the peasants were bearers of the most au-
thentic, if disappearing, national culture. The urge 
to document the “remnants” of this disappearing 
culture in the form of folklore went hand in hand 
with the blunt valorisation of its elements with 
some of them being exhalted and others seen as 
intellectually inferior and encouraged to disappear 
(Mencej, 2017, 56). In line with this interest in 
1 The article was written within projects ”Political Functions of Folktales“ (ARIS N6-0268), "Facing foreigners in the cities of the 
Upper Adriatic at the transition from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period" (ARIS J6-4603) and program ”The Practices of 
Conflict Resolution between Customary and Statutory Law in the Area of Today’s Slovenia and Neighboring Countries“ (ARIS P6-
0435), supported by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency.
2 An extremely valuable source for researching Slovenian folklore in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th 
century, including folklore with religious content, would be Štrekelj's Legacy. Karel Štrekelj (1859–1912) encouraged col-
lections and publications of Slovenian folklore according to academic standards of the time. Numerous folklore collectors 
(over 300 from all corners of the Slovenian ethnic territory) sent him their folkloric materials forming a rich collection of 
material, encompassing folk tales, anecdotes, fairy tales, proverbs, riddles, spells, as well as traditional customs, children’s 
games, and superstitions. His legacy also includes 122 folktales from the following newspapers: Kres, Slovenski glasnik, 
Slovenska bčela, Novice, Slovenija, Torbica jugoslavjanske mladosti, Slovenski gospodar and Mravljica (Kropej Telban, 
2021, 129–136). Publication and analysis of these materials would undoubtedly be a valuable contribution to Slovenian 
folklore studies as well as to the discourse analysis of Slovenian vernacular religion in the 19th century. This article offers 
an insight into the range of materials in need of scholarly attention.
3 As Valk (2022, 5) emphasises, “belief” is a concept that derives from Christianity and the individual relationship with the 
Christian God. It is not, therefore, universally applicable to religious traditions where practices and rituals are of central 
importance; such applications would provide misleading results. Despite these shortcomings, the concept of belief has 
remained a valid scholarly category in the study of religiosity. The concept of belief in itself, however, has been much 
debated in the field of folklore studies. As Mirjam Mencej (2017, 55–56) summarises, belief (similarly to superstition) went 
through a paradigmatic shift from being seen as a distinct folklore genre, to a mental and cognitive entity that can only be 
articulated in stories, acts, arts, and behaviours. 
folklore, the 19th century saw an increasing inter-
est in the pre-Christian religions of Europe, fueled 
by nationalist ideologies and an escapist nostalgia 
for the pre-industrial past (Maier, 2017, 345). The 
diversity of practices and beliefs at home and 
around the world fascinated intellectuals (Burke, 
1978, 14). Due to the lack of historical sources 
containing information about Germanic, Celtic, 
or Slavic pre-Christian religiosity, and because 
archeological science was still in its infancy, the 
pagan religions of Europe became an open field for 
imagination, wishful thinking, and source material 
for nationalist ideas about nations’ idealised pasts. 
Scholars adapted the perspective of Christian his-
toriography and incorporated the nationalist goals 
that constructed paganism as a precursor to the 
Christian present (Maier, 2017, 345).
The same processes took place in the territory of 
Slovenia. During the initial efforts to collect Slove-
nian folklore, Slovenian intellectuals2, encouraged 
by the rise of nationalism in their search for the 
nation’s roots and belief in “disappearing” folk-
lore, were confronted with a confusing religious 
landscape among the Slovenian peasantry that 
did not correspond to a dichotomous assumption 
of Christianity (the “correct religiosity”) and noble 
pagan remnants from pre-Christian times. Rather, 
as it will be demonstrated in the article, they en-
countered expressions of vernacular religiosity that 
included Catholic religious orthodoxy, some ele-
ments which were accepted as pre-Christian (e.g., 
legends referring to ancient Slavic deities), and a 
host of beliefs3 and practices that they considered 
non-Christian and erroneous, most often referred to 
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ANNALES · Ser. hist. sociol. · 33 · 2023 · 4
as “superstitions”4 (from Latin superstes, meaning 
to survive, to witness; O’Neil, 2005, 8864). The 
collectors of folklore witnessed a clash of two (or 
more) discourses: the national/Christian discourse 
and the vernacular one among the peasants (how 
many religious discourses existed among them is 
difficult to say, since the written discourses mostly 
expressed the thoughts of the educated, elite classes 
as this article will also demonstrate).
Making sense of these differences was a chal-
lenge that was never fully resolved. Complicating 
matters further is the fact that the term superstition 
referred not only to magic, for example, but also 
to practices that were not seen as malicious but 
as arising from ignorance (not unlike in Finnish 
folklore; cf. Toivo, 2016, 9). In general, the plural-
ity of religious beliefs and practices in 19th century 
Slovenian lands can be compared to religiosity in 
other countries of the time (cf. Devlin, 1987).
In this paper, I will elaborate on the terms 
“false faith” and “superstition,” or rather, what 
superstition denoted in the 19th century. I will 
also explore why it was characterised as such, and 
what mentions of superstition actually indicate 
about the vernacular religiosity in the Slovenian 
lands in the 19th century. This paper is intended 
to be a preliminary examination of a broad area 
of vernacular religiosity in the 19th century. The 
Slovenian newspaper Kmetijske in rokodelske 
novice (= Novice) served as a source for the study 
of this topic. Novice was a newspaper with a high 
circulation and was an influential medium among 
Slovenes, who at that time were mostly peasants 
and craftsmen. Under the editorialship of Janez 
Bleiweis (1808–1881), Novice advocated for a 
higher level of education for the peasantry in 
order to improve agricultural production, the cul-
tural level and also the morale of the Slovenes. 
Janez Bleiweis was convinced that the basis of 
the Slovenian and Austrian economy was and 
should remain agriculture and therefore actively 
promoted its modernisation, the education of 
peasants, and the introduction of new agricultural 
techniques, tools, and crops (Vodopivec, 2021, 
31, 34). In the 19th century Slovenian lands, the 
4 In this article, the term “superstition” is used, even though from a scholarly perspective it is an outdated term as it contains pejo-
rative connotations. I have, non the less, decided to keep it in the article as a descriptive term for various non desirable elements 
of beliefs and practices as described and valorised by Slovenian intellectuals from the 19th century as it, in my opinion, best rep-
resents the sense of religious, moral, and political inferiority of some aspect of Slovenian folklore that were marked by this term. 
The term “superstition” (and related terms mentioned in the continuation) is also used by the authors from Novice themselves, 
therefore, I am inclined to use the emic terminology (from the point of view of the authors in Novice, not from the point of view of 
the peasants from whom they got their materials), although I do attempt to explain and interpret it. I am, however, fully aware of 
the complexity of a topic such as “superstition” and that more appropriate scholarly terminology exists for it (as I also discuss in 
this article). This complexity is exactly what I want to address with this contribution. By using this term, I do not, therefore, wish 
to pass any sort of judgement or valorisation of the folklore I am analysing here.  
5 One of the delimitations between these terms could be: idolatry as the worship of a wrong god or not-a-God; heresy as the worship of a 
true God, but according to beliefs that contradicted authority; superstition as a means of worship of a true God by inappropriate means 
(Cameron, 2010, 4).
Enlightenment, an intellectual and philosophical 
movement that characterised the 18th century, 
had the character of a national awakening. Part 
of this movement was an effort to educate the 
common people (Kropej Telban, 2021, 97).
