Category: Illustrations

My depiction of mythical creature from a short story “Call of Cthulhu” by H. P. Lovecraft

Bauk is a mythical creature from Serbian Mythology. The name Bauk comes from onomatopoeia BAU! (a Serbian sound similar to BOO!), used to scare somebody. This story presents it as a creature that hides in dark and abandoned places.  Bauk is a stealthy stalker with glowing eyes, it will grab, carry, and devour it’s pray. It’s usually portrayed as a fierce predator but is easily scared by noise and bright light. This story was used to scare disobedient and restless kids.

In Slavic mythology Svarog is the sun and fire god. He is represented as divine smith, patron of passionate people that have the ‘fire of the heart’ and of blacksmiths. It was believed that he him self forged the sun and gave it to his son Dazhbog to carry it across the sky. The root word ‘svar’ means bright, Sanskrit word ‘svarga’ means sky or heaven and in Indo-Aryan “svar” means the sun. He is identified with Hephaestus in ancient Greek religion who was also a god of blacksmithing, crafting, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes.  Ancient Slavs use to swear to Svarog when making a promise or concluding a deal. Usage of his name was respected more then the names of other gods, for Slavs Svarog was a symbol of order.

Vast cultural wealth of folklore in my region was always a great source of inspiration. Myths and legends were passed trough generations feeding imagination of people and they kept evolving and growing with their roots in Slavic and Greek mythology. Vampire (Vampir) was the first Serbian word that got in the global vocabulary. This myth was originated in Serbia centuries ago and spread trough the world inspiring many writers, artists and movie makers. In my illustrative series I’ll try to portray and revive those less known myths. https://danijelmatanic.com/slavic-myths/

New Unity Vibration label art.