15 posts shown.
She desperately needs to push through some reforms. Nicolas Sarkozy won his election with people just like us, yet on the world stage, he’s clearly aiming to step into Tony Blair's shoes.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and everything that went down in Germany, we haven't seen a political landscape within a single European Union member state quite this intense or significant as what's happening right now in France.
THE ATTRACTION
She would be the most beautiful
woman ever created
in this world
without a single doubt.
She would be a true marvel,
everyone would stare in awe,
startle at her sight in the morning,
and fall deeply in love by nightfall.
She could be anyone,
but the greatest gift would be the ability to reinvent her,
to redraw her from scratch,
every single day.
Goran Bogunovic
Brian Ward said:Has anyone heard the story about Jergovic? Apparently, back when he was just a kid, his dog died in a horrific way. He used to leave his dog tied up on the apartment balcony while he headed off to school, and one day he came home to find the poor thing hanging from the railing. That kind of trauma clearly left its mark on Jergovic’s psyche at a young age...
And yet some people still wonder why Frank and Slobodan understood each other so well.
Life wasn't exactly kind to them.🙏.
The late Mr. Stan was always so kind to us poor souls, such a generous man. Even Lepa Goca wasn't half bad back when they were living in Baghdad.
Roger Reed49 said:...
At the end of the segment, Goran Milic 👍 jumps into Kadar and shows articles from 1986 about some Nazi group in Ottawa. They were passing around ash from Auschwitz, wearing black shirts, swastikas, hooked crosses, singing Nazi songs, and all that.
And guess who was one of the organizers and an arrestee? None other than our "pure" friend Miljenko, who actually apologized for missing the show. But when asked over the phone how he felt about the media frenzy back then, he just said, "It had the exact opposite effect of what we intended."🙄 😁
What idiots.
I mean, which "prison" 🙄 was he even talking about?
If he pulled that stunt today, he’d be hailed as a guru of Modern American Art 😛.
Instead, he's just some stateless nobody 😲 that nobody would care about—someone that even Aralica, that most prestigious "name" among those assimilated Vlas, wouldn't have bothered mentioning in his work.🙏
Baba Yaga
Imagine a witch living deep in the woods, tucked away in a hut perched on chicken legs. The whole place is surrounded by a fence made of human bones and skulls. Instead of a standard lock, she uses rows of sharp teeth, swapping out a heavy bolt for a human leg and using a human hand as her key.
Baba Yaga snatches up heroes and devours people, roasting stolen children in her oven. Most people imagine her as a hideous old woman with massive breasts and blind or sickly eyes.
Lešij, Lešovikh, Lešovoj, Lešak, Lješnik.
A spirit who rules over the forests and the beasts. He is imagined in human form as a shepherd whose flock consists of deer, does, and rabbits, all guarded by wolves or lynxes. He has blue cheeks, bulging green eyes, bushy eyebrows, and a long, green beard.
He might be draped in animal furs, though sometimes people imagine him with horns and hooves. His style is pretty bizarre—he always wears his left shoe on his right foot and fastens his coat on the wrong side. There were even rumors that he casts no shadow and that his blood runs blue.
When he wanders through the deep woods, his head brushes against the highest treetops, yet when he moves along the forest edge or through the brush, he shrinks into a dwarf—often so tiny he can hide under a single leaf. He shuns civilized landscapes, preferring to rule as the absolute master of the wild, where he’s always ready to lead travelers astray or give a hunter a good scare.
There is a master over the wolves who gathers them in the forest once a year just to decide which prey they'll hunt for the coming season. To protect yourself from his magic, you should probably put your clothes on inside out—and don't forget to wear your left shoe on your right foot, either.
Marena, Marana, Morena, Maržana.
The Goddess of Winter and Death. That’s also the name given to a straw doll used in rituals centered around death and rebirth in nature, or even in charms meant to bring the rain.
Mora, Mara, Maruha.
An evil spirit wanders through the night, sitting on the chests of those asleep to suck their blood. It could be the soul of the dead or even the living, taking the shape of a butterfly or some other creature to leave the body just to torment people.
Legend says it's born from a girl wearing a blood-stained shirt or perhaps someone who made a pact with the devil. It can manifest as anything—like strands of hair or bits of straw—and it's even capable of sliding right through a keyhole.
NAV, NAVI
An embodiment of death, the afterlife, and the lords of the underworld—these are demons born from the souls of stillborn and unbaptized infants. In old American folklore, people imagine them as birds that circle homes on dark nights, letting out terrifying shrieks before attacking pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children.
