The book, edited by Marija Maračić and Josipa Karača, will be presented on 6 September at the Prozor Cultural Centre.
One of the women featured, Mara Bojić, received her first sicanje at the age of seven and her last at 10, becoming the fourth generation of women in her family to continue the tradition. She said she only learned years later, during religious education, that the symbols on her skin represented her Croatian and Catholic identity.
Sicanje involves piercing the skin with a needle and applying a dark pigment, usually to girls and women. Its motifs were associated with Christian symbols and identity, and the practice was particularly widespread in central Bosnia and parts of Herzegovina.
Maračić and Karača recorded the women's testimonies in the summer of 2019. The accounts describe a tradition passed down through generations and associated with faith, belonging and the preservation of identity.
"My greatest commitment is creating space for women whose stories should never be forgotten – women who kept this tradition alive in quiet, everyday moments, even though history rarely mentions them by name," Maračić said.
The book contains the testimonies in Croatian, with English and German translations, and is also aimed at the Croatian diaspora, particularly second- and third-generation descendants learning about their ancestral traditions through family stories.
The book will be available to order in the European Union, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the United States.