Bukavac () is a
demonic
mythical creature
A legendary creature (also mythical or mythological creature) is a type of fictional entity, typically a Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore (including myths and legends), but may be feat ...
in
Slavic mythology
Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who likely settled in the Balk ...
.
Belief in it existed in
Syrmia.
Bukavac was sometimes imagined as a six-legged monster with gnarled
horn
Horn most often refers to:
*Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound
** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments
*Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...
s and bright blue eyes.
[ It lives in ]lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
s and pools, coming out of the water during the night to make a loud noise
Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference aris ...
(hence the name: ''buka'' – noise). It would jump onto people and animals and strangle them.[
]
See also
*Drekavac
Drekavac, (literally "the screamer" or "the screecher"Levi, Pavle (2007). ''Disintegration in frames: aesthetics and ideology in the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav cinema''. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Presspage 181 .), also called drekalo, ...
*Myling
In Scandinavian folklore, the mylingar were the phantasmal incarnations of the souls of children that had been forced to roam the earth until they could persuade someone (or otherwise cause enough of a ruckus to make their wishes known) to bury t ...
References
Slavic demons
Slavic legendary creatures
Serbian folklore
Mythological aquatic creatures
{{Europe-myth-stub