Master of the Rivers and Fish (Ulgys)
Ket · numen · mythic / cosmic · Recorded classification
Ulgys is the Ket spirit-owner of the rivers and their fish, completing the triad of nature-masters that also includes the forest-master Kaigus and the game-mistress Kholai. Inhabiting the Yenisei and its tributaries, Ulgys is a benevolent but temperamental power over freshwater abundance; fishermen leave offerings of tea, tobacco, food and coins to keep the catch plentiful, while polluting or disrespecting the water invites scarcity and misfortune. Accounts vary on the being's gender, treating the river-owner at times as a masculine master and at times as a feminine source of plenty.
Domains
- rivers and fishing
Powers
- to fill or empty the fishing nets
Sources
- Ulgys is the named Ket master of the waterways and their fish, the owner-spirit of the Yenisei and its tributaries whose favour, secured by offerings, governs the success of fishing.: 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)