Karakondzho: Evil Spirits of the Twelve Days of Christmastime in the Balkans

Abstract

This article examines beliefs related to the liminal Yuletide
activity of evil spirits in Balkan culture. Karakondzho is a conventional
umbrella name for these beings who appear on Christmas eve, do their
harmful work over the twelve nights of Yule, and on Epiphany disappear
until the next year. I look at the features and actions of specific demons,
and the spaces in which they are active, drawing on ethnolinguistic
analysis of Slavic and non-Slavic terminology, massive lexical, folkloric,
and ethnographic data, published and archival, along with my own field
research. Cognate features found in various countries allow us to trace
some of the complex inter-Balkan development of their image, associated
linguistic borrowings, and cultural influences, and to suggest archaic
prototypes of these seasonal evil spirits.