Home Mystic Beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus. Pagan cults of the peoples of the North Caucasus. Agrarian communal cults

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Beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus. Pagan cults of the peoples of the North Caucasus. Agrarian communal cults

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Religions of the peoples of the Caucasus

Introduction

The Caucasus has long been part of the zone of influence of the high civilizations of the East, and part of the Caucasian peoples (ancestors of Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis) had their own states and high culture.

But in some, especially in the high-mountainous regions of the Caucasus, up to the establishment Soviet power very archaic features of the economic and social structure were preserved, with remnants of patriarchal-clan and patriarchal-feudal relations. This circumstance was also reflected in religious life: although in the Caucasus since the IV-VI centuries. Christianity spread (accompanying the development of feudal relations), and from the 7th - 8th centuries - Islam and formally all the Caucasian peoples were considered either Christian or Muslim, under the external cover of these official religions among many backward peoples of the mountain regions, in fact, very strong remnants of more ancient and original religious beliefs were preserved, partly, of course, mixed with Christian or Muslim ideas. This is most noticeable among the Ossetians, Ingush, Circassians, Abkhazians, Svans, Khevsurs, Pshavs, Tushins. It is not difficult to give a generalized description of their beliefs, since they have so many similarities. All these peoples have preserved family and tribal cults associated with them. funeral rites, as well as communal agricultural and pastoral cults. The sources for studying the pre-Christian and pre-Muslim beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus are the testimonies of ancient and early medieval writers and travelers (rather scarce), and mainly extremely abundant ethnographic materials of the 18th-20th centuries, describing in the most detailed way the remnants of ancient beliefs. Very rich in this respect, in terms of the quality of records, is Soviet ethnographic literature.

1. Family and tribal cults

Family and tribal cults held on quite firmly in the Caucasus due to the stagnation of the patriarchal tribal way of life. In most cases, they took the form of reverence for the hearth - a material symbol of the family community. It was especially developed among the Ingush, Ossetians, and among the mountainous Georgian groups. The Ingush, for example, considered the hearth and everything connected with it (fire, ash, the chain above the hearth) to be a family shrine. If any outsider, even a criminal, entered the house and grabbed the chain, he acted under the protection of the family, the owner of the house was obliged to protect him by all means. This was a kind of religious comprehension of the well-known patriarchal custom of hospitality of the Caucasian peoples. Before each meal, small sacrifices were thrown into the fire - pieces of food. But the personification of the hearth, or fire, apparently, was not (in contrast to the beliefs of the peoples of Siberia). Among the Ossetians, who had similar beliefs, there was also something like the personification of the over-the-ring chain: the blacksmith god Safa was considered its patron. The Svans attached sacred significance not to the hearth in the living room, but to the hearth in a special defensive tower, which every family used to have and was itself considered a family shrine; this hearth was not used for everyday needs at all, it was used only for special family rituals.

Tribal cults were noted among the same Ingush, Ossetians, and individual Georgian groups. Among the Ingush, each surname (that is, clan) honored its patron, perhaps an ancestor; a stone monument, the sieling, was erected in his honor. Once a year, on the day of the family holiday, a prayer was held near the sieling. The associations of clans also had their patrons - the Galgai, the feappi, from which the Ingush people later formed. Similar customs are known among the Abkhazians: among them, each clan had its own "shares of the deity", patronizing this one clan. The clan annually arranged prayers for its patron in a sacred grove or in another specific place under the guidance of the eldest in the clan. Until recently, the Imeretins (Western Georgia) had the custom of arranging annual tribal sacrifices: they slaughtered a goat, or a lamb, or a rooster, prayed to God for the well-being of the whole family, then ate and drank wine stored in a special ritual vessel.

2. Funerary cult

The funeral cult, which was very developed among the peoples of the Caucasus, and in some places took on excessively complicated forms, merged with the family and clan cult. Along with Christian and Muslim burial customs, some peoples, especially North Caucasus, traces of Mazdaist customs associated with burial have also been preserved: the old burial grounds of the Ingush and Ossetians consisted of stone crypts, in which the bodies of the dead were, as it were, isolated from the earth and air. Some peoples were in the habit of funeral games and competitions. But the custom of organizing periodic commemorations for the deceased was especially carefully observed. These commemorations required very large expenses - for the entertainment of numerous guests, for sacrifices, etc. - and often completely ruined the economy. Such a harmful custom was especially noted among the Ossetians (hist); he is also known among the Abkhaz, Ingush, Khevsur Svans, and others. They believed that the deceased himself was invisibly present at the commemoration. If a person, for some reason, did not arrange a commemoration for his dead relatives for a long time, then he was condemned, believing that he was keeping them starving. Among the Ossetians, it was impossible to inflict a greater offense on a person than by telling him that his dead were starving, that is, that he was negligently fulfilling his duty to arrange a commemoration.

