Zeda , zeda ( Osset. Zædtæ, Izædttæ ) - the generalized name for supernatural spirits standing at the lowest level in the hierarchy of spiritual beings.
Mythology
Zedas in Ossetian mythology and the Nart epic perform various actions. In a broader sense, this word denotes all that sacrifices should be made. There are a great many Zedas and they are divided by the nature of their activity into countless groups, each of which performs only its characteristic action. In the Nart epic there is a story about how Wacilla chained Arthauz to the moon for disobedience to God, who was protected by zedas on the moon.
Unlike other spiritual beings of duagas or deities of zuars with a personality (for example, Seven Dzuars ), zedas do not have their own names and therefore they are impersonal. However, people often personified zedas, correlating their existence with their lives:
"The Ossetians represented the life of spirits in the image and likeness of their own. The spirit should have a house somewhere - rather in the midst of nature than in invisible space - this house should be similar to people's houses; the spirit should have a genus with all the categories represented in there are creatures - from legitimate sons to a crowd of minions.Around, for example, the patron saint of the home of Safa, should be like the Roman "gens" [1] .
Zedas - spiritual beings - are inherently opposed to people with physicality, so the Nart epic often makes no distinction between zedas, zuars and duag . Zedas are constantly fighting with the Narts, and many of them die at the hands of Nart heroes, in particular Batradza . The zedas were directly involved in the death of Batrads, and then of all the Narts.
Notes
- ↑ J. Dumézil, p. 150
Source
- J. Dumézil, Ossetian epic and mythology, Vladikavkaz, ed. Science, 2001.
- Dzadziev A.B., Ethnography and mythology of Ossetians, Vladikavkaz, 1994, p. 58 - 59, ISBN 5-7534-0537-1