Curse in Macedonian Traditional Culture

Abstract

Curses are spoken formulas that express a desire to happen something bad in the future to someone or something, with the assurance that it will capture. This conviction or belief is based on faith in the magical power of the word. In the folk life curses are being made when the most important values in the community are injured. Therefore, curses are discussed in relation to the  values that are maintained in a given community, and their  violation determines sin, and depending on the committed sin and weights required curses or punishments. Looking from this social perspective, they represent a measure of values in the society that occurs  as  an  indication  of  distortion  of values,  whether  those  who  suggest  deteriorated values occupy a high or low social status in the community or family. The curse is correcting the distortion, i.e. some satisfying justice, out exclusively on force majeure, and indefinitely. In this regard it emphasizes that the most important values in traditional Macedonian culture were life itself, created progeny, and their family, property and honor. Most evidence of the belief  in  the  power  of  the  curse  by  folk  stories  is the  event  of an  accident  either  cursed person  or  his  family.  Therefore,  curses  also  point  another  very important  value,  which  is highly  appreciated  –  the  natural  course  of  human  life,  birth-marriage-death,  that  value in  ritual  practices  tend  to  emphasize  or  re-establish  if  it  is disturbed,  and  curses  she  tries to unravel.