Kulshedra
Also called Kucedre, Bolla, Bullar.
The Kulshedra is Albania's drought dragon — silver-eyed, horned, nine-tongued and fire-breathing in maturity, once appeased with human sacrifice.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Albanian folklore
- Region
- Albania (place of origin)
- Symbols
- Dragon
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Dragon is image-domain The dragon denotes chaotic instinctual power, guardian of hoarded treasure and fertility, destructive in the West and, in China, the beneficent waterlike way of things.
why
The Kulshedra is Albania's drought dragon — silver-eyed, horned, nine-tongued and fire-breathing in maturity, once appeased with human sacrifice.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Annual seasonal attack
why
The kulshedra is the demon of the parched season, and her calendar is exact: she sleeps the year round and wakes on Saint George's Day — the old Albanian new year and the threshold of summer, kept in ancient reckoning in late April and in modern custom in early May — to kill the first human she sees, after which she returns to sleep.
- Demands periodic village sacrifice
why
Human sacrifices were once made to keep the creature from attacking.
- Transformation triggered by creature age or size
why
The serpent form called bolla — the name survives among the kulshedra's own variations — has faceted silver eyes, four legs, a long snaky body, and small wings; with the years it matures into the kulshedra proper, growing horns and nine tongues, its wings enlarging, and gaining the breath of fire.
- Controls drought and flood
why
The kulshedra is the demon of the parched season, and her calendar is exact: she sleeps the year round and wakes on Saint George's Day — the old Albanian new year and the threshold of summer, kept in ancient reckoning in late April and in modern custom in early May — to kill the first human she sees, after which she returns to sleep.
Offensive powers
- Fire-breathing
why
The serpent form called bolla — the name survives among the kulshedra's own variations — has faceted silver eyes, four legs, a long snaky body, and small wings; with the years it matures into the kulshedra proper, growing horns and nine tongues, its wings enlarging, and gaining the breath of fire.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Shadow carries
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Bolla."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Bolla."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Bolla."
- Hero meets
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Bolla."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Bolla."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Bolla."