Ossetian mythology

Deities

• Huycau or Xucau. The chief of the gods.
• Uastyrdzhi. The patron of males and travellers, and the guarantor of oaths. Main patron of North Ossetia–Alania.
• Uacilla. Also spelled Watsilla. God of rain, thunder and lightning. As protector of the harvest he is known as Хоры Уацилла. Anyone struck by lightning was considered chosen by the god and, if they survived, a sheep was sacrificed in their honour. His festival was celebrated in the summer with the sacrifice of a lamb and a bull and the drinking of specially brewed beer. On that day women baked bread in silence as a mark of reverence.
• Safa. God of the hearth chain. The most important domestic deity for Ossetians.
• Donbettyr. Lord of the waters. His name is a fusion of the Ossetian don and Saint Peter. He uses his chain to drag down those who unwarily go swimming too late to his realm at the bottom of the sea. He has many beautiful daughters, comparable to the Rusalki of Slavic mythology. Up to the 19th century, his day was celebrated on the Saturday following Easter by young girls.
• Dzerassae, one of Donbettyr's daughters, the mother of many Nart heroes.
• Tutyr. Lord of the wolves. Identified with Saint Theodore of Tyre.
• Fælværa. The name is possibly a conflation of Saints Florus and Laurus. Fælværa was the protector of sheep and his festival was celebrated before sheep-shearing in September. He only has one eye. He is often the enemy of Tutyr.
• Æfsati. A male hunting god.
• Kurdalægon. The heavenly smith. A close friend of the Narts.
• Satana. Mother goddess, mother of the Narts.
• Saubarag, the god of darkness and thieves. Identified with Satan.
• Huyændon Ældar. Lord of the fish. A great magician and a spirit who behaves like an earthly chief. His name means "Lord of the Strait".
• Barastyr Ossetian psychopomp. The ruler of the underworld who assigns arriving dead souls to either paradise or his own realm.
• Aminon. Gatekeeper of the underworld.
• Alardy. Lord of smallpox, who had to be placated.

Folklore