As we pass through the Velebit mountain passes and crossroads, we will come across seemingly randomly placed stone slabs that will catch our attention only when we get closer to them. Only then will we notice that these are unique tombstones – Velebit “mirila”.
For many years, “mirila” were completely forgotten, mentioned only in a few scientific papers, until they became protected cultural monuments and objects of cultural tourism in our time.
These monuments are an expression of a unique funeral ritual characteristic of Velebit, especially the South Velebit and its surroundings. They consist of two vertically placed stones or two partially processed stone slabs (larger one at the head and smaller one at the foot), with smaller slabs horizontally arranged between them. According to tradition, the “mirilo” is exactly the same length as the deceased’s body, with the measure taken at the exact spot where the funeral procession stopped to rest on its way to the cemetery. The measure was taken there for the deceased.
Hence their name. Since mirila indicate resting places for souls, the word mirila is also related to the words peace, calm, and rest.
Researchers agree that mirila are most likely monuments to the souls.
The origin of mirila is linked to the way of life of people in remote mountain dwellings on Velebit. Namely, for the population who, due to grazing, lived in the mountains permanently or temporarily, it was not easy to reach the cemetery, which was usually kilometers away from their residences. The deceased would be carried for hours on wooden stretchers along the goat paths, and during this long journey, the procession was only allowed to rest at one place. These places were called mirila, and only there, nowhere else, the deceased was allowed to touch the ground on the way from home to the grave. Also, knowing that there is already a mirilo of a deceased ancestor in the mountains, those who carried the body would place it right next to that place. They would mark this place, the resting place of his soul, with a large stone, and the procession would continue on its way. and then continue to the cemetery where the burial would take place.
A few days after the burial, we would return to the resting place of the soul and create a monument. The position of the tombstone on the North and Central Velebit is usually east-west, with the larger stone (head) to the east, while on the South Velebit there are deviations and some tombstones are placed in a north-south direction.
It is interesting that the cemeteries were not visited because the bodies that were buried there decay. But on certain dates, flowers, apples, and similar gifts were taken to the tombstones because the eternal soul rests there. The people have woven many stories about the tombstones. One of them says that it is only on the tombstones that the deceased’s soul finds peace and that the tombstones are its salvation, otherwise it would wander aimlessly…
There are the most tombstones on the South Velebit, particularly around Starigrad-Paklenica, near the places of Ljubotić, Koići, Glavčica, above Katalinići, Kruškovac, near Modriča… The largest preserved site, with over three hundred tombstones, is Vukićeva tombstones near Ljubo There are small stone monuments called “mirila” located only three kilometers away from the sea (above the village of Tribanj-Kruščica).
The tradition of placing mirila is usually associated with the period between the 17th century and the second half of the 20th century, although there are indications that they were placed much earlier. The slopes of Velebit were inhabited by Illyrians, Romans, Slavs, Vlachs…, and they all brought their own customs and beliefs from their places of origin. In their ancestral homeland, the Vlachs had the custom of burying the dead in the mountains, where the deceased would be exhumed and reburied in the local cemetery after three, five, or seven years. However, there is no confirmation of this custom on Velebit.
In terms of purpose and form, mirila are similar to “stećci” (medieval tombstones in Bosnia and Herzegovina), although they have more abstract ornamentation, which is why some sources also associate them with the Bosnian Church and the Bogomils. However, even if members of the Bosnian Church arrived on Velebit fleeing the Ottomans in the 16th century, it still doesn’t explain the origin of mirila. Nevertheless, it is presumed that some knowledge of the Bogomils about life and death could have influenced the development of these monuments. ceremonies, hence the similarity with stećci.
The most common symbols are engraved on the headstones, rarely on the pedestals: rosettes, circles, triangles with dots, cross, petals, x sign, pentagram, and sometimes stylized human figure or anthropomorphic cross shape. Analyses show that the abstract-geometric ornamentation was taken from the Illyrians, and that the symbols are a syncretism of Illyrian and Slavic ornaments. One explanation for the use of these symbols is that the population was illiterate. Indeed, when the population of Velebit began to become literate (in the 20th century), the symbols on the tombstones were replaced by the deceased’s name combined with their surname, year of birth, or both. However, shortly after the engraving of letters and numbers began, the tradition of setting tombstones ceased.
As a result of population migrations that followed World War II, there were fewer and fewer people for whom the herd meant life, and the mountains were a natural environment in which they felt that humans were much closer to the gods than we do today. that it is much more than this physical body.
This unique traditional ritual testifies that the people who once lived there believed that physical death is just a transition, a transition into everlasting rest.