Kurchil
Rutul · numen · Rutul traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Kurchil, also Kyrchil, is the Rutul demon of the night that steals upon sleepers and presses down to throttle them — the personification of the crushing nightmare and of sleep-paralysis. She is a shape-shifter: sometimes a cat, sometimes a great bladder or bubble of liquid, and often a woman with wild, shaggy hair. Rutul custom treats her ambivalently rather than as a pure enemy; when a new house is completed the household places a bowl of milk in a corner as an invitation for Kurchil to take up residence there peaceably, a domestic conciliation of the very spirit that torments the sleeping.
Domains
- nightmare and sleep
Powers
- throttle the sleeping
- shift between cat, bladder and shaggy woman
Sources
- Kurchil (Kyrchil) is the Rutul nocturnal demon that comes by night to strangle sleepers, appearing as a cat, a bladder of liquid or a shaggy woman; owners of a new house set out a bowl of milk in a corner to invite it in.: Сефербеков Р.И. Персонажи низшей мифологии народов Дагестана. Махачкала: ИИАЭ ДФИЦ РАН, 2019. (primary)