Mistress of the Hunted Animals (Kholai)
Ket · numen · mythic / cosmic · Recorded classification
Kholai is the Ket mistress of the prey animals, a named female owner-spirit standing beside Kaigus among the masters of the wild. Where Kaigus owns the forest and its beasts generally, Kholai is specifically the patroness of the hunted game; some accounts blur the two and treat her as mistress of the forest as well. Hunters direct offerings and ritual respect to her to open the chase, and her displeasure spells failure and want.
Domains
- prey and the hunt
Powers
- to release or withhold prey to hunters
Sources
- Kholai is the named Ket mistress of the hunted animals (patroness of prey), one of the owner-spirits of the natural world who must be appeased with offerings for the hunt to prosper.: Alekseenko, E.A. (1967). Кеты: историко-этнографические очерки [The Kets]. Leningrad: Nauka. (secondary); Vajda, E.J. (2011). Siberian Landscapes in Ket Traditional Culture. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. (secondary)