This work represents a first systematic schol-
arly attempt to address the image of superstition 
in 19th century Slovenian folklore, thus opening 
a new field of historical research on 19th century 
Slovenian vernacular religiosity.
THE SHIFTING SANDS OF SUPERSTITION
Religion and superstition are among those 
terms that we all assume we understand, but 
as soon as we try to define them, they become 
much less clear. Similar difficulties, plurality, 
and fluidity of meaning occur with terms such 
as magic, witchcraft, or heresy5 (cf. Kallestrup 
& Toivo, 2017; Toivo, 2016, 9–10). In different 
historical and cultural contexts, they had differ-
ent meanings and are therefore difficult to define 
universally. Superstition does not form a separate 
(theological) sphere but is part of many levels of 
culture and society (Kallestrup & Toivo, 2017, 
2). Consequently, as will be shown, even in the 
same historical and social context it is difficult to 
find a unified definition. In addition, terms such 
as superstition and paganism are interrelated in 
meaning and are inevitably used alongside the 
processes of scholarly interpretation.
I must first define what I mean by the term “su-
perstition.” Over time, the concept of superstition 
has evolved and been used to criticise other religious 
beliefs and practices. It has meant various things to 
different people over time. The term “superstition” has 
been used by dominant religions throughout history 
to describe religious beliefs and practices that were 
subject to disapproval. It has a pejorative connotation 
and is defined based on (or rather in opposition to) 
the culture’s concept of “true religion” (O’Neil, 2005, 
8864). Although the meaning of superstition has never 
been clearly defined, it has always meant the opposite 
of “true religion” (Cameron, 2010, 4). This is similar 
to the concept of “paganism,” which has only ever 
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Anja MLAKAR: SUPERSTITION, NATIONALISM, AND THE SLOVENIAN RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE OF THE 19TH-CENTURY, 655–672
existed as an entity in the eyes of its opponents (Jones, 
2014, 145). In Christianity, non-Christian, “pagan” 
religions were associated with terms such as “idolatry” 
or “magic.” This was despite evidence suggesting that 
things were more complex (Maier, 2017, 343).
The term superstition has from a scholarly sense 
been closely interlinked with the term “belief” as Mirjam 
Mencej (2017) demonstrated in her review article about 
the scholarly field of international and Slovenian folk-
lore studies throughout time. Similarly to the concept 
of superstition, the concept of belief has gone through 
various transformations in terms of meaning and defini-
tions and still remains open for various interpretations 
and meanings (Mencej, 2017). What superstition is thus 
depends on the perspective of the adherents of that 
dominant religion who attach meaning to the religious 
expressions of the Others6. Having the authority to define 
(and thus control) what kind of religiosity is “correct,” 
what is sacred (and consequently, what is “incorrect,”7 
superstitious, heretical) has been subject to control 
throughout history. The Church seeks to monopolise the 
sacred (and “true religion” in general), to universalise 
it, to give it a name, and to create distance between it 
and people. Individuals can be sanctioned if they do not 
follow this version of religiosity (Stark, 2002, 31).
Despite the multitude of meanings, there have been 
attempts in academia to find a unified definition.8 The 
complexity of various ideas about and definitions of 
superstition was addressed by Alan Dundes (1978, 90) 
who provided a tentative definition of superstitions as 
“traditional expressions of one or more conditions and 
or more results with some of the conditions signs and 
other causes.” He also determined three basic categories 
of superstition. The first are “Signs” that consists of por-
tents and omens that one can read (for example, a ring 
around the moon predicts rain). The second category is 
“Magic.” Such magic superstitions serve as a means of 
production and not just of prediction – in contrast to sign 
superstitions, human agency in this type of superstition is 
intentional rather than accidental. It also involves belief 
and practice. This category also includes divination. The 
third category, “Conversion” is hybrid as it consists of sign 
superstitions being converted into magic superstitions. It 
includes planting signs, wishes, and counteractants (i.e. 
forms of counter-magic) (Dundes, 1978, 91–93).
Cameron also (2010, 5) attempted to provide a gen-
eral summary of superstition, describing it as “a fairly 
disorganized bundle of beliefs and practices rooted in 
6 The level of this arbitrariness was pointed out by Dundes (1978, 89) in the possibility of the practice of a Christian sect endorsing 
the practice of making the sign of the cross to ward off bad luck being considered superstition by another Christian denomination. 
Similar relativity is seen in defining the difference between mythology and religion: mythology that is believed in or endorsed by 
authority is called “religion,” while religion without belief is considered mythology.
7 Superstition was also often associated with fear and irrationality (Dundes, 1978, 89).
8 Some scholars who have attempted to provide a definition include Puckett (1926), Frazer (1927), Taylor & Whiting  (1958), Hand 
(1961), Yoder (1974), Dundes (1978), Motz (1998). Many scholars, however, have avoided providing a definition of superstition.
9 The Latin speaking Christians initially applied the term “pagani” (Latin for “villagers”) to peasants who continued to engage 
in old non-Christian practices and beliefs and the term was eventually extended to all “pagans” (Jones, 2014, 5).
tradition: attempts to discern the unknown through 
divination, and to control it, or at least protect against it, 
through simple use of “charms.” Conceptually, as Valk 
(2022, 2) summarised, superstitions ranged from being 
strange “leftovers” from the past and expressions of a 
lack of education (or intelligence) to being considered an 
integral part of human life. And a similar conceptualisa-
tion happened with folklore itself, which was first seen as 
a “remnant” of the past, alive only among the peasants, 
and then began to represent a vital and important aspect 
of social and individual expression and creativity.
The complexity of studying superstition and religios-
ity is further complicated by the fact that there are many 
societies in which the modern separation of religion 
from other aspects of society has not occurred – in most 
societies throughout history and the world, religion and 
culture are one and the same, and religion does not 
represent a separate entity (Stringer, 2005, 9). This leads 
to difficulties in exploring religion and superstition with 
modern understandings of these concepts. Even within 
the framework of a particular religious orthodoxy, the 
term superstition took on various meanings at different 
points in time.
By analysing examples of superstition in Novice, I will 
try to provide an understanding of what the term meant in 
the context of Slovenian lands in the 19th century.
RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, AND CHANGING 
MEANINGS
However, before we embark upon an analysis of 
superstition in Novice, it is important to understand how 
the concept of superstition became the image we know 
from the newspaper. This image is the result of a long 
historical process.
In ancient times, certain behaviours were seen as 
expressing a false understanding of the world and the 
divine. Such behaviours were called “superstition.” This 
ignorance of the laws of nature (as they were understood 
at the time) was usually associated with common people 
and rural life, that is, with the lower strata of Roman 
society. As the Roman Empire expanded, superstition 
became associated with exotic foreign religions, includ-
ing Christianity (O’Neil, 2005, 8864).
Early Christians used the term when referring to 
pagan9 beliefs and practices, including the Roman 
religion. In keeping with the militant nature of Chris-
tian monotheism, the negative meaning of superstition 
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intensified – Roman statues, for example, were seen 
as idols, and Roman religious sacrifices were seen as 
offerings to the devil (O’Neil, 2005, 8864–8865).
By the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity 
slowly began to replace Paganism as the dominant dis-
course in Europe (Stringer, 2005, 18). During the Mid-
dle Ages, Christian efforts to Christianise intensified 
and pagan practices were condemned. Superstitious 
acts were seen as neither harmless nor ineffective. 
