Snohačenje – When a Serbian father copulates with his Daughter-in-Law

Snohačenje is a Serbian family custom that legalized an intimate relationship between a father-in-law and a daughter-in-law in the event that the official husband was underage or incapable of fulfilling marital duties. The custom was most prevalent in the Pomoravlje and Vranje region from the late 1870s to the mid-20th century, and historical and ethnological sources record it as one of the most extreme practices of patriarchal society in Serbia.

Etymology

The name comes from the Old Slavic word snoha (“daughter-in-law”) and the verb spavati in a figurative meaning for a marital relationship. Variants such as snohačenje, snoharenje, and snohačka are also used in folk speech. Linguistic research shows that the root of the word is present in most Slavic languages, indicating the antiquity of this concept in Slavic culture.

Geographic Distribution

Although individual traces of snohačenje are also found in other Balkan regions, the most reliable records indicate a concentrated occurrence in:

• Wider Pomoravlje (Ćuprija, Jagodina, Paraćin)
• Pčinja district—the town of Vranje and surrounding villages
• Individual villages east of the South Morava River

Regional Variants

In different parts of Serbia, the practice of snohačenje had specific characteristics. In the villages of the Morava region, the custom was more strictly regulated by family rules, while in the Vranje region it was more accepted as an informal practice. Ethnographers note that in eastern Serbia, snohačenje was sometimes accompanied by ritual elements, such as a blessing by the oldest woman in the household.

From 1878 to World War I

The establishment of new administrative units after the Congress of Berlin in 1878 led to a break with earlier feudal structures, but the extended family cooperative remained the basic unit of society. In such a system, continuity of the male line was crucial. If the son was too young, the senior male of the family—usually the father-in-law—took on the role of “marital protector.”

The Interwar Period

The social reforms of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes did not immediately reach rural areas. Ethnographic research in the 1920s recorded that snohačenje was “rare, but not unknown” in predominantly illiterate rural communities.

Decline After 1945

After World War II, the new family laws of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia explicitly prohibited all forms of incest and coercion. Education and rural-to-urban migration accelerated the disappearance of the custom.

Conditions

The custom generally occurred under the following conditions:

• A minor or sexually immature son
• A daughter-in-law of full age, often considerably older than her husband
• An extended family living together in the same household

Duration

The relationship typically lasted from the wedding night until the son reached adulthood (usually between 16 and 18 years of age). During this period, children could be born who legally belonged to the husband’s family, even though their biological father was the father-in-law.

Ritual Aspects

Unlike weddings or funerals, snohačenje did not have a formal ritual structure. It took place privately within the household and was generally accompanied by silence and secrecy.

Practice Details

The practice most often began on the wedding night, when the father-in-law replaced the underage son in the marriage bed. This arrangement was regarded as temporary until the son reached physical and psychological maturity. In some cases, particularly when the son was very young (10–12 years old), the arrangement lasted for several years.

In some families there was also a custom of “handing over” the daughter-in-law, in which the father-in-law ceremonially declared that he was transferring his marital rights to his son. This ceremony was usually conducted before close relatives and accompanied by blessings and symbolic gifts.

Social and Legal Aspects

Within traditional rural norms, the custom was not considered sinful. The Serbian Orthodox Church, however, condemned it as a violation of marital fidelity. The criminal law of the Kingdom of Serbia did not directly regulate the practice, but the Criminal Code of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (1951) criminalized incest, effectively ending the custom.

Position of the Serbian Orthodox Church

The Serbian Orthodox Church regarded snohačenje as a grave sin and a violation of the sanctity of marriage. Priests attempted to educate believers about the unacceptability of the practice, although their influence in remote rural areas was often limited. Some accounts claim that certain priests refused to baptize children born from such unions, considering them “unclean.”

Legal Aspects

Although not explicitly prohibited under earlier Serbian law, snohačenje conflicted with the fundamental principles of marriage law. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Vojvodina reportedly attempted to suppress the practice through administrative measures, while in the Kingdom of Serbia the issue remained largely unregulated until the twentieth century.

Psychological and Sociological Consequences

Research has highlighted trauma among women forced into sexual relationships with authoritarian male figures, as well as long-term family conflicts resulting from uncertain biological parentage.

Psychological Impact on Women

Women subjected to snohačenje often experienced serious psychological problems. Ethnopsychological studies describe cases involving depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Women who gave birth to children fathered by their fathers-in-law also faced the lifelong burden of concealing the child’s true parentage.

