Sicanje/Bocanje

It has been suggested that the ritual of Sicanje/Bocanje, or traditional tattoo custom among Catholic women from today’s Bosnia and Herzegovina and some parts of Damlatia, originates from the pre-Christian period, even prior to 300 BCE according to some authors. Original name derives from verbs sicati or bocati, that translates as to prick, to sting. Natural ingredients such as soot of resinous pinesap in combination with honey, saliva, water, human mother’s milk, animal milk, egg yolk, etc., were used as tattoo pigments, and the tattoos were applied with needles or chicken feathers. Besides a special connection between tattooing and religion, which was executed on certain days or Catholic holidays, the most famous function of these tattoos had its peak during the Ottoman occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1463-1878). Catholics, as well as Orthodox Christians, were forced to convert to Islam, and additionally they were often victims of other acts of violence, such as kidnapping or raping. There was a law that allowed Ottoman chiefs to have sexual intercourse with Christian women on their wedding night, so one of the ways of trying to avoid such events and to protect the Christian women was to tattoo them with various motifs, such as crosses and other ornaments, and that reminded them of the women’s origin. They tattooed their hands, chest, fingers, foreheads, both for protection and for the remembrance in the case they converted to Islam. This tradition has served multiple purposes for the ones who practiced it – it was important ritual when it comes to keeping identity and heritage, and it protected women in the unfortunate historical events.