Even if they did not directly invoke the devil, they were 
based on forces outside those controlled by the church 
and were therefore considered diabolical. In the 15th 
century, inquisitorial jurisdiction was extended to the 
magical activities of the lower classes, resulting in the 
new crime of witchcraft (O’Neil, 2005, 8865; Kall-
estrup & Toivo, 2017, 5). Superstitious acts were thus 
no longer just an issue of pastoral disapproval but were 
criminalised and prosecuted by both the Church and 
secular courts in the 16th and 17th centuries (O’Neil, 
2005, 8865).
The Catholic Church sought to define what super-
stition was and to eliminate it. This was also one of 
the issues at the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and the 
Council of Malines (1607). While “popular magic” of 
the lower classes was condemned, ecclesiastical prac-
tices such as selling indulgences and exorcism were 
not. Access to the supernatural was monopolised by 
the Catholic Church (O’Neil, 2005, 8866).
Attempts to understand the difference between the 
concepts of magic and superstition and faith and prayer 
continued in the following centuries. While faith and 
prayer were considered humble requests to the divine, 
magic was something compulsive that had the power 
to cause action on the part of a supernatural force 
(Toivo, 2016, 9, 14).10 Furthermore, while superstition 
was considered both a secular and a religious crime, 
there was also the possibility that actions associated 
with superstition were considered acts of fraud (at 
least when money was involved) (Toivo, 2016, 15). 
Furthermore, by the end of the Middle Ages, all magic, 
regardless of its purposes (evil or seemingly good, 
such as curing disease), was considered to be associ-
ated with the devil (Toivo, 2016, 9).
10 There were, however, quite a few scholarly attempts to define the difference between magic and religion. As summarised by Gra-
nholm (2014, 9–12) according to James Frazer’s understanding magic is an attempt to control supernatural forces in the environ-
ment (therefore, magic is a form of a primitive, but erroneous science), while religion signifies submission to these forces. Emile 
Durkheim saw religion and magic as operating with the same general premises (belief systems, rites …), however, while religion 
unites its practitioners in churches, magic does not. Mircea Eliade defined the terms kratophanies (manifestations of power), 
hierophanies (manifestations of the sacred), and theophanies (manifestations of the divine). While there is no clear distinction 
between religion and magic, the latter is more closely related to kratophanies because of its relation to power. While the delimita-
tion between religion and magic is hard to make and they are essentially artificial scholarly categories, the continuous attempts to 
define them are probably a result of Christian perception of “proper religion” being devoid of “magical” elements. Additionally, 
magic has often been viewed as a static and transhistorical and transcultural phenomenon even though that is not the case. Magic 
has not been the same in all cultures and all eras. There is also the problem of applying the European understanding of magic to 
non-European cultures which hinders a thorough understanding. 
11 Even some official practices of the Catholics were described by Protestants as pre-Christian remnants, for example, comparing the 
cult of the Virgin Mary with the cult of Venus or seeing the saints as successors to the pagan gods and heroes (Burke, 1978, 209; 
Jones, 2014, 148).
During the Protestant Reformation, superstition 
took on new meanings. Many Catholic practices 
and beliefs (e.g., popular veneration of relics or 
saints)11 were viewed by Protestants as superstitious 
because they represented an “inappropriate way” of 
worshipping God (O’Neil, 2005, 8865–8866; Cam-
eron, 2010, 5). In a sense, Christians viewed other 
Christians who practiced differently as impure and 
essentially pagan (Jones, 2014, 147). Despite the 
attitude that Protestantism eliminated superstitious 
elements in Christianity, the Reformation did not 
actually abolish the threat of witchcraft or belief in 
demonic or other spiritual entities (Cameron, 2010, 
12). Only perceptions changed. And while Prot-
estants accused Catholics of practicing a magical 
religion, Catholic reformers also sought to eradicate 
spells from the culture of their followers (Burke, 
1978, 210).
Thus, in both Catholic and Protestant countries, 
there were systematic attempts by clerical and po-
litical elites to raise the religious and moral level 
of the general population. These attempts were not 
entirely successful, and superstitious elements con-
tinued to be documented in subsequent centuries 
(including in Novice) (O’Neil, 2005, 8866).
The significance of superstition also changed 
over subsequent centuries. As Burke (1978, 241) 
puts it, the changes in terminology may express a 
change in attitude. This can be seen in the word 
“superstition.” In English and Romance languages 
before 1650, the predominant meaning of the word 
seemed to be “false religion,” and the term was 
often used to refer to magic and witchcraft. From 
that context, it can be inferred that these acts were 
effective but evil. A change occurred in the late 
17th century when dissenting beliefs, previously 
feared because they were based on demonic acts, 
were now treated with indifference or even ridi-
cule (Cameron, 2010, 24). The meaning of super-
stition changed to “irrational fears” and the beliefs 
and practices associated with superstition were 
understood as foolish but harmless and ineffective 
(Burke, 1978, 241).
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The Enlightenment brought a new understand-
ing of superstition as the scientific study of nature 
was proposed as a new cultural orthodoxy. In this 
sense, magical practices (and all “irrational” as-
pects of religious practices) and beliefs continued 
to be considered superstition, but their diabolical 
efficacy was replaced by the scientific understand-
ing of their impossibility–magic again took on a 
different meaning (O’Neil, 2005, 8866; Cameron, 
2010, 25; Kallestrup & Toivo, 2017, 8). Echoes of 
Enlightenment thinking can still be felt in Novice 
and their understanding of superstition.
However, after decades of propaganda for ra-
tionalism, 19th century European intellectuals redis-
covered traditions, folk legends, and other folklore 
in the spirit of nationalism. They saw superstition 
not as demonic goings-on but as a valuable remnant 
of the nation’s pre-modern noble past. In a sense, 
this was a time when the magical and demonic de-
finitively lost their power to instill fear (Cameron, 
2010, 26–27).
Even in the world after urbanisation and industri-
alisation, a culture of “superstition” persisted well 
into the 19th century and beyond (Cameron, 2010, 
14). The term superstition continues to be used in 
today’s society and still has a pejorative meaning 
used to describe any belief system that does not 
conform to one’s concept of rationality or even to 
religion as a whole (Cameron, 2010, 4).
CHALLENGES IN STUDYING VERNACULAR 
RELIGIOSITY FROM HISTORICAL SOURCES
As mentioned above, the purpose of this paper 
is to address the very under-researched topic of the 
historical aspects of vernacular Slovenian religios-
ity. This is not an easy task as the sources are often 
very one-sided (i.e. written from the point of view 
of intellectuals and bearers of orthodox religious 
discourse) and lack the ethnographic data useful for 
a contemporary researcher (the process of gathering 
information, information about the interlocutors 
and the context in general, etc.) and there is also 
a different paradigmatic orientation in the research 
than there was at that time. In the historical sources, 
the (theologically literate) authors often knowingly 
or unknowingly described beliefs and practices that 
diverged from doctrinal religious beliefs in terms of 
the polarised cosmos of Christian philosophy (Cam-
eron, 2010, 9). Thus, the texts used for this paper do 
not directly reflect cultural and religious categories. 
The voices of peasant interlocutors were decon-
textualised and filtered first by folklore collectors 
and later by Novice’s editorial policy. Moreover, a 
very distinct agenda in collecting this folklore (i.e., 
building an image of a “true Slovene”) presents an 
additional challenge in trying to understand the 
reality of vernacular religion of the 19th century. The 
nature of such historical sources thus has a dual 
character: on the one hand, they provide informa-
tion about the religious beliefs and practices of 19th 
century Slovenian peasants, and on the other hand, 
they reflect the prevailing cultural, political, and 
religious discourses of the time. This paper will deal 
with both of these aspects, but will focus on the 
latter, focusing on “false” and “erroneous” religious 
beliefs and practices, i.e., superstitions.