Impact on Children

Children born from these relationships could experience identity crises upon learning the truth about their origins. They were placed in the unusual position of treating their biological father as their grandfather while recognizing their legal father as their brother. Psychologists argue that such family dynamics could contribute to significant developmental problems.

Literature

The best-known literary depiction appears in Nečista krv (Impure Blood, 1910) by Borisav Stanković, where the character Marko openly insists on sexual access to his daughter-in-law Sofka. The theme later appeared in stories by Đorđe Jovanović and in the village chronicles of Tihomir Đorđević.

Ethnography

Snohačenje was included in the Ethnographic Collection of the Serbian Royal Academy as an example of the extreme patriarchal sexual authority exercised by fathers-in-law over daughters-in-law.

Folk Tradition

Despite its taboo nature, the custom appears in proverbs, riddles, and folk songs. Proverbs associated with the practice include:

• “A father-in-law is not a father to a daughter-in-law.”
• “Where there is no husband, the father-in-law is lord.”
• “A daughter-in-law serves two masters.”

These sayings reflect the ambiguity and complexity surrounding the custom.

Contemporary Art

The theme has also appeared in modern artistic works. The National Theatre’s 1985 adaptation of Impure Blood emphasized its psychological dimensions. The film Sofka’s Secret (1998), directed by Milan Jelić, likewise portrayed the tragedy of a woman trapped within a patriarchal system.

All three customs shared the broader social objective of preserving the extended family household and regulating reproduction.

Decline and Disappearance

By the late 1930s, the first court cases appeared in which daughters-in-law accused their fathers-in-law of coercion, although judicial penalties remained relatively lenient. After 1945, educational reforms, collectivization, and mass migration from villages to industrial centers contributed decisively to the disappearance of the custom.

The Role of Education

The spread of literacy and formal education played a major role in eliminating snohačenje. Education empowered girls to resist patriarchal pressures while encouraging changing attitudes toward women’s roles within the family. Teachers were often among the first public critics of the custom.

The Impact of Urbanization

The migration of rural populations into cities after World War II weakened the traditional extended family household. Urban living conditions and changing social norms made the continuation of snohačenje practically impossible. The nuclear family replaced the traditional cooperative household.

Today, snohačenje is generally viewed in Serbia as historical evidence of the oppression of women in traditional patriarchal society. Feminist historians frequently cite it as an example of systemic sexual violence legitimized through custom.

Feminist Perspective

Contemporary feminist scholarship interprets snohačenje as an extreme manifestation of patriarchal control over women’s bodies and sexuality. It is described as institutionalized sexual violence embedded within broader systems of female oppression.

Anthropological Analysis

Modern anthropologists generally analyze the custom within its broader economic context. They argue that it functioned as part of a system intended to preserve family property, labor, and lineage continuity within patriarchal households, while acknowledging that these objectives came at the expense of individual rights and human dignity.

The television series Impure Blood: Sin of the Ancestors (RTS, 2021) renewed public interest in the subject by portraying its psychological consequences through the character of Sofka.

Media Coverage

Over the past two decades, snohačenje has increasingly become the subject of documentaries, newspaper articles, and television programs discussing the relationship between tradition and modernization. The topic continues to provoke public debate and controversy.

Sources

“Creepy Serbian custom – Snohačenje: A woman had to have intimate relations with her father-in-law” . sd.rs . 4. 12. 2021 . Accessed 3. 7. 2025 .

Đorđević, Tihomir R. (1909). Customs of the Serbian People. Book II . Belgrade: Serbian Royal Academy. pp. 68—70. “

After five days of fighting, 8,000 people welcomed freedom in Vranje” . Južne vesti . 23. 1. 2023. Accessed 3. 7. 2025. [ dead link ]

Čajkanović, Veselin (1941). Old Serbian Religion and Mythology . Belgrade: Naučno delo. pp. 155—156.

Nikolić, Vesna (2016). . “Rituals of Passage in a Traditional Serbian Family” . Ethnological Journals . 37 (2): 78—95.

Đorđević, Tihomir R. Customs of the Serbian People . Belgrade: SKA, 1909.

Čajkanović, Veselin. Old Serbian Religion and Mythology . Belgrade: Naučno delo, 1941.

Stanković, Borisav. Impure Blood . Belgrade: G. Kon, 1910.