Diva Grabovčeva (born in Rumboci – died c. 1680, Kedžara) is a legendary figure in the

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

of Bosnian Catholic people, portrayed as a

virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

Narrative

According to the local

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

, she was born in the village of Rumboci, in

Prozor-Rama Prozor-Rama ( sr-cyrl, Прозор-Рама) is a municipality located in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its seat is Prozor. Also, Ramsko lake is located in the muni ...

, between two historical regions of

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical Regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia (reg ...

, at the boundary of southern Bosnia and northern Herzegovina. In a legend Diva Grabovčeva refused to marry outside of her religion and refused the local Ottoman nobleman's marriage proposal, ran away from her home and hid in the Kedžara area. The young man found her and, in a moment of rage, killed her. At the beginning of the 20th century, the archaeologist

Ćiro Truhelka Ćiro Truhelka (2 February 1865 – 18 September 1942) was a Croatian archeologist, historian, and art historian who devoted much of his professional life to the study of the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He wrote about prehistory, Roman and ...

found mortal remains in a grave at Kedžara, which he claimed belonged to a young girl, and associated it with the legend, claiming that it could be Diva Grabovčeva.

Perception

Although Diva was neither recorded in

chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...

s of the in Prozor-Rama, nor its

martyrology A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by na ...

, she became a symbol of virginity, and the grave marked by Truhelka a pilgrimage site, which the local Catholics used in a usually very intimate, a private, rite of sacramental oath or sacramentum. In modern times, she is memorialized particularly among

Bosnian Croats The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (), often referred to as Bosnian Croats () or Herzegovinian Croats (), are native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitute the third most populous ethnic group, after Bosniaks and Serbs. They are also one of ...

. , Bosnian Croat sociologist and

Christian theologian Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradit ...

, critically assessed current perception of the myth, questioning a narrative's very public celebration from the 1990s onward, and a potential for political abuse and excessive glorification of the time past in relation to present, especially as a means of

otherization In philosophy, the Other is a fundamental concept referring to anyone or anything perceived as distinct or different from oneself. This distinction is crucial for understanding how individuals construct their own identities, as the encounter wit ...

In popular culture

The author of Diva Grabovčeva statue is the well known sculptor

Kuzma Kovačić Kuzma Kovačić (born 6 June 1952 ) is a Croatian academic sculptor and professor. Kovačić was born at the island of Hvar, where he attended gymnasium. In 1976 he graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He is the author of the alta ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grabovceva, Diva People from Prozor-Rama Bosnia and Herzegovina Roman Catholics Bosnia and Herzegovina folklore Legendary Bosnian people Legendary Christians Blidinje plateau

Narrative

Perception

In popular culture

See also

References