In Tatra legends, bohyňky are described as old women who look like children. They linger beside streams and marshes, emerge after sunset and pretend to wash laundry. The greatest fear concerned the belief that they stole unbaptised newborn babies and replaced them with their own children.
Where it appears
The Tatra region: Javorina, Jezersko, Lendak, Osturňa and other villages.
What the old legends say
Newborns were the main focus of fear. Folk tradition therefore linked a child’s protection with baptism, the sign of the cross and sometimes an iron object left near the cradle. After dark, people were supposed to avoid marshes and places where bohyňky allegedly washed clothes.
SOURCES OF THE STORY
Sources of the original atlas Tajemná místa · page 20
This legend preserves a folk tale. Its motifs do not constitute evidence of supernatural events.
