Xizir, the 'Green One' of Muslim tradition, is the deathless wandering saint venerated among the Tats as among their Caucasian neighbours. Having drunk of the water of life, he roams the earth unseen and appears without warning to rescue travelers lost or endangered, to reward the pious and the hospitable, and to bring plenty where he passes. His coming is bound to the turning of winter toward spring, and his festival, kept in the depth of the cold season, greets the first stirring of the year's renewal. Alone among the beings of Tat folk belief he is wholly benevolent, the bright counterpart to the demons of wilderness and hearth.