falter_ego_ 2024

Based on Serbian folk tradition, we can see that there was a widespread belief in dragons (ЗМАЈ), mythical creatures that are imagined differently in various places and occasions. Not to be confused with Ala or Aždaja, those were completely different beings.  
According to beliefs about appearance and some characteristics, we can divide them into three groups: dragons that identify with meteorites, dragon-men, and dragon-serpents.  
What they all have in common is that they are not evil beings, although there are exceptions, and they are not that rare.

The appearance of the dragon was shaped by the popular imagination in different ways, connecting it with traditions and giving it certain attributes, so sometimes it's hard to even imagine what they looked like. Sometimes they change shape, sometimes they share common elements from all three mentioned groups, while sometimes they are talked about without any details at all. Yet we can list a few examples.  
In eastern Serbia, it was believed that the dragon was some kind of bird with a ram's head and a snake's tail which flies at night and lightens up the sky like a shooting star. There is also a belief that the dragon is born from a carp (fish), when it reaches forty years of age, because that's when it gets legs and wings. Sometimes, again, the dragon is imagined as an eagle fighting with Alas and Aždajas, which then creates stormy clouds and lightning.

At last, a dragon can also have a human appearance. 
In eastern Serbia, certain people were believed to be dragons. They defend their village and region from the elements. For many figures from our folklore, it's been said that they were dragons or to have been born from a dragon and a fairy, or an ordinary human woman. 
It was believed that there are ordinary people who are dragons, and when disaster strikes, they die and seem to fall asleep, and from their bodies then a spirit (or a duplicate) comes out, which goes to fight with the thunderclouds.  According to t