Myth and folktales

79
hay under the table. In Gažon and its vicinity, children had to fast all day on Christmas 
“vigils”, for those who abstained from all food would behold the “foal” in the evening. 
On Christmas Eve, the villagers of Divača watched the reflections of shadows cast by the 
Christmas log burning in the fireplace, saying that Božič jumps around the fireplace. 
On the same evening, the inhabitants of Brkini prepared a basket filled with hay for the 
Christmas foal (Kuret 1989/II: 333–334). Like the Scandinavian julbock, such customs 
are based on ancient beliefs that the foal is a personification of the deity that is closely 
linked with the yearly cycle and the renewal of nature. These notions were probably 
rooted in the Indo-European tradition. In Atharvaveda, the time is personified by Kala, 
who runs like a horse with many bridles (Cassirer 1965, 115). 
triGlav
Triglav (Three-head), also known as Troglav, Triglaous, and Trigelawus, was a 
three-headed Balto-Slavic god who was, according to archaeological finds, worshipped 
in Szczecin, Wolin, Silberberg, and Brandenburg. Sources from the 12
th
 century 
report that Triglav had a black horse with a saddle decorated with gold and silver. 
The horse’s head was covered with a golden bandage intended to prevent him from 
gazing upon human sins. 
Triglav has three heads because he directs three worlds, the heaven, the earth, 
and the underworld. He is mentioned by some medieval authors such as Ebbo (12
th
 
cent.), Helmold (12
th
 cent.), and Herbord, who was one of the biographers of Otto 
von Bamberg in the 12
th
 century. Adam of Bremen assumed that the name comes 
from the triangular shape of Wolin Island (Ovsec 1991: 147).
Ebbo reported on the cult of Triglav in Szczecin, writing that the middle, and 
the largest, of the three hills that guarded the entrance to the city was dedicated to 
Triglav. On the hill stood a statue of a higher deity with three silver heads adorned 
with a golden tiara.
An early medieval stone sculpture representing a head with three faces was found in 
the church of St. Martin near Silberberg, not far from St. Veit an der Glan in Austria. The 
right cheek and the neck of the stone head each have a carving of two more faces, which 
could be a remainder of the three-headed deity of the Alpine Slavs (Kahl 2005: 9–55). 
Another stone with three heads from Kärnten/Koroška in Austria was found 
on Magdalensberg/Štalenska Gora near Klagenfurt/Celovec. It seems that the statue 
was of Pre-Roman origin.
44
 
44 
More about this see: Schnabl 2012: 237–242. 

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80
Due to the similarity of names, a 
transfer of the emperor’s name to the 
three-headed deity occurred after the 
death of Roman emperor Trajan in A.D. 
117. South Slavs called the deity Trajan 
or Trojan. In Serbian folk songs, Trojan 
was referred to as an old deity and god 
of war (Čajkanović 1973). The Trojan of 
Serbian folktales has three heads, one of 
which devours humans, another cattle, 
and the third fish, all of which represent 
victims of three empires. Since Trajan 
set off into the world at night he has 
been classified as a supernatural being 
of lunar, or chthonic, character. 
Some researchers were of the opinion 
that, apart from the name, the god Triglav 
is allegedly not related to Mt. Triglav, the 
highest mountain in Slovenia, and has nothing in common with it. Although this view 
was also expressed by Milko Matičetov (1986: 130), current research indicates otherwise. 
As early as in the 18
th
 century, Anton Tomaž Linhart in his Attempt at the History of 
Kranjska (1788) wrote that Mt. Triglav was named after a three-headed deity. His view was 
shared by Anton von Mailly, who wrote in a note on the tale about it that Triglav (Terglov, 
Tricorno, Dreikopf) was a mountain dedicated to the Slavic god Triglav. The image with 
three heads was depicted in the temple in Brandenburg and in Szczecin (Mailly 1922).
Triglav stone (lapis Terglev) is mentioned in the Salzburg land register of 1322 in 
relation with an estate in Ptuj where the Triglav stone is situated. However, Andrej 
Pleterski (2001) believes that the stone in question is most likely the Orpheus stone.
Jakob Kelemina drew a parallel between folk songs about Trdoglav and Marjetica 
(SLP I, no. 21) and the related narrative tradition, asserting that the Trdoglav of the 
songs was indeed Triglav (Kelemina 1930: 274, no. 202/IV). Lubor Niederle believed that 
Triglav was the god of war and not a Pan-Slavic god as some scholars claimed. Damjan 
Ovsec, in contrast, is of the opinion that Triglav, with his black horse and silver heads, 
is definitely not a solar deity but a supernatural being of the lunar world. He compared 
Triglav with the three-headed Celtic deity or horned god Cernunosos (Ovsec 1991: 148). 
Likewise, believing that three heads are typical for gods of the underworld, Veselin 
Čajkanović compared Triglav with polycephalous German and Celtic deities. He also 
states, that the chthonic nature of Triglav is allegedly reflected in his similarity with 
Hermes Trismegist, Wotan, and the Gaelic Mercury (Čajkanović 1973).
An early medieval stone sculpture of a head 
with three faces, St. Martin near Silberberg

