Xizr
Yaghnobi · numen · Yaghnobi traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Khizr (Khwaja Khizr, 'the Green One'), the deathless prophet-saint of the wider Islamic and Iranian world, is woven into Yaghnobi and Tajik agrarian belief as the patron of vegetation, running water and safe passage. Wherever his foot falls the ground turns green, and he is invoked for the fertility of crops and flocks and for aid to travellers lost in the high passes. In the agricultural cult of the Yaghnob and neighbouring valleys he is closely identified with Bobo-i Dehqon, the two sharing the role of quickening the sown field; petitioners hope for his unseen presence at spring festivals and at moments of sudden need.
Domains
- vegetation
- water
- wayfaring protection
Powers
- turn barren ground green
- live without death
- guide the lost and the needy
Epithets
- Хоҷа Хизр — Khwaja Khizr (Lord Khizr)Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. 'Ḵeżr'. (secondary)
- Хизри сабз — Green KhizrEncyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. 'Ḵeżr' (the green one). (secondary)
Relations
- ally: Bobo-i DehqonShares with Bobo-i Dehqon the office of quickening the sown field.Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. 'Bābā-ye Dehqān': identified with Khizr in the agrarian fertility cult. (secondary)
Sources
- Khizr, the deathless green prophet-saint, is a patron of vegetation, running water and travellers venerated in Tajik and Yaghnob-valley folk religion.: Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. 'Ḵeżr'. (secondary)
- In the Central Asian agrarian cult he is identified with the farmer-patron Bobo-i Dehqon.: Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. 'Bābā-ye Dehqān'. (secondary)