Mourning for the dead was observed very strictly and was also associated with superstitious ideas. Especially severe restrictions and prescriptions of a purely religious nature fell on the widow. Among the Ossetians, for example, she had to make a bed for her dead husband every day for a year, wait for him until late at night by the bed, and prepare water for him to wash in the morning. “Getting out of bed early in the morning, every time she takes a basin and a jug of water, as well as a towel, soap, etc., she carries them to the place where her husband usually washed himself during his lifetime, and there she stands for several minutes in such a position as as if giving a wash. At the end of the ceremony, she returns to the bedroom and puts the utensils in place.

3. Agrarian communal cults

Extremely characteristic is the form of religious rites and beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus, which was associated with agriculture and cattle breeding and in most cases relied on a communal organization. The rural agricultural community remained very stable among the majority of the Caucasian peoples. In addition to regulating land use and solving communal rural affairs, its functions also included caring for the harvest, the welfare of livestock, etc., and religious prayers and prayers were used for these purposes. magical rites. They were not the same different peoples, were often complicated by Christian or Muslim admixtures, but basically they were similar, being always in one way or another connected with the economic needs of the community. To ensure a good harvest, to drive away drought, to stop or prevent the loss of livestock, magical rites or prayers to patron deities were arranged (often both). All the peoples of the Caucasus had ideas about special deities - the patrons of the harvest, the patrons of certain breeds of livestock, etc. The images of these deities among some peoples experienced a strong Christian or Muslim influence, even merged with some saints, while others retained more original look.

For example, here is a description of the rite of an agricultural communal cult among the Abkhazians: “The inhabitants of the village (atsuta) arranged every spring - in May or early June, on Sunday - a special agricultural prayer called “prayer atsu” (atsyu-nykhea). The inhabitants pooled together to buy rams or cows and wine (by the way, not a single shepherd refused, if necessary, to give a chiseled goat or ram for public prayer, although rams were rarely used as sacrificial animals). In addition, each smoke (that is, the household. - S.T.) was obliged to bring boiled millet (gomi) with it to the appointed place, which was considered sacred according to legend; there they slaughtered cattle and boiled meat. Then an old man respected in that village was elected, who was given a stick with liver and heart strung on it and a glass of wine, and he, having accepted this and becoming the head of those praying, turned to the east and said a prayer: “God heavenly powers, have pity on us and send us your mercy: give us the fertility of the earth, so that we and our wives and our children would know neither hunger, nor cold, nor grief ”... At the same time, he cut off a piece of the liver and heart, poured them with wine and threw away from themselves, after which everyone sat in a circle, wished each other happiness and began to eat and drink. The prayer received the skin, and the horns were hung on a sacred tree. Women were not allowed not only to touch this food, but even to be present during dinner ... ".

Purely magical rites of combating drought are described by the Shapsug Circassians. One of the ways to call rain during a drought was that all the men of the village went to the grave of a man killed by lightning (“a stone grave”, considered a communal shrine, like the trees around it); among the participants in the ceremony there must certainly have been a member of the clan to which the deceased belonged. Arriving at the place, they all joined hands and, to the ritual songs, danced, barefoot and without hats, around the grave. Then, lifting up the bread, the relative of the deceased turned to the latter on behalf of the whole society with a request to send rain. Having finished his prayers, he took a stone from the grave, and all the participants in the ceremony went to the river. A stone tied with a rope to a tree was lowered into the water, and all those present, right in their clothes, plunged into the river. Shapsugs believed that this rite was supposed to cause rain. Three days later, the stone had to be taken out of the water and returned to its original place; according to legend, if this is not done, the rain will continue to fall and flood the whole earth. Of the other ways of magically inducing rain, walking with a doll made of a wooden shovel and dressed in a woman's outfit is especially characteristic; this doll, called hatse-guashe (princess-shovel), the girls carried around the aul and near each house they poured water over it, and finally threw it into the river. The rite was performed only by women, and if they happened to meet a man, they caught him and also threw him into the river. Three days later, the doll was taken out of the water, undressed and broken.

Similar rituals with a doll were known among the Georgians. The latter also noted magical ritual"plowing" the rain: the girls dragged the plow along the bottom of the river back and forth. To stop too long rain, a strip of land near the village was plowed in the same way.

