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Karakoncolos
Found in: Turkish folklore Turkish culture
A malevolent creature from Northeast Anatolian Turk and Bulgarian folklore. The Karakoncolos is a variety of the bogeyman - merely troublesome and rather harmless, but sometimes truly evil. It has thick hairy fur like the Sasquatch. The name probably comes from the Greek Kalikantzaros.
Due to the late Ottoman Turkish myth, they appear on the first ten days of Zemheri, 'the dreadful cold', when they stand on the murky corners, and ask ordinary questions to the passers-by. In order to avoid their mischief, one should answer each question, using the word "kara" (Turkish for 'black'), otherwise the creature would hit the victim dead with his harrow.
It is also told in Turkish folklore that the Karakoncolos call people out at the cold Zemheri nights, imitating the one's familiar voices. If one cannot wake up from the charm, one freezes to death.
The Bulgarian name of the creature is Karakondjul . The Karakondjul walks at night. Koukeri (or kukeri) is the name of a Bulgarian custom, the purpose of which is to scare the evil and keep it away.
Source
Ozhan Ozturk. Karadeniz Ansiklopedik Sozluk. 2 Vol. Heyamola Publishing. Istanbul. 2005 ISBN 975-6121-00-9
Karakoncolos, Karakura, Kukeri (Turkish)
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Karakoncolos