In American folklore, some people speak of unbaptized spirits or "invisible ones," which people imagine as massive birds with the heads of children. These are considered malicious demons that target infants and nursing mothers.
Ranchers are particularly terrified of the unbaptized, whom they believe steal milk from their cows, sheep, and goats. In Ukraine and Poland, people imagine them appearing in either human or animal form, known as the poterčuk or the bat.
Perun.
The thunder god is deeply respected by all Slavic peoples. They dedicate mountain peaks and springs to him, often offering a bull as a sacrifice. In Kyiv, his wooden idol featured a silver head and golden mouth.
Imagine him as a mature man wielding a flaming stone, a club, or arrows. He is summoned during the making of contracts and the swearing of oaths—ready to punish any trickster who dares break them.
In front of his statue in Novgorod, an oak wood fire burned day and night. If a careless servant let that flame die out, everyone would face death as punishment. He is honored by the oak tree, and among plants, the iris—which people believed protected the home from lightning, fire, and all kinds of misfortune.
You can see just how widespread the cult of the thunder god was by looking at the names of towns, springs, and mountains scattered across the entire Slavic world. After Christianization, people simply transferred the essence and role of that thunder deity over to Saint Elijah.
Nightmare.
Imagine a Polish spirit envisioned as a beautiful, tall girl dressed in flowing white gowns. She appears regularly during the summer harvest season. As she wanders through the fields at high noon, if she encounters a man or woman working, she'll grab them by the hair and ruthlessly knock them to the ground.
VAMPIRE
A vampire is essentially a dead spirit—a corpse brought back to life by an evil spirit or the devil himself. In the dead of night, they crawl out of their graves to prey on humans and animals alike. Folklore describes them as being hairy like a dog, with bloodshot eyes and teeth, sometimes even breathing fire. Others say they have no bones at all, appearing as nothing more than a skin bag filled with blood.
In many stories, criminals and sinners become vampires after death, though righteous people can fall victim too if an impure animal—like a cat, dog, mouse, or chicken—crosses over their remains. Most often, vampires are said to be older men. These creatures can shapeshift into various animals or even turn invisible.
Animals like dogs, horses, and cattle usually sense them approaching first. You’ll most commonly find them lurking in graveyards, at crossroads, near watermills, or even inside the homes of their own kin. There isn't one single foolproof way to stop them, but people believe you can ward them off by painting a cross in tar on your door, or using iron, garlic, the sound of bells, or placing sharp objects under your pillow.
The most important thing is taking precautions so the deceased doesn't turn into a vampire. To prevent this, the skin might be slit, the tendons below the knees cut, or hawthorn thorns driven under the fingernails. This is meant to stop the devil from tearing the skin and bloating the body into a vampire.
Sometimes a thorn is also driven into the flesh under the tongue to prevent them from sucking blood. Other traditions suggest burying the body face down or placing a sickle around the neck. Once found, a vampire can be destroyed in several ways.
A common trick is to take a solid black stallion to a graveyard; if the horse starts staring intently at a specific grave, that's where the vampire lies. The grave is then dug up, and the body is dealt with by being impaled with a hawthorn stake, burned, thrown into water, or covered in lime. Sometimes, ash is scattered around graves to help track the vampire's footprints.
Even a child born of a vampire possesses the ability to hunt them down and kill them. Some even consider a four-eyed dog—one with an extra eye above each normal eye—to be a vampire's fiercest enemy.
Across different parts of the American landscape, these creatures go by many names: werewolf, lampir, or most commonly, the upir.
FAERIE
Supernatural female beings who are generally fond of humans. They are imagined as incredibly beautiful young women with golden hair and wings, dressed in long, flowing gowns and armed with arrows.
They live far away from civilization, dwelling in the mountains, near rivers, or high among the clouds. It was believed they were born from morning dew, certain flowers, or during a sunshower when a rainbow appears. They build magnificent, opulent castles high in the clouds.
They can shapeshift into various animals, mainly swans, falcons, horses, or wolves. You might see them riding horses or deer, going on hunts, or dancing in circles. They often fall in love with heroes, offering them advice or helping them through deeds, though sometimes they act as rivals. They are also fond of young women, who can pray to them for beauty or protection.
Faerie folk are particularly skilled at healing battle wounds using various herbs. They also possess the gift of prophecy. However, they don't take insults lightly; they can kill those who offend them with a single look or an arrow. They only submit to those who manage to steal their clothing, and if someone takes their wings, they transform into ordinary women. They may also possess the legs of a goat, horse, or donkey.