4. deities

Most of the deities, whose names are preserved in the beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus, are associated either with agriculture or cattle breeding - directly or indirectly. There are also patron deities of hunting. Among the Ossetians, for example, the gods were most revered (Christian features and even christian names): Wacilla (that is, Saint Elijah) is the patron saint of agriculture and cattle breeding, sending rain and thunderstorms; Falvar is the patron saint of sheep; Tutyr - a shepherd of wolves, allowing wolves to slaughter sheep; Avsati - the deity of wild animals, the patron saint of hunters. Among the Circassians, the main deities were considered: Shible - the deity of lightning (death by lightning was considered honorable, a person killed by lightning was not supposed to mourn, his grave was considered sacred); Sozeresh - the patron of agriculture, the god of fertility; Emish is the patron saint of sheep; Ahin is the patron of cattle; Meryem - the patroness of beekeeping (the name, apparently, from the Christian virgin Mary); Mesith - the patron saint of hunters, a forest deity; Tlepsh - the patron of blacksmiths; Thashkhuo -- supreme god sky (a rather dim figure, there was almost no cult of him). Among the Abkhazians, the most important places in religion were occupied by: the goddess Daja, the patroness of agriculture; Aitar - the creator of domestic animals, the god of reproduction; Airg and Azhveipshaa - hunting deities, patrons of forests and game; Afy is the god of lightning, similar to the Circassian Shibla.

Of course, the images of these deities were usually complex, they were often assigned different and very indistinctly delineated functions. These most famous deities were public, although their veneration often took the form of the same communal cult. But in addition to these popular deities, there were purely local patron deities, each community had its own; it is sometimes difficult to distinguish them from tribal patrons, because the rural community among some peoples of the Caucasus itself has not yet completely freed itself from the tribal shell.

5. Sanctuaries

The cult of local, communal patrons was usually tied to local sanctuaries, where rituals were performed. Among the Ossetians, these were dzuars. Dzuar is usually an old building, sometimes former Christian church, and sometimes just a group of sacred trees. At each sanctuary there was an elected or hereditary community priest - dzuarlag, who led the performance of rituals. The Ingush had communal shrines - Elgyts, as a rule, special buildings; there were also sacred groves. Nothing is known about whether the Circassians and Abkhazians had such religious buildings, but each community used to have its own sacred grove; by the beginning of the 20th century. only a few sacred trees have survived. The sacred places of the Khevsurs were especially revered: these are the so-called khati - sanctuaries built among huge centuries-old trees (these trees were forbidden to be cut down). Each hati had its own land allotment, its own property, and livestock. All income from this land and livestock went to cult needs - the organization of rituals and holidays. Elective priests - khutsi, or dasturi and dekanozi - disposed of property and supervised rituals. They enjoyed great influence, they were obeyed in matters not related to religion.

6. blacksmith cult

The Caucasian highlanders also preserved traces of professional and craft cults, especially the cult associated with blacksmithing (as is known among the peoples of Siberia, Africa, etc.). The Circassians revered the god of blacksmiths Tlepsh. The blacksmith, forge, iron were attributed supernatural properties, and above all the ability to magically heal the sick and wounded. The forge was the place where such healing rites were performed. Connected with this is a special barbaric custom of "treatment" of the wounded among the Circassians - the so-called chapsh; they tried to entertain the wounded (especially with a broken bone) day and night, preventing him from falling asleep; fellow villagers gathered to him, arranged games, dances; each incoming loudly struck the iron. The wounded had to be strong, not to reveal his suffering. According to an eyewitness, sometimes, “exhausted by illness, noise, dust, the patient falls asleep. But it was not there. A girl sitting next to the patient takes a copper basin or an iron plowshare in her hands and begins to beat with a hammer on the copper basin (or plowshare) above the patient’s head with all her might. The patient wakes up with a groan ... ".

The Abkhazians had a similar cult of the blacksmith god Shashva. They also preserved traces of veneration of the goddess Yerysh, the patroness of weaving and other women's work. Little is known about other cults associated with women's domestic activities in the Caucasus.

The magical significance of iron as a talisman was noted among all the peoples of the Caucasus. For example, the custom is known to spend newlyweds under crossed checkers.

7. Remnants of shamanism

Along with the described family-clan and communal agricultural and pastoral cults, in the beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus, one can also find remnants of more archaic forms of religion, including shamanism. The Khevsurs, in addition to the usual communal priests - dasturi and others - also had soothsayers - kadagi. These are either nervously abnormal people prone to seizures, or people who can skillfully imitate them. Kadagi were men and women; “During a temple holiday, mostly on the morning of the new year, some Khevsur trembles, loses his memory, raves, screams, and thereby lets the people know that the saint himself has chosen him to serve. The people recognize him as a kadagi.” This picture differs very little from the “calling” of a shaman by the spirit among the peoples of Siberia. Kadagi gave different advice, especially in case of any misfortunes, he explained why exactly the hati (saint) was angry. He also determined who could be dasturi or decanosi.

