Erirey
Karachay Balkar · numen · Karachay Balkar traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Erirey is the patron spirit of grain and of the threshing floor, one of the labour-song numina by which Karachay-Balkar farmers sanctified their work. His name is the refrain of the threshing song raised as the oxen tread the cut sheaves in a circle; the singers call on Erirey to swell the heap of winnowed grain and to keep the harvest abundant. Like the churning-spirit Dolay and the sheep-patron Aymush he survives chiefly in the seasonal work songs, a personification of the increase sought from a particular agrarian task.
Domains
- agriculture
- threshing
Powers
- multiplies the threshed grain
Epithets
- Эрирей — Erirey (threshing refrain)Малкондуев Х.Х. «Древняя песенная культура балкарцев и карачаевцев». Нальчик: Эльбрус, 1990. (secondary)
Sources
- Erirey is the patron power of grain and of the threshing floor, named and invoked in the labour song sung while oxen tread the sheaves.: Малкондуев Х.Х. «Древняя песенная культура балкарцев и карачаевцев». Нальчик: Эльбрус, 1990. (secondary); Джуртубаев М.Ч. «Древние верования балкарцев и карачаевцев». Нальчик: Эльбрус, 1991. (secondary)