Moreover, it is important to realise that 19th 
century Slovenian folklore offers examples of 19th 
century Slovenian vernacular religion, rather than 
medieval folklore (cf. Young, 2022, 9). The reason 
for emphasising this is that in past (international) 
scholarship there was too little criticism when it 
came to comparing different religious elements: for 
example, ancient and medieval religiosity, rural and 
urban religious expression, peasant religiosity, and 
the religion of the nation as a whole were equated 
with one another (Burke, 1978, 20). As we know 
today, the context of religious ideas is crucial to 
their understanding.
Moreover, not all religions adhere to the 
Christian concept of “faith.” According to Dowen 
(2000, 2), ancient paganism was not faith-based, 
but rather concerned with the observance of ritual 
systems. Perceiving other religious expressions with 
the concepts of one’s own religion (for example, 
vernacular religion does not have a coherent and 
ordered structure like Christianity; cf. Toivo, 2016, 
11) can lead to fundamental misunderstandings. 
And not only was paganism not a coherent set of 
religious beliefs and practices, but, as is character-
istic of other religions, it was constantly changing 
and reinventing itself (cf. Young, 2022, 9). Thus, 
when Novice articles mention “beliefs,” e.g., about 
witchcraft, we cannot assume that the bearers of 
these beliefs perceived them in the same way as 
they perceived their beliefs in, e.g., Christian saints.
EXAMPLES OF SUPERSTITION IN NOVICE
Having understood the complex nature of super-
stition, I will now try to analyse what superstition 
meant in Slovenian lands in the 19th century, based 
on publications in Novice.
In Novice, various expressions were used to de-
scribe false beliefs and practices: in Slovenian, these 
are “vražjeverje”, “vraže”, “babjeverje”, “prazno-
verje”, “prazna vera”, “malikovanje”, “krivover-
stvo”, “kriva vera”. The term superstition was also 
very often mentioned in connection with the belief 
in witches. It is difficult to translate these terms 
directly into English, but roughly these expressions 
mean “superstition”, “old wives’ faith”, “empty 
faith”, “idolatry”, “false religion”, “witchcraft.” 
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12
12 Translation: “Superstitions are completely at home here. If hail ruins their vineyards, they gather and promise not to work in the vineyards 
on this or that day and they are very strict in keeping that promise. God forbid their grandchildren would break that promise. In the Čatež 
county they already have Wednesdays and Fridays when work in the vineyards is forbidden. In Sveti Križ they only have Fridays. It is easy 
to see how harmful such beliefs are: in the spring when there is much work to be done in the vineyards and bad weather is frequent a 
week can be a long time without working there. When good weather finally arrives, they are forbidden from working on these two days. 
They also hold many other superstitions: as soon as someone gets seriously ill, they immediately assume that a spell has been cast on 
them. Someone claimed in front of me that a certain woman, who has had tuberculosis for a long time and is about to retire, has been 
cursed and that a spell has been cast on her and he claimed to understand these things well. An old woman, renowned throughout the 
region as a great witch, receives a coin from every young couple entering marriage during the wedding feast. God forbid anyone offend 
her or cut short her money; such a marriage would surely be unhappy. They also believe that the devil together with witches create hail 
and that the best countermeasure against hail are the blessed church bells. They drive the devil and the clouds away and hurl the witches 
down from the clouds. A priest who prevents the bells from being rung when a dangerous cloud approach is suspected of being a witch 
himself. Such superstitions are scattered throughout Carniola to a greater or lesser extent. They are deeply rooted in the nature of our 
people and are difficult to eradicate. The best remedy against superstitions would be simple science books for peasants. […]”
Figure 1: Beli Krajnci unikraj Kerke in Save od Kostanjevice do Jesenic 
(Konec.) (Delimarič, 1845, 31).12
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13
13 Translation: “On this occasion, I must relate another sad story of just such a superstitious event that happened last year in the Upper 
Carniola region, which took the lives of two persons while causing perpetual misfortune to another. A certain little peasant boy began to 
fall ill. Instead of seeking remedies from the doctor, he went to charlatans and deceptive witches to ask for advice. They assured him that 
his illness had been caused by sorcery and instructed him that they couldn’t cure him until he brought them a piece of a shirt or a strand 
of hair from the person who was his greatest enemy. Finding this superstition peculiar, he travelled to Carinthia over Ljubelj to consult 
another charlatan. This one even conjured up the image of the person who had inflicted the illness upon him in a mirror and informed 
him that he wouldn’t be cured as long as his enemy is alive. The naïve man believed the words of the wicked woman, returned home, and 
in a secluded place killed an old neighbour with whom he had been in a minor dispute. The judicial gentry ordered the murderer to be 
captured and locked him up in prison – and that he will have a tough time is certain; the sorcerer too was locked up in Carinthia, but she 
hanged herself in prison. Readers! What do you say about this sad story? For God’s sake, will there ever be an end to superstition?!” 
Figure 2 and Figure 3: Za božjo voljo ali še ne bo konec vraž! 
(Bleiweis, 1847, 120).13
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These expressions were not used exclusively in the con-
text of religiosity, but also to denote outdated or harmful 
agricultural, medical, alimentary, and other beliefs 
and practices that were out of step with more recent 
scientific developments. In this article, however, the 
focus will be on the context of religiosity. The religious 
beliefs and practices mentioned and described with the 
aforementioned words come from the Greco-Roman, 
Judeo-Christian tradition (Maier, 2017, 350) and we can 
assume that (apart from the pejorative connotations they 
contained) they did not accurately describe them from 
an emic perspective. Therefore, not only do the men-
tions of superstition not provide an opportunity for a 
comprehensive understanding of the religious practices 
of the lower classes, but the mention of superstition, 
which was seen as a remnant of paganism, does not 
provide an opportunity for a reliable reconstruction of 
the pre-Christian religion.
However, the number and variety of such non-
Christian items published in Novice (which probably 
represent only a fraction of the whole) testify to the 
fact that religiosity in the Slovenian lands in the 19th 
century was diverse, but also to the fact that this diver-
sity was not seen as problematic for the majority of the 
population.
The article in Figure 1 from Novice contains a brief 
summary of various superstitions that were common 
among Slovenes living in Bela Krajina. They are con-
demned by the author.
It is perhaps not surprising that most of the supersti-
tions mentioned in Novice relate to folk medicine and 
agricultural beliefs and practices (example: Figure 2 
and Figure 3).
The health of people and livestock and the ability 
to accurately judge the timing of agricultural activities 
were vital to farmers. Christianity obviously did not 
provide them with enough support in times of uncer-
tainty. Therefore, peasants did not hesitate to resort to 
magic and divination, for example, to try to control 
their uncertain reality, which was accompanied by 
a lack of education and medical care. In everyday 
life, people needed divine helpers who could quickly 
influence and improve their situation, as opposed to 
the more abstract ways of contacting the deity that 
Christianity offered them (Stark, 2002, 31).
Another example of such “foolish superstition” is 
the belief that a person who dies from a viper bite can-
not go to heaven (Cvotrev, 1845, 67–68).
The other superstition that was very often criticised 
in Novice was the belief in witchcraft, often related 
to the material loss suffered by the peasants. One of 
the other recurring beliefs mentioned in the paper was 
the belief that milk is tainted by the malignant powers 
of witches. “Believe me, if someone knew how to do 
witchcraft in this day and age, they would use their 
magic powers for something else – I mean, I think they 
would make money appear rather than spoil milk. 
