Al Basty (

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

: ''Albastı''; Uzbek: Alvasti;

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

, Kyrgyz, Kazakh: ''Албасты'', Chuvash: ''Алпастă'', ,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: ''Албасты́'') or Al Kardai is an ancient female spirit, the personification of

guilt Guilt most commonly refers to: *Guilt (emotion), an emotion that occurs when a person feels that they have violated a moral standard *Culpability, a legal term *Guilt (law), a legal term Music * ''Guilt'' (album), a 2009 album by Mims * "Guilt" ( ...

, found in

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

throughout the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

mountains, with origins going as far back as Sumerian

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

. ''Al'' means red, and ''bastı'' means pressure or pressing in

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...

Other languages

* Bashkort: ''Албаҫты'' * Uzbek: ''Alvasti'' * Altai: ''Алвасти́'' * Turkmen: ''Албассы'' * Kyrgyz: ''Албарсты́'' * Nogai: ''Албаслы́'' * Kumyk: ''Албаслы́'' * Balkar: ''Алмасты́'' * Tajik: ''Албасти'' * Lezgian: ''Алпаб'' * Chechen: ''Алмазы'' * Yaghnobian: ''Албасты'' * Chuvash: ''Алпастӑ'' * Sogdian: ''Олбасты'' * Russian: ''Албасты́''

Caucasian and Middle Eastern folklore

Sumerian folklore

A variation of the Al Basti myth stretches back into Sumerian times as one of the names given to

Lilith Lilith (; ), also spelled Lilit, Lilitu, or Lilis, is a feminine figure in Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, theorized to be the first wife of Adam and a primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Eden ...

.Ann, Martha and Imel, Dorothy Myers. ''Goddesses in world mythology''. ABC-CLIO, 1993. , p 336 In later Rabbinical interpretations of the Talmud, she was regarded as the first wife of

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

, cast out of

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

for her willfulness and independence. In this form much of the mythology surrounding Lilith has also been ascribed, in different accounts, to Al Basti, though with local regional variances taken into account.

Turkic folklore

In Turkic folklore Al Basti has been often confused as both a

Mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

, a

Succubus A succubus () is a female demon who is described in various folklore as appearing in the dreams of male humans in order to seduce them. Repeated interactions between a succubus and a man will lead to sexual activity, a bond forming between them, ...

, as well as any number of Middle Eastern female spirits which are told to enter a man's erotic dreams. However, the difference in the Al Basti legends is that she is not a sexual spirit, she rather visits those ''“who have guilty souls”''Littleton, C. Scott, ed., Gods, Goddesses & Mythology. Tarrytown: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2005, page 245 and ''“come from families that have committed bloody crimes that have gone unpunished.”'' This spirit is mostly known as ''Al Karısı'' in Turkic folklore. It is believed that she mostly haunts women in their

postpartum period The postpartum (or postnatal) period begins after childbirth and is typically considered to last for six to eight weeks. There are three distinct phases of the postnatal period; the acute phase, lasting for six to twelve hours after birth; the ...

which causes emergence of phycological problems. Therefore, traditional practices applied for 40 days for these women as a part of

postpartum care Postpartum care or postnatal care is a service provided to individuals in the postpartum period, to help with postpartum recuperation and restoration. Additionally, the service aids in the transition to parenthood while also mitigating any health r ...

. According to scholar

Özhan Öztürk Özhan Öztürk (born 1968, Istanbul) is a Turkish writer and researcher. He is known for his work on the culture and folklore of Turkey’s Black Sea region. Born in Istanbul to a family with roots in the Black Sea region, Özhan Öztürk g ...

those who Al Basti visits are said to wake up in ''“an intense fever ... She is also known to steal horses, who are found sweating and exhausted in the morning, and unable to provide a full day's work. Due to her torments, she is also known as the 'red mother'.”''

Armenian folklore

There is another version of Al Basti found in Armenian folklore, referred to simply as Āl, a ''“demon of childbirth who blinds unborn children and causes miscarriages and stillbirths to women who have committed crimes that have gone unpunished.Coulter, Charles Russell and Patricia Turner, eds. ''Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities''. Oxford University Press, 2000. , page 212 In this form she appears as spirit of flame, with snake-like hair, brass fingernails and iron teeth ... hehides in damp places.”''Ann, Martha and Imel, Dorothy Myers. ''Goddesses in world mythology''. ABC-CLIO, 1993. page 316 According to Ann and Imel there is a similar legend found in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

References

{{Reflist Kyrgyz folklore Turkish folklore Chuvash folklore Turkic demons Female legendary creatures