Whose Jaws Swallow the Sun: Werewolves, Wolf Gods, and the “Lame Devil” in Balkan Folk Magic

This is a 120-minute intermediate level lecture, located in The Library (lower level)

This class will consider one of the most essential motifs across Balkan necromantic practices and traditions of ancestor veneration: the chthonic wolf. Beginning with an exploration of the wolf as mythic ancestor, this lecture will draw on ancient Balkan and Thracian understandings of the place of wolves in the agricultural and mythopoetic cycle. Of special attention will be the enigmatic figure of the Master, Lord, or Shepherd of the Wolves, a pan-Balkan deity with myriad expressions across different saint masks and regional variations, whose mysteries are key to understanding the seemingly contradictory roles of the wolf as a noble ancestor, restless dead, and ultimate predator and disruptor of village safety. Finally, the presentation will draw on ethnographic and anthropological research, as well as personal training in oral traditions, to discuss the vukodlak or werewolf, and explore the…