Gudi
Rutul · deity · Rutul traditional religion; continuing · deity
Gudi, also Gudil, is the Rutul rain-deity and the centre of the agrarian rite for calling rain in time of drought. He belongs to a single Lezgic figure known under many names — Godey among the Tsakhur and Tabasarans, Peshapay among the Lezgins, Zyuvil among the Laks — everywhere personified in the ceremony by a costumed human. Among the Rutuls the deity was enacted by a youth wholly wrapped in green branches, who was conducted from door to door, drenched with water in sympathetic imitation of rainfall, and given gifts of food; the observance closed with a shared meal. Traces of Gudi's cult survived within Islam as a village weather rite rather than as an object of temple worship.
Domains
- rain and weather
- agrarian fertility
Powers
- summon rain over the fields
Sources
- Халилов Х.М. Гудил // Мифы народов мира. Энциклопедия. М.: Советская энциклопедия, 1980–1982.
- Сефербеков Р.И. Обряды вызова дождя в традиционной культуре населения горно-равнинных районов Дагестана // Вестник Дагестанского научного центра РАН. Махачкала.