8. Religious syncretism

All these beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus, as well as the sorcery, witchcraft, erotic and phallic cults that existed among them, reflecting different aspects of the communal-clan system and its remnants, mixed to varying degrees, as already mentioned above, with religions brought to the Caucasus from outside - - Christianity and Islam, which are characteristic of a developed class society. Christianity once dominated the majority of the peoples of the Caucasus, later some of them leaned towards Islam, which was more in line with the patriarchal conditions of their life. Christianity remained predominant among the Armenians, Georgians, part of the Ossetians and Abkhazians. Islam took root among Azerbaijanis, the peoples of Dagestan, Chechens and Ingush, Kabardians and Circassians, part of Ossetians and Abkhazians, a small part of Georgians (Adjarians, Ingiloys). Among the peoples of the mountainous part of the Caucasus, these religions, as already mentioned, dominated in many cases only formally. On the other hand, among those peoples where stronger and more developed forms of class relations have developed - among the Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis - original beliefs have been preserved only in weak remnants (just as it was, for example, among the peoples of Western Europe), they were like reworked by Christianity or Islam and merged with those religions.

Now the population of the Caucasus, for the most part, has already freed itself from the dominance of religious ideas. Most of the old rites and religious customs have been abandoned and forgotten.

Peoples who later settled in the North Caucasus region

Unlike the autochthonous peoples, the ancestors Ossetian came to the North Caucasus later and for a long time they were known as Alan from the 1st century AD. According to the language, Ossetians belong to Iranian language group and their closest relatives are Iranians (Persians) and Tajiks. Ossetians live on the territory of North Ossetia, numbering 340,000 people. In the Ossetian language itself, three large dialects are distinguished, according to which self-names are derived:

Iranians (Iron)- Orthodox;
Digorians (Digoron)- Sunni Muslims
kudartsy (kudaron)- South Ossetia, Orthodox.

A special group is made up of peoples whose formation and appearance in the North Caucasus is associated with the late Middle Ages (15-17 centuries). Linguistically, they are Turks:

Karachays (Karachayly), 150,000 people, of which 129 thousand live in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. There are Karachay diasporas in the Stavropol Territory, Central Asia, Turkey, and Syria. The language belongs to the Kypchak group of Turkic languages (Polovtsy). Sunni Muslims;
Balkars (taulu), highlanders, 80,000 people, of which 70,000 live in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. Large diasporas in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Muslims are Sunnis;
Kumyks (Kumuk), 278,000 people, mainly live in Northern Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia. Muslims are Sunnis;
Nogais (Nogaylar), 75,000, are divided into three groups according to territory and dialect:
- Kuban Nogais (ak Nagais) living in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic;
- Achikulak Nogais living in the Neftekumsk region of the Stavropol Territory;
- Kara Nagai (Nogai steppe), Sunni Muslims.
Turkmens (Truhmens), 13.5 thousand people live in the Turkmen region of the Stavropol Territory, but the language belongs to Oguz group of Turkic languages, Sunni Muslims.

Separately, it should be noted that appeared in the North Caucasus in the middle of the 17th century. Kalmyks (halmg), 146,000 people, the language belongs to the Mongolian language group (Mongols and Buryats are related in language). IN religious attitude- Buddhists. Those of the Kalmyks who were in the Cossack class of the Don army, professed Orthodoxy, were called buzaavy. Most of them are nomadic Kalmyks - turguts.

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Religions of the peoples of the Caucasus

Introduction

But in some, especially in the highland regions of the Caucasus, until the establishment of Soviet power, very archaic features of the economic and social structure were preserved, with remnants of patriarchal-clan and patriarchal-feudal relations. This circumstance was also reflected in religious life: although in the Caucasus since the 4th-6th centuries. Christianity spread (accompanying the development of feudal relations), and from the 7th-8th centuries Islam and formally all the Caucasian peoples were considered either Christian or Muslim, under the external cover of these official religions, many backward peoples of the mountainous regions actually retained very strong remnants of more ancient and original religious beliefs, part, of course, mixed with Christian or Muslim ideas. This is most noticeable among the Ossetians, Ingush, Circassians, Abkhazians, Svans, Khevsurs, Pshavs, Tushins. It is not difficult to give a generalized description of their beliefs, since they have so many similarities. All these peoples have preserved family and tribal cults, funeral rites associated with them, as well as communal agricultural and pastoral cults. The sources for studying the pre-Christian and pre-Muslim beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus are the testimonies of ancient and early medieval writers and travelers (rather scarce), and mainly extremely abundant ethnographic materials of the 18th-20th centuries, describing in the most detailed way the remnants of ancient beliefs. Very rich in this respect, in terms of the quality of records, is Soviet ethnographic literature.

