Ağac kişi
Azerbaijani · numen · Azerbaijani traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Ağac kişi, the 'tree-man', is the wildman of Azerbaijani forest and mountain belief, particularly of the wooded Talysh country around Lənkəran and the Caucasus ranges. He is imagined as a tall, hair-covered humanoid of enormous strength who dwells among trees and cliffs, ambushes solitary travellers, and wrestles or carries off those who trespass on his domain; regional tellings give him a sharp bony blade on the chest with which he wounds anyone he clasps. He stands within a broad Caucasian and Central Asian family of wildman figures such as the Almasty and the Biabanguli, and shades into the wilderness demon Qulyabanı in popular telling.
Domains
- forests and mountains
Powers
- waylays and wrestles those who enter its forest
Sources
- Ağac kişi is the hairy wildman of Azerbaijani forest and mountain lore, of great strength, who lurks in wooded and Talysh highland country and attacks or wrestles travellers, akin to the Caucasian Almasty.: Celal Beydili, Türk Mitolojisi Ansiklopedik Sözlük, Ankara, 2005, s.v. 'Ağaç kişi' (secondary); Mirəli Seyidov, Azərbaycan mifik təfəkkürünün qaynaqları, Baku, 1983 (secondary)