Albastı- Turkic DemonDemon"The Red One"
Also known as: Albıs, Al Karısı, Almasti, Al Anası, and Albasti
Titles & Epithets
Domains
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Description
She slips in where the new mother lies bleeding, reaching for the lungs with fingers that glow red. From Anatolia to Siberia, Turkic women place iron at the threshold and keep the fire burning through the night, for the Albastı comes when the watchers sleep.
Mythology & Lore
The Attack
She comes for the mother. In the hours after birth, when the woman lies exhausted and the room smells of blood, the Albastı slips in. She may come invisible or wearing the face of a familiar woman. Her target is the lungs. She reaches into the mother's chest, takes them, and runs.
In Anatolian Turkish tradition, someone must pursue her. She runs toward water. If she reaches a river and washes the lungs in it, the mother dies and nothing can reverse it. The pursuer must catch her before she reaches the stream and force the lungs back.
She threatens the infant too. She may sicken or kill the child, or substitute a changeling for the living baby. In Boratav's accounts from Anatolian villages, no one could say exactly what she looked like. But the descriptions agreed on certain details: red hair or a red veil, and feet that faced backward.
The Vigil
Iron keeps her out. Knives and scissors placed at the door and under the pillow. Across Turkic communities from Anatolia to Siberia, the practice holds: surround the mother and child with iron, and the Albastı cannot approach.
Fire burns through the night. The room stays lit. For forty days after the birth, someone sits with the mother at all times. She strikes when the fire dies and the mother is left alone.
Relationships
- Enemy of