Baba Babnega polja<br>The Baba of Babno polje</br>

Abstract

According to local tradition, a huge Baba (hag, woman) lies in the Bohinj valley in northwest Slovenia. The authors of this essay decided to ascertain to what degree, if so at all, the circumstances in Babno polje (field of Baba; south Slovenia on the border with Croatia) resemble the ones in Bohinj. While the prostrate body of Baba is clearly discernible in Bohinj this has yet not been established for Babno Polje. However, the childbearing part of the afore-mentioned Baba, the spring Trbuhovica, is quite unambiguous. Topographically three areas of mythic events are suggested in Babno polje region: birth from Trbuhovica, marriage (Vragofka and Vražji vrtec), death (Miklavževa lokvica).

Keywords

• slovenia
• croatia
• mythology
• slavs
• baba
• mokoš
• mythic landscape