Kvidili

Kvidili is the masked festival being at the heart of Igbi, the midwinter rite of the Dido village of Shaitli, held around the fifth of February at the turn of winter and unique among the peoples of Daghestan. He is described as a giant with an enormous head and a great gaping mouth, the 'master of the forest', attended by youths costumed as wolves (botsi) who gather ring-loaves (igbi) house to house on a long pole. Although he has harmed no one, the drama of the feast requires that Kvidili be put to death at its close; the elders explain that 'so our grandfathers did, or else it will be cold and snowy, and only after his death will the warmth come.' Scholars read the figure as a survival of the ancient myth of the dying and reviving beast-god whose sacrificial death guarantees the return of spring and the fertility of the coming year.

Domains

• forest wild
• winter seasonal renewal

Powers

• embodies winter and is ritually slain so warmth may return
• presides over the forest and wild things

Epithets

• хозяин леса — master of the forest'Уникальный зимний обрядовый праздник «Игби»', WelcomeDagestan / Kunstkamera ethnographic notice (secondary)

Sources

• Kvidili is the central mythological figure of the Igbi midwinter festival at Shaitli (Tsunta), a giant with a huge head and great maw, called master of the forest.: 'Праздник середины зимы «Игби»', Russian Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage; Kunstkamera (MAE RAN) documentation of the Shaitli festival (secondary)
• At the festival's close Kvidili is ritually 'killed' so that the cold breaks and spring can come, a survival of the myth of the dying-and-reviving beast-god.: 'Отражение сюжета мифа об умирающем и воскресающем звере-боге в праздниках и обрядах народов Дагестана', ИИАЭ ДНЦ РАН (Makhachkala) (secondary)