Diva Grabovčeva
{{Short description|Martyr in Bosnian Catholic folklore (died c. 1680)}}
{{Infobox folk tale
|Folk_Tale_Name = Diva Grabovčeva
|Image_Name =Diva Grabovčeva 0226 (cropped) (cropped).jpg
|Image_Caption = One of Diva Grabovčeva statues
|Mythology = Legend
|Country = Bosnia and Herzegovina
|Origin_Date = 17th century
|Related =
}}
Diva Grabovčeva (born in Rumboci – died c. 1680, Kedžara) is a legendary figure in the folklore of Bosnian Catholic people, portrayed as a virgin martyr.
Narrative
According to the local oral tradition, she was born in the village of Rumboci, in Prozor-Rama, between two historical regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 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 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.{{cite web |author1=Ivan Markešić |author1-link=Ivan Markešić |title=Zahum i Kedžara: kako ne oskvrnuti mit o Divi i njezinu 'grebu'? |url=http://www.prometej.ba/clanak/drustvo-i-znanost/zahum-i-kedzara-kako-ne-oskvrnuti-mit-o-divi-i-njezinu-grebu-1620 |website=www.prometej.ba |access-date=11 April 2023 |language=en-gb |date=7 July 2014}}
Perception
Although Diva was neither recorded in chronicles of the {{ill|Franciscan friary, Šćit|bs|}} in Prozor-Rama, nor its martyrology,{{cite web |author1=Fra Mijo DŽOLAN |author2=Mirko JOZIĆ |author3=Milan BEŠLIĆ |title=Diva Grabovčeva |url=https://www.rama.co.ba/stranice/diva-grabovceva |website=Franjevački samostan Rama-Šćit |access-date=11 April 2023 |language=hr-HR}} 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.
{{ill|Ivan Markešić|hr|}}, Bosnian Croat sociologist and Christian theologian, 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 popular culture
The author of Diva Grabovčeva statue is the well known sculptor Kuzma Kovačić.{{cite web|url=http://www.blidinje.net/detaljno.aspx?id=33141|title=Lik Dive Grabovčeve kao brend vjerskog turizma|publisher=blidinje.net|accessdate=11 October 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208070912/http://www.blidinje.net/detaljno.aspx?id=33141|archivedate=8 December 2015}}
It is also sung in the song "Diva Grabovčeva" by Croatian musician Marko Perković Thompson.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{portal bar|Biography|Catholicism|Bosnia}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grabovceva, Diva}}
Category:People from Prozor-Rama
Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina Roman Catholics
Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina folklore