That’s just an empty superstition. Bad milk usually 
has obvious causes that you do not notice; I want to 
explain them to you one by one here, so listen to me.” 
(Unknown author, 1844, 78) Then, in a simple, almost 
patronising tone, the author explains the real reasons 
for spoiled milk, which are due to factors such as the 
poor health of the cow, its inadequate nutrition and 
lack of hygiene during milking. Janez Bleiweis was 
very keen on translating scientific knowledge into 
the everyday life of the lower classes (cf. Kolar, 2021, 
73–74), which would explain a considerable number 
of reports of such superstitions in Novice. Another 
type of superstition frequently mentioned in Novice is 
divination, especially in predicting the weather: 
It is especially sad that there are many supersti-
tions and misconceptions about bad weather 
among the people. Some believe that enemy 
sorcerers cause hail, while others believe that 
lightning, thunder, hail, and rain are always 
just divine punishments or retribution! (Šmidt, 
1850, 126)
These types of superstitions were received very 
negatively by the authors in Novice, and there was 
a strong tendency to eradicate such ideas about the 
weather.
Other examples of superstitions mentioned in 
Novice include superstitions about solar eclipses (a 
poison falls on the earth and poisons plants and waters 
(Unknown author, 1851b, 149–150)) or earthquakes 
during solar eclipses (Unknown author, 1851c, 158) 
or that drinking the blood of an unborn fetus can make 
one invisible (Plemelj, 1851, 222) or various mentions 
of false accounts of people falling into a trance (e.g., 
Unknown author, 1851d, 255).
There are also various mentions of fraudulent 
people with supposed supernatural abilities, such as 
the ability to see the future or have visions. Novice 
was very suspicious of such claims and portrayed such 
people as exploiting the gullibility of the superstitious. 
One such example is a young girl who had visions of 
Jesus and the Virgin Mary (Unknown author, 1851e, 
196; Unknown author, 1851f, 203). The author of 
the article wondered why the people who visited her 
did not show such piety in the context of Orthodox 
Christianity. “One should pray to God and worship 
the miracles of His omnipotence. We do not need sick 
little girls to make such circus comedies.” (Unknown 
author, 1851f, 203)
We see, then, that belief in superstitious miracles 
was not considered false and superstitious when they 
occurred in the context of doctrinal Christianity – in this 
form, these superstitious acts were considered “miracles”. 
All other types of (seemingly) superstitious events were 
called “false,” “shameful” superstitions. Supernatural 
realms existed both in the context of Christianity and 
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in “superstitious” realms (i.e., non-Christian religious 
expressions). The difference between the two is that the 
supernatural in Christianity is part of an ideology that 
controls religious ideas (cf. Koski, 2016, 27).14
Less frequently, superstition is mentioned in con-
nection with narrative folklore, e.g., in legends. Matevž 
Ravnikar-Poženčan (1846, 112) describes legends about 
a folk figure (a midwinter deity; Kropej, 2012, 50) called 
“Torka” as a superstition: 
14 Translation (of part of the text; some names of folk beings mentioned here are hard to translate into English as they don’t 
have an adequate substitute in that language): “Are there oral memories among your people from legendary (mythological) 
times? What do the people confess or sing about Veles, Perun, Triglav, the White God, Bjelun, Belbog, Saint Vitus, Svarog, 
Lada and Lado, Tur and Turica, Lel and Lela, Živa and Živan, Mor and Mora, Jasen, Ješo and Ježibaba, the Black God, and 
Črt (Čart), about Bies and Hela, Malik (Maličko), about Fulet, Škrapec, Dworf, the Devil, Kurent. About Faits, Letnice, 
Polednice. About happiness and destiny (fate), the plague, and death. About the world, the creation, and power. About 
Vila, giants, spirits, Orjaši, dwarves (small people and elbow beard), Palček, about the silver king, about Dod, Dida, and 
Dodola, about the water (sea) man and water women, mermaids, water spirits (povodnice). About twilight (Mrak), were-
wolves (vampires, upirs), ghosts, tenco, repač, wolf shepherd, ovcoder (wolf charmer), forest women, witches, magicians, 
mad women, fortune tellers, witches, etc., etc.”
Torka was an apparition that frightened the 
people who spun on Tuesdays and Thurs-
days, or the spinners who left the distaff 
next to the wheel when it stopped spinning. 
A dog’s paw appeared and began to spin 
the spinning wheel. There are more such 
curious and amusing superstitions that the 
Krains tell each other to this day for amuse-
ment.
Figure 4 and Figure 5: Starinske in povestniške stvari (Kukuljevič, 1871, 85).14
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The non-Christian figures in folklore, which may 
have served various social15 or psychological needs 
(in the past or present), are downplayed as serv-
ing only for “amusement.” It is also often claimed 
that superstitious ideas (e.g., about werewolves) 
are remnants of pre-Christian ideas and exist today 
primarily as folktales (Gomilšak, 1865, 34), ergo 
not in the form of active ideas.
As knowledge of folklore (its content and re-
search methodology) matured over the years, Novice 
from time-to-time published instructions for folklore 
collectors on what folklore they should collect (be-
cause not all folklore was good folklore). This had 
a direct impact on what folklore was published in 
the newspaper.16 Among the instructions for collec-
tors were guidelines on how to collect superstitions. 
From these guidelines, we can surmise what was 
considered superstition (Figure 4 and 5).
In this case, witches (very often associated with su-
perstitions) are mentioned along with faits, werewolves, 
ghosts, dwarfs, mermaids, and other folk figures that 
could not be part of the Christian worldview.
SUPERSTITION AND CHRISTIANITY IN THE 19TH 
CENTURY: A COMPLEX INTERPLAY
In 1847, Novice reported a cruel incident in 
which a mare’s tongue was cut off, presumably by a: 
follower of superstition, who foolishly believed 
that the tongue of such a mare, which is all black, 
without a single white spot on her whole body, 
and which has had one or even several foals, has 
in it a strange power which helps man to accom-
plish anything he desires. […] Since this supersti-
tion that the tongue of the black mare possesses a 
miraculous power is prevalent among some fool-
ish people, it is believable that the unfortunate 
mare may have lost her tongue and her life due to 
this foolish superstition. We wonder if those who 
believe in such things – are not even more foolish 
than cattle? Is it proper for them to have a human 
form? Is it true that they have reason and intelli-
gence? They lack not only a spark of intelligence, 
but also faith, otherwise they would not attribute 
divine power to the horseflesh (the tongue)! That 
the tongue of a wicked old woman has a poison-
15 One way of explaining the persistence of such a character in a predominantly Christian society could be the importance of exchange 
and reciprocity in social relations of traditional agrarian societies (Stark, 2002, 32). George Foster’s (1965) concept of “limited good” 
encompasses the idea that in traditional societies, members of the community saw desirable things as existing in limited quantities. Con-
sequently, one can improve their position only at the expense of others. Folk characters such as Torka might express the prohibition of 
trying to gain something by crossing society’s prohibitions and thus unjustly get ahead of others in the community. 
16 According to the writings of Johann Gottfried Herder and Hegel, culture should be understood in the context of the ethnic, existential, and 
traditional connections of a people. The collection of folktales and other folklore materials that gained momentum during this period can be 
seen as contributing to ethnic consolidation and nation-building. It also serves the dual role of homogenising culture within a specific terri-
tory and differentiating one culture, like German culture, from others. Collectors of national treasures also emerged in Slovenia during this 
time, with Karel Štrekelj (1859–1912) creating the most extensive collection (Tratnik, 2022, 1043). Folklore was used to express nationalistic 
(Slovenian) ideas (cf. Crowthert, 2022). Additionally, Slovenian writers used Slovenian folklore in their literary work (cf. Darovec, 2021).
ous power in it, and that through such tongues 
many bad things have happened in the world, is 
an old belief – but to assert that the tongue of a 
black mare possesses any power other than that 
of eating and drinking is a superstition so foolish 
that one should be ashamed even to mention it. 