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81
Oral tradition has preserved the memory of the cursed thieving knight whose 
castle was built in one of the three peaks of Mt. Triglav. This tale “Die Kraft der Mistel” 
was collected in Alpine regions, and its Slovenian adaptation, titled “The Treasure of 
the Cursed Knight in Triglav”, was published by Jakob Kelemina in his collection of 
Slovene folktales (Kelemina 1930: 129–130, no. 77). According to this tale, a thieving 
knight once had a castle in one of the peaks of Mt. Triglav. Together with his squires 
he terrorized his serfs and waylaid traveling merchants. But the knight received his 
punishment when he was attacked by a much stronger foe that destroyed his castle 
and killed him. The brigand was punished for his sins by having to restlessly wander 
in human form for three hundred years. When his punishment ended, he found an 
elderly destitute couple living beneath Mt. Triglav and set out to help them to wealth. 
With the help of a magical mistletoe twig, which grows only on the trunk of a gnarled 
oak, the couple managed to dig out the looted treasure buried in the cellar of the 
knight’s castle in Triglav. The elderly couple was rewarded with unimagined wealth, 
and the cursed knight was finally able to lie down to eternal rest. 
Much of the narrative material on Mt. Triglav was collected by Jože Abram in 
his article “The Mythological World of Triglav” (1927) and by Julius Kugy in his 
book Five Centuries of Triglav (1927, Slovene edition 1979). Children’s author Mirko 
Kunčič published a collection of tales based on folk tradition, entitled Folktales of 
Triglav, which celebrate the area immediately beneath Mt. Triglav, particularly Dovje 
and Mojstrana. This mountain also inspired author France Bevk to write in 1930 his 
book Umirajoči bog Triglav (The Dying God Triglav).
Belenus and Belestis
Belenus, also named Belin or Belinus was an important deity venerated by the 
people of Noricum and Carnia. This principal god in Noricum was the god of light, 
the sun, and the healing powers, and, according to Tertullian (beg. of 3
rd
 cent.), 
protector against hostile attacks. His companion Belestis (Belena, Belestis Augusta, 
Belestris) has been documented only in Noricum (Šašel Kos 2001: 10–11).
The cult of Belinus was widespread in Iberia, Gaul, and the Eastern Alps. It 
spread from Noricum to Carnia and Aquileia, where it became so strong that Belenus 
became the patron saint of Aquileia. From there, the cult expanded to Celeia. Shrines 
dedicated to Belenus were erected mainly on Magdalensberg/Štalenska Gora and by 
Zigulln castle near Klagenfurt/Celovec; in Hochosterwitz/Ostrovica by Sankt Veit/
Šentvid an der Glan; two of them were also discovered in Villach/Beljak. Two shrines, 

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