Албасты: Ежелгі әйел рухы және халық сенімдері

Ancient female spirit
Al Basty (Turkish: Albastı; Uzbek: Alvasti; Tatar, Kyrgyz, Kazakh: Албасты, Chuvash: Алпастă, , Russian: Албасты́) or Al Kardai is an ancient female spirit, the personification of guilt, found in folklore throughout the Caucasus mountains, with origins going as far back as Sumerian mythology. In later Rabbinical interpretations of the Talmud, she was regarded as the first wife of Adam, cast out of Paradise 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. and “come from families that have committed bloody crimes that have gone unpunished.” It is believed that she mostly haunts women in their postpartum period which causes emergence of phycological problems. Therefore, traditional practices applied for 40 days for these women as a part of postpartum care. According to scholar Özhan Öztürk 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'.”

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. In this form she appears as spirit of flame, with snake like hair, brass fingernails and iron teeth [she] hides in damp places.” According to Ann and Imel there is a similar legend found in Afghanistan.