(J. U., 1847, 146–147)
Such a belief, then, is not only a sign of lack of 
education or even stupidity, but also violates Christian 
norms since supernatural powers can only be attributed 
to God. The question arises, however, as to how much 
the average uneducated person in the 19th century actu-
ally knew about Christian teachings. Research on French 
peasants from the same period shows that they did not 
know them very well (Devlin, 1987, 6).
In the article about the Slovenes in Istria, the author 
praises the people for their piety. However, there is also 
mention of an “empty faith” in relation to the rosary, the 
prayer beads used by Catholics: 
I would also like to tell you about an empty faith 
they have. They believe that prayer is only for 
the one who has the rosary and not for the one 
who uses it to pray. Therefore, they will never use 
someone else’s rosary. And if you find a rosary, 
you put it back because you believe it is of no use 
to you. (Bleiweis, 1848, 11)
As Karelian folklore also shows, abstract Christian 
concepts inherent in objects, times, or places can be rein-
terpreted to provide a concrete benefit (Stark, 2002, 31).
Vernacular religion, therefore, is often a mixture of 
beliefs from different belief systems that coexist with-
out conflict despite their apparent incompatibility. As 
Stringer (2005, 18, 23) notes, many of the discourses in 
societies consist of combinations of pagan and Chris-
tian elements, making it nearly impossible to identify 
“pure” Christian or pagan discourses. The gap between 
dogmatic, official religion and the way people practice 
it in everyday life (i.e., vernacular religion) can occur 
in many aspects of religiosity: in defining the “right” 
behaviour in a religious context, in understanding the 
role of church symbols and personalities such as saints, 
in the goal of religious activity itself, or even in under-
standing more basic religious concepts, such as the soul 
or life after death (Stark, 1994, 36).
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It has also been noted (cf. Stark, 1994, also Devlin, 
1987, 7) that vernacular religion focuses more on more 
“down-to-earth” issues, such as the delineation of 
important social categories and relationships within the 
community, and that numinous and awe-inspiring experi-
ences (as described by scholars such as Rudolf Otto and 
Mircea Eliade) cannot adequately explain the cultural 
functions of vernacular religion (Stark, 2005, 30).
Young (2022, 16), on the other hand, compares 
the multitude of different beliefs and practices in ver-
nacular religiosity to the layers of an onion, with the 
outermost layers representing the abstract assertions 
about the divine and the inner layers representing 
the supernatural beliefs associated with the everyday 
experiences of rural existence.
These beliefs and practices were often a mixture of 
Christian and non-Christian elements. Dular (1865, 
19–20) was very critical of such superstitious beliefs and 
practices, believing that they contaminated the sanctity 
of Christian holidays. He also added that among younger 
and educated people these beliefs are being forgotten, 
and he wished they would be forgotten altogether.
There are also various customs, including deviations 
and magic that took place on certain days of the year, 
such as Christmas Eve. Ozvald Dular (1865, 19–20), for 
example, wrote about a pot called “žehtar” used for milk-
ing cows, which was placed under the table on Christmas 
Eve to ensure high milk production for the whole new 
year. On Midsummer’s Eve, lovers washed themselves in 
the evening, but did not dry themselves and lay down 
to sleep like this, placing a freshly washed cloth under 
their pillow. During the night, the one who was meant 
for them would come and dry them. Women also carried 
a wreath of various flowers and threw it onto a tree. If it 
stayed on the tree, the woman would get married, if it fell 
off, she would not get married and so on. And if there 
was a funeral during the Christmas celebrations, it meant 
that many people will die the next year. He also added 
that there are many such “beliefs and superstitions”17 in 
existence and that people did not even think about them 
as harmful (Dular, 1865, 19).
The rather profane, practical, and pragmatic character 
of vernacular beliefs and its (moral) evaluation is also 
evident in folk stories that contained non-Christian ele-
ments. If they had social and moral value in the eyes of 19th 
century Slovenians, they were not judged negatively. This 
17 In the original »ver in vraž« (Dular, 1865, 19).
18 Mirjam Mencej (2008, 189; 2017, 61) agreed with von Sydow’s (1948) idea that a »fict« as a folklore genre cannot be used to research 
beliefs as it portrays a story that is not believed, as it primarily serves as a pedagogical means to protect children from danger or prevent 
them from damaging crops etc. The story described here could be catagorised as a fict. However, I chose not to exclude it from other 
examples of folklore in this article as even if there was no underlying belief in the credulity of such stories, it still borrowed its content 
from a non-Christian “depository” of images, even though the same effect could be obtained by using a story that did not transgress the 
Christian world view. If nothing more, such stories demonstrate that non-Christian imagery was alive and well in the 19th century. Ad-
ditionally, Alan Dundes (1978, 89) also held the conviction that belief is not a reliable criterion for defining superstition.  
19 Toivo (2016, 42) presented a case of a widow from Ulvila who in 1676 was accused of using magic and witchcraft while fishing. She tried 
to defend herself at her trial by explaining that during the very act which brought her to trial she also mentioned God. From her point of 
view, her act was a godly prayer, while the court interpreted it as a charm. Most of the population thought that using Christian formulas 
meant that they were in the realm of orthodoxy (Toivo, 2016, 44).
is evident in an article by Matija Majer (1844a, 136), who 
presented a folk tale about breaking the social taboo of 
beating one’s parents. In the story, a child beat his mother 
while she beat him. A short time later, the child died and 
the heartbroken mother, while visiting the grave, saw an 
arm sticking out of the grave. A priest explained to her that 
this is because the earth does not accept the hand that has 
struck a parent. After consulting with the priest, he advised 
her to beat the arm until it returned to the grave. After she 
did so, the child’s arm slid back into the grave.
Although the story clearly violated Christian doctrine18 
which states that the deceased cannot influence the world 
of the living, the moral element of the story, namely the 
prohibition against hitting a parent, made it socially 
acceptable. The Christian element (the priest) probably 
also helped make this story acceptable. Although the 
search for the origins of such stories is not the focus of 
this paper, we might question the motivation for such a 
postmortem activity that violated Christian teaching. One 
such explanation, as mentioned earlier, would be that the 
moral aspect outweighs the contradiction in doctrine. The 
other might be that such stories echoed pre-Christian no-
tions of the afterlife (transposed into a Christian context), 
in which the dead were not necessarily as separate from 
the world of the living as they are in the Christian world. 
Like centuries earlier, in the Middle Ages, stories about 
the dead entering the world of the living were still part 
of nineteenth-century folklore. An additional reason for 
this could also be that (private) religious beliefs about the 
ancestors are very resistant to change, as they are related 
to deep questions of identity, connection to the past, 
and place (Mandeville Caciola, 2017, 30). Vernacular 
Christian discourses are also flexible, allowing for the 
interpretation of various non-Christian elements within 
the framework of Christianity (cf. Koski, 2016, 27). And 
as a seemingly unproblematic use of Christian and non-
Christian elements in the same narrative shows, the Chris-
tian binary opposition between good and evil was not so 
strict in the vernacular religion of the laity–people seem 
to have lived their religiosity more on a continuum19 and 
it was not always clear to which of these categories their 
rituals, actions, or words were closer (Toivo, 2016, 24). 
