Bibi Seshanba
Uzbek · numen · Uzbek traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Bibi Seshanba, 'the Lady of Tuesday', is a female protective figure of Central Asian, especially Uzbek and Tajik, women's religion, revered as guardian of the home, of family well-being, and of women in particular. Her legend tells of a poor woman whose faithful keeping of the Tuesday rite brings the saint's miraculous relief and prosperity, and she is the patron of the Osh-i Bibi Seshanba, a women's devotional meal recited and shared to invoke her aid. Folk tradition counts her among a company of sister-saints, including Bibi Mushkulkushod ('the Lady who unbinds difficulties'), and behind her Islamic guise ethnographers discern an older female patron of household and fortune.
Domains
- protection household
- fate fortune
Powers
- rescue the poor and desperate who invoke her
- patronize the women's ritual meal (osh)
Sources
- Bibi Seshanba, 'Lady Tuesday', is a female protective saint-figure of Uzbek and Tajik women's folk religion, patron of home and family and of a women's devotional meal held in her honor.: Krämer, Annette. Geistliche Autorität und islamische Gesellschaft im Wandel: Studien über Frauenälteste in Usbekistan. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 2002. (secondary); Peshkova, Svetlana. Women, Islam, and Identity: Public Life in Private Spaces in Uzbekistan. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2014. (secondary)