The Kresnik, Who Fights in Dreams
In Istria, some children were said to be born with a gift. At night their spirits left their bodies to battle evil spirits in the sky, to protect the harvest.
What was reported
In the folklore of Istria and neighbouring Slovenia, a kresnik (or krsnik) is a person born with a special destiny, often marked by being born with a caul. At night, while the body sleeps, the kresnik's spirit leaves it, sometimes in the form of an animal, to fight the kudlak, an evil spirit or vampire.
The battles were said to happen on certain nights of the year, in the air or at crossroads, and the outcome decided whether the coming year would bring good harvests or storms and disease.
Explanations offered
The kresnik is one of several European traditions of 'night battles' between good and evil spirit-fighters, like the benandanti of north-east Italy, whose trials were studied by the historian Carlo Ginzburg. Scholars see them as traces of old agricultural beliefs.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- Istria, Croatia
- Witnesses
- Istrian and Slovenian folklore
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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