This ambiguity also carried over into the realm of identity: 
a person could practice magic without doubting their 
identity as a devout Christian. This is confirmed by the 
fact that in the descriptions of superstition in Novice, the 
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question of the Christian self-identity of those to whom 
the superstitious actions and beliefs were attributed was 
never questioned. Religion is not only belief in a deity 
or observance of religious rituals, but also belonging to 
a community, i.e., an identity. Moreover, as mentioned 
earlier, “being a Christian” did not necessarily mean the 
same thing to a clergyman or a peasant.
In any case, stories like the one described show the 
complexity of vernacular religion. Although in a different 
geographical and cultural context, in Finnish folklore, con-
cern for the morality of community members and control 
of transgressions in the form of supernatural punishments 
was characteristic of Christian village culture (Koski, 2020, 
178). It is also noteworthy that what was considered reli-
gious orthodoxy was not only institutionally defined, but 
also contested and determined by other social aspects, such 
as the popular, social, or performative (Kallestrup & Toivo, 
2017, 3, 8). Therefore, although Christianity permeated 
every pore of Slovenian society, it could not (at least on a 
practical level) eradicate all segments of non/pre-Christian 
beliefs and practices. Psychological factors probably also 
played a role, as there were needs not adequately met by 
Christianity (Caldwell Ames, 2012, 337). Vernacular reli-
gion thus represents a functional system that adapts useful 
elements from different belief systems (cf. Stark, 2002, 30), 
and both orthodoxy and the vernacular draw from each 
other20 (cf. Devlin, 1987).
There are also examples of superstitions that could 
be overcome by Christian intervention. For example, 
fire seen at night suggested buried treasure guarded by a 
dwarf. If one threw a rosary into this fire and said a prayer, 
this would drive away the dwarf and one could claim the 
treasure (Kociančič, 1856, 369). Even more, if a priest 
refused a request to ring the bells during thunderstorms, 
he himself could be accused of being a witch (Delimarič, 
1845, 31). Associating the representative of the church 
with superstition may seem strange and contradictory, but 
it was not an uncommon belief (cf. Porter, 1999, 261; 
Devlin, 1987, 20–21).
BETWEEN PROGRESS AND TRADITION: 
EDUCATION, POLITICS AND POWER IN RELATION 
TO SUPERSTITION
The pedagogical component of the critique of 
superstition is an essential component of the articles 
in Novice (Figure 6):
20 Some of the vernacular practices (for example, popular pilgrimages for health, animals, or wealth) were accommodated by the Church 
– although not always with great enthusiasm (Devlin, 1987, 11). 
21 Translation: “I believe that there is no additional need to talk about these superstitions and that I have shown in detail how these empty 
beliefs came about, and that deceit is their mother! Wake up from your hazy sleep all who believe in these empty beliefs, break the 
curtain of superstition that covers your mind and intelligence; know the falseness of the idols to which you make altars and give offerings 
out of your ignorance. It is the final time to show that God gave you a mind and that you are, in fact, Christians!”
22 Although, as rightfully pointed out by Dundes (1978, 89) the criterion of validity in the sense of objective scientific truth as a postulate for 
defining superstition is also wrong as the stance of what is considered the right kind of knowledge is also relative in societies and prone 
to change. Perhaps the most common definition of superstition is that which employs the criterion of validity in the sense of objective 
scientific truth.
One must be proud of one’s nationality 
and honour it. However, not all customs, 
whether Slovenian or of other nations, are 
praiseworthy; some of them are wrong 
or even sinful […] There are some folk 
customs, superstitions, which must be 
eradicated if the people are to advance cul-
turally. What is sinful is explained to us by 
Christianity and common sense. (Unknown 
author, 1851a, 26)21
In Novice, there was an active attempt to edu-
cate readers so that they would no longer hold 
superstitious beliefs not in harmony with scien-
tific knowledge (cf. Iskrač-Frankolski, 1863, 313; 
Likar, 1863, 155). This was not only a question 
of intellectual progress, but also a question of 
religion and morality – those who held on to erro-
neous ideas from the pre-Christian past were not 
only ignorant, but also against Christianity. Even 
though, from a Romantic and nationalist perspec-
tive, folklore, especially traditional beliefs and 
mythology, reflected the collective conscious-
ness of the nation, untouched by modernity and 
reason (Koski, 2020, 172), at the same time, the 
“wrong” kind of non/Pre-Christian folklore stood 
in opposition to the notion of a “true Slovene,” 
who was proud of his noble pagan past and whose 
remnants (i.e., folklore referring to pre-Christian 
entities, such as Slavic gods, fairies, buried treas-
ures …), but did not actively believe in them. 
Both Christianity and scientific discoveries22 
represented progress that a “true Slovene” had to 
embrace wholeheartedly.
Figure 6: Šembilja (Konec) (Demšer, 1844, 111).21
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Anja MLAKAR: SUPERSTITION, NATIONALISM, AND THE SLOVENIAN RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE OF THE 19TH-CENTURY, 655–672
Nevertheless, which folklore was acceptable and 
good, and which was better forgotten was not per-
fectly clear. This uncertainty about pre-Christian/
non-Christian beliefs reflected in Slovenian folklore 
was addressed by Matija Majer (1844b, 172): 
Is it permissible to speak of the old times, of 
how it used to be? Could it perhaps be a sin 
if we talk about Slovenian sybils, about žalik 
žene? I think this is not so wrong. After all, 
educated people study stories (history), and 
I have never heard that this is wrong; they 
even praise them for being educated, because 
they can tell how things used to be in the 
world. What others find beautiful, you should 
not make a shame for Slovenians! Excuse me? 
Don’t people learn whole books about the 
false gods (idols) of the Romans and Greeks? 
They don’t do it to believe in them, but only 
to know what the faith of the ancient Romans 
and Greeks was. They themselves remain de-
vout Christians. Isn’t that so? I have traveled 
among the Slovenes in Carniola, Styria, Carin-
thia, and Gorizia – as far as I know them, I 
do not think there is anyone among us who is 
foolish enough to pray to Sybil or the White 
Lady as to a goddess, or to kneel as to a saint 
and sigh: ‘Saint Sybil, pray to God for us.’ A 
Slovene sometimes says, ‘Sybil said this and 
that,’ in the sense of ‘Plant corn or tuber crops 
during the old moon or the new moon,’ mean-
ing, ‘That’s what people used to do.’
The true value of such superstitious beliefs lies 
in the fact that they offer a window into the noble 
Slovenian past: 
Those who do not see at first glance that 
these superstitions originate from pagan 
times and resemble the superstitions of other 
peoples need not be surprised that even to-
day stories full of such absurdities are told. 
They are a living testimony to the mythology 
of the time and remain interesting to us be-
cause they reveal the history of development 
and civilisation of the Slovenians. (Mulec, 
1856, 225–226)
“Vernacular knowledge”23 as Valk (2022, 12) put 
it, contains elements of institutional knowledge and at 
the same time contradicts and competes with it. The 
terms “vernacular” and “institutional” are closely re-
lated to social institutions that deal with power (Valk, 
23 »Vernacular knowledge is not a systematic and consistent doctrine but rather an expressive strategy and its never-finalized prod-
uct, which appears in manifold forms, both verbal and non-verbal. It can be expressed in oral, written and printed genres but also 
acted out in visual art, symbols, music, rituals and behaviour. It can be finalized in writing or works of art but more often it occurs 
in private and public interaction« (Valk, 2022, 9).
