| Voloska | |
|---|---|
Goddess of the home and the hearth | |
| Other names | Vlasta |
| Genealogy | |
| Spouse | Veles |
Voloska, sometimes dubbedVlasta,[1] is a Croatian and Slavichearthpseudo-deity that has not been attested in historical sources onSlavic paganism.[2] The first known published source that attests to Voloska is the 1943 bookHrvatska narodna mitologija ("Croatian National Mythology") by psychiatrist Nikola Sučić,[3] which has been criticized by Croatian ethnologists as "incorrectly assessing" pagan myths and as unreliable due to a lack of sources.[4][5][6]
According to Sučić, Voloska was the spouse ofVeles and the protector of agricultural workers, symbolized by a cow and aswallow. He claims that all Slavic homes featured analcove ("mirište") where a small flame would be lit in Voloska's honor. This alcove would allegedly also includestatuettes of Voloska made from wood, wax oramber.[3]
After the publishing of Sučić's book, Voloska was mentioned in the poems ofVladimir Nazor ("Miti i legende", 1948) and Boro Pavlović ("Slavenska lipa", 1960).[3]
Commonly cited publicist and movie directorFranjo Ledić, whose interpretation of Slavic mythology was cited as "romanticized" by ethnologist Tea Škokić[7] and "uncritical" by Lidija Bajuk,[6] wrote a chapter on Voloska based on the work of Sučić and the previously mentioned poems.[8]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)