Uastyrdzhi

WOMEN MAY NOT SAY HIS NAME, so the tradition supplies a second one: Lægty Dzuar, 'the Spirit of Men'. That is a name of the same figure and is carried as an alias, not as a separate record. He is also the most consequential absence in the Ossetian key: he is the figure Hetag prays to, the figure the Rekom shrine belongs to, and the figure the sources name as Satana's father.

Domains

• patronage of men
• travellers
• war and raiding
• oaths
• mediation between god and people

Relations

• named as father of in the nart epic: Satana

Sources

• Reference treatment of Uastyrdzhi (Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. UASTYRDŽI; Ossetian folklore): a popular Ossetian cultic figure, patron of men — particularly of masculine activities such as war, raiding and travelling — and overseer of oaths; Uastyrdzhi is the name of Saint George in Ossetian folklore; he is also called Lagtydzuar or Lagdzuar and more rarely Uastylag; he is available exclusively to males, and women may not even pronounce his name but refer to him as Lægty Dzuar, 'the Spirit (Patron) of Men'; he is a guarantor of oaths like his Iranian counterpart Mithra; in the Nart epic he is a celestial depicted as a mighty warrior on a white horse, is named as the father of Satana, and performs the function of mediator between God and people; three of the important shrines dedicated to him are Rekom, Dzvgisy dzuar and Styr Xoxy dzuar.