2022, 8). In the case of Novice, we can see that while 
the bearers of vernacular knowledge (as the educated 
collectors saw them) accepted parts of the authorita-
tive discourse (Christian teachings, certain scientific 
knowledge), they also maintained certain beliefs and 
practices that were outside of these discourses. And 
from the outside perspective (i.e., from the bearers 
of the authoritative discourse), these were seen as 
inferior (unless they were seen as non-threatening 
“remnants” of past times). Non-doctrinal (i.e., non-
Christian) traditions and beliefs were considered part 
of otherness, and cultural and scientific interest in 
them was legitimised solely by their perception as 
“remnants” from the past (Koski, 2020, 172). If not, 
they were not considered a valid research topic in 
themselves and an equally valid part of Slovenian 
culture, but “superstition” and “foolishness.”
CONCLUDING REMARKS AND POSSIBILITIES 
FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
This paper has attempted to shed light on the 
complex religious landscape of the 19th century 
in the territory of Slovenia, in which doctrinaire 
Christianity and lived, vernacular religion coex-
isted and interacted in various ways. Through an 
analysis of historical sources in Novice, we have 
seen how the dominant religious discourse of the 
time often marginalised and stigmatised vernacular 
religious practices as “superstitious,” while at the 
same time accepting some of them for political and 
social reasons. It was also mentioned how the rise 
of nationalist ideologies on Slovenian territory and 
in other European nations as a whole fueled interest 
in pre-Christian religions and folklore, which were 
seen as expressions of national identity.
While Novice provides us with information 
about the nature of the content of religious beliefs 
and practices in the 19th century, it is difficult to 
assess how those described as adherents of super-
stition (i.e., peasants) actually viewed it. As noted 
earlier, superstition is a concept imposed by the 
dominant religion and is as such part of a discourse 
that denies the validity and equality of religious 
expressions that do not conform to them. It, in fact, 
silences them.
It is questionable, however, whether the 
educated collectors and researchers of Slovenian 
folklore attached the same meaning of Christian 
“faith” to the stories and practices they encountered 
among the Slovenian peasants, which they called 
“superstition.” Perhaps the vernacular religiosity 
they encountered could be better characterised by 
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ANNALES · Ser. hist. sociol. · 33 · 2023 · 4
attitudinal factors and ritual practices than by be-
liefs (cf. Despland, 2005, 8863; also, Valk, 2022). 
However, Maria Toivo (2016, 11) disagreed with the 
assumption that “lived religion” should be reduced 
to rituals and believes that it also includes experi-
ences and emotional performances, an “acting out” 
of a person’s conception of the world and their rela-
tions to the sacred and supernatural. Even magic, as 
she rightly pointed out, requires a belief in its ef-
ficacy and a conviction that there is a higher power 
that can be compelled to interact (Toivo, 2016, 11). 
Regardless of what kind of beliefs (or lack thereof) 
is mentioned, what we can witness instead through 
the descriptions of superstition in Novice is the 
existence of various ways of coping with life that do 
not necessarily require a firm commitment to faith 
in the Christian sense (cf. Despland, 2005, 8863), 
but do not necessarily exclude it either.
In analysing the representation of superstition in 
Novice, several things must be considered. These 
include the nationalistic motivations in collecting 
and interpreting folklore at the time. The other is 
the editorial process and the pedagogical goals that 
Bleiweis pursued as the editor. Additionally, one 
must consider the prevailing Christian discourse 
that was found in all sectors of society. The rather 
fragile balance between admiration of pagan rem-
nants and abhorrence of non-Christian beliefs and 
practices was accompanied by the (unconscious) 
24 Other newspapers where 19th century Slovenian folklore was published include Slovenski glasnik, Slovenska bčela, Zora, Vestnik, Vedež, 
Kras, Ljubljanski zvon, Dom in svet. The first collections of folklore in monographs also started to be published. Additionally, a great deal 
of folklore has never been published (Kropej Telban, 2021, 104).
search for enchantment (contradicting Weber’s 
notions of disenchantment), the construction of 
Slovenian identity, and attempts at the intellectual 
justification of the superiority of Christianity and 
the subsequent need to eradicate harmful and back-
ward superstitions that hindered the quality of life 
and corrupted the religious and moral character of 
a “true Slovenian.”  
The criterion for distinguishing non-Christian el-
ements in folklore as “harmless” or even “valuable” 
from “superstitious” and “stupid” seems to be active 
belief in their efficacy or credulity. But even this 
is not black and white. If the overall message of a 
particular folklore confirmed and reinforced current 
moral, political, or religious discourses, the non-
Christian elements in the folklore were accepted.
The examples of superstition presented are un-
doubtedly only a fragment of what was considered 
superstition in Slovenian lands in the 19th century, 
and of vernacular religiosity in general. A more 
comprehensive study would be needed24 in order 
to build on or correct the conclusions of this paper. 
However, this paper could be the starting point, 
and this study allows us to draw some reasonable 
conclusions. Attempting to understand or even 
reconstruct the folk religiosity of the past is difficult 
(cf. Valk, 1996), and as always with attempts to 
understand the mentality of the past, consideration 
of the context of the time is crucial.
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ANNALES · Ser. hist. sociol. · 33 · 2023 · 4
Anja MLAKAR: SUPERSTITION, NATIONALISM, AND THE SLOVENIAN RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE OF THE 19TH-CENTURY, 655–672
VRAŽEVERJE, NACIONALIZEM IN SLOVENSKA RELIGIJSKA KRAJINA 19. STOLETJA
Anja MLAKAR
Inštitut IRRIS za raziskave, razvoj in strategije družbe, kulture in okolja, Čentur 1F, 6273 Marezige, Slovenija 
e-mail: anja.mlakar@irris.eu
POVZETEK
V prispevku je raziskan koncept vraževerja oz. odnos do vraževerja na območju Slovenije v 19. stoletju. 
Članek povzema različne pomene, ki jih je vraževerje imelo skozi čas ter obravnava težave pri raziskova-
nju vernakularne religioznosti na podlagi zgodovinskih virov. Članek se začne z razpravo o prepletanju 
krščanstva in vraževerja, poudarja načine, na katere sta se prepletala in vplivala drug na drugega. Nato se 
poglablja v različne vrste vraževerja, ki so bile razširjene v tem obdobju, pri čemer se opira na primere iz 
časopisa Kmetijske in rokodelske novice, v katerem se omenjajo različne vrste vraževerja, vključno s ča-
rovništvom in prerokovanjem. V članku je prav tako govora o kritikah vraževerja v Novicah, katerih namen 
je bil dvigniti izobrazbeno raven nižjih slojev. Preučuje tudi načine, na katere so nacionalne ideologije 
spodbujale zanimanje za predkrščanske religije in odnos intelektualcev do vraževerja. Razprava obravnava 
tudi proces oblikovanja naroda, uredniški proces ter krščanski diskurz v analizi folklore. Elementi folklore 
so bili sprejeti, če so se ujemali s prevladujočimi moralnimi, političnimi ali verskimi stališči. Članek se 
zaključi z razpravo o najpomembnejših zaključkih raziskave, poudarjena je tudi nujnost celovitejšega 
raziskovanja vernakularne religoznosti v 19. stoletju ter pomembnost upoštevanja konteksta preučevanega 
obdobja pri poskusu razumevanja religijske preteklosti. Članek podaja podroben in niansiran vpogled v 
vlogo vraževerja v verskem in kulturnem okolju 19. stoletja na območju današnje Slovenije.
Ključne besede: vraževerje, vernakularna religija, 19. stoletje, slovenski nacionalizem, slovstvena folklora
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