Throughout its history, Bosnia and Herzegovina has collected a wealth of legends about forbidden loves, tragic events and unhappy young women who pined for their beloved. One of the most beautiful is the life story of the young Safikada from Banja Luka.
There are several legends about the beautiful Safikaduna or Safikada, according to some stories it could have been the granddaughter of Ferhat Pasha Sokolović, but both this story and the legend differ depending on the source from which they come.
One of the legends says that it was a young woman who took her own life because of the unfulfilled relationship with a soldier stationed in the nearby fort:
‘She, Safikaduna, beautiful and young girl, whom no other in Banja Luka could hold a candle to, and he, Omer, handsome and indomitable Bosnian, conscripted into the army of Sultan Fatih. It fell to this young soldier to do his military service in the nearby castle fortress. Love was kindled at first sight. While the beautiful Safikada was walking below the walls of the old town, she secretly looked at the young soldier and he immediately fell in love with her. Their hearts beat faster.
For days they looked at each other, whispered to each other and met in secret, but the love affair did not last long. Safikada’s parents didn’t like the fact that their daughter’s chosen one was a soldier. They told her:
-Daughter, a soldier is here today and God knows where tomorrow, it always depends on the Tsar’s orders. This love has no future!
And it happened as it had to happen. The order came from Constantinople. Safikada’s parents breathed a sigh of relief.
The handsome soldier was transferred far away from Banja Luka. But before he set off on the long journey, they met secretly beneath the treetops on the nearby green Vrbas. They swore to be faithful to each other until death.
It wasn’t long before the sad news came. Their soldier had lost his life on the battlefield.
Torn apart by grief and pain, the beautiful Safikaduna mourned for days. She could not get over her beloved. Before the ‘Baljemaz’ cannon on the castle fortress was to sound the noon signal with a volley, she hurried upstairs in her most beautiful maiden’s robes.
While the fuse was burning, she quickly stood in front of the cannon barrel …
The second legend says that the beautiful and wilful Safikada deliberately disobeyed the orders of an Austro-Hungarian soldier and thus perished.
According to this story, Safikada’s fate occurred in the 19th century, when the Austro-Hungarian army was stationed in the fort. Safikada was the daughter of a renowned merchant from Banja Luka, famous far and wide for her beauty.
As in the previous story, her life was predestined. The parents of a beautiful daughter from a good family could choose the best of the many suitors and thus ensure their daughter a life that every young woman of that time would have wished for.
But a loving heart cannot be tamed.
During one of her walks around the fort, Safikada noticed an Austro-Hungarian soldier and the two young people fell in love at first sight. At the time, it was inconceivable for a Muslim family to allow their daughter to marry a non-believer. Because a young woman was not allowed to move around unaccompanied at that time, Safikada and her soldier met in secret, usually when he was on guard duty.
As in the first story, Safikada and her beloved decided to run away, but his deployment to the front prevented this. When she received the news of his death, Safikada decided to honour her vow of loyalty and go to her death herself, defying the orders of an Austro-Hungarian soldier who told her not to approach the fort. After she ran on anyway, he shot and killed her in the very place she was secretly visiting with her beloved. In doing so, he made her a symbol of eternal love.
In all the legends written or told at Safikada’s gravesite, the tragic love between Safikada and the handsome soldier has often been sung about. One of these songs reads:
„Legenda jedna još uvijek živi:
Za ljubav svoju,
Safikada iako mlada
svoj život dade.
I ove noći neko će proći
tu pokraj zdanja Ferhadije,
neko ko beskrajno voli,
ko ljubav cijeni i ljubav krije.
Niko ga kažu video nije
i niko ne zna ko to radi.
Ko svako veče kad akšam pada
zapali svijeće Safikadi.
Tužno je bilo kad haber stiže
da on se nikada vratiti neće.
Pred top je stala lijepa Safikada
i krvlju zalila cvijeće.”
(The song in the spirit of Sevdalinka was written by Vlado Dijak and sung by Zekija Čuturić, 1972)