1. Family and tribal cults

Family and tribal cults held on quite firmly in the Caucasus due to the stagnation of the patriarchal tribal way of life. In most cases, they took the form of honoring the hearth - a material symbol of the family community. It was especially developed among the Ingush, Ossetians, and among the mountainous Georgian groups. The Ingush, for example, considered the hearth and everything connected with it (fire, ash, the chain above the hearth) to be a family shrine. If any outsider, even a criminal, entered the house and grabbed the chain, he acted under the protection of the family, the owner of the house was obliged to protect him by all means. This was a kind of religious comprehension of the well-known patriarchal custom of hospitality of the Caucasian peoples. Before each meal, small victims were thrown into the fire - pieces of food. But the personification of the hearth, or fire, apparently, was not (in contrast to the beliefs of the peoples of Siberia). Among the Ossetians, who had similar beliefs, there was also something like the personification of the over-the-ring chain: the blacksmith god Safa was considered its patron. The Svans attached sacred significance not to the hearth in the living room, but to the hearth in a special defensive tower, which every family used to have and was itself considered a family shrine; this hearth was not used for everyday needs at all, it was used only for special family rituals.

Tribal cults were noted among the same Ingush, Ossetians, and individual Georgian groups. Among the Ingush, each surname (that is, clan) honored its patron, perhaps an ancestor; a stone monument - sieling - was built in his honor. Once a year, on the day of the family holiday, a prayer was held near the sieling. The associations of clans also had their patrons - the Galgai, the feappi, from which the Ingush people later formed. Similar customs are known among the Abkhazians: among them, each clan had its own "shares of the deity", patronizing this one clan. The clan annually arranged prayers for its patron in a sacred grove or in another specific place under the guidance of the eldest in the clan. Until recently, the Imeretins (Western Georgia) had the custom of arranging annual tribal sacrifices: they slaughtered a goat, or a lamb, or a rooster, prayed to God for the well-being of the whole family, then ate and drank wine stored in a special ritual vessel.

2. Burial cult

The funeral cult, which was very developed among the peoples of the Caucasus, and in some places took on excessively complicated forms, merged with the family and clan cult. Along with Christian and Muslim burial customs, some peoples, especially the North Caucasus, have preserved traces of Mazdaist customs associated with burial: the old burial grounds of the Ingush and Ossetians consisted of stone crypts, in which the bodies of the dead were, as it were, isolated from the earth and air. Some peoples were in the habit of funeral games and competitions. But the custom of organizing periodic commemorations for the deceased was especially carefully observed. These commemorations required very large expenses - for treating numerous guests, for sacrifices, etc. - and often completely ruined the economy. Such a harmful custom was especially noted among the Ossetians (hist); he is also known among the Abkhaz, Ingush, Khevsur Svans, and others. They believed that the deceased himself was invisibly present at the commemoration. If a person, for some reason, did not arrange a commemoration for his dead relatives for a long time, then he was condemned, believing that he was keeping them starving. Among the Ossetians, it was impossible to inflict a greater offense on a person than by telling him that his dead were starving, that is, that he was negligently fulfilling his duty to arrange a commemoration.

Crimes, but also for acts that, in our understanding, are nothing more than petty hooliganism. However, it is also worth noting that in all cases, blood feuds are provoked by very unseemly behavior. 1. Blood feud among the peoples of the Caucasus The most striking norm of customary law in the North Caucasus in past centuries was the ubiquitous blood feud. Reason for blood feud...

Miraculous and mythological miracles remains unclear. The Komi ideas about the supreme deity Yong are probably inspired by Christianity. 6. Attempts to reform religion Since the XVIII century. the tsarist government pursued a policy of forced Christianization of the peoples of the Volga region, a policy that was integral part systems of landowner-police oppression. This system caused a dull resistance ...

Support among the Adyghe peoples. (87). The foregoing shows that Islamic radicalism in the North Caucasus in all the forms noted (the most dangerous, but not the only one! - "North Caucasian Wahhabism") is quasi-religious in nature and acts as one of the forms for realizing the nationalist and separatist claims of specific political groups, as a rule, far from ...

Etc. Despite the fact that the Abaza are a completely independent nation, their culture and religion is directly related to the culture of the Adygs. Therefore, to consider the issues of the history and development of the religion of the Abaza, it is necessary to consider the religion of the entire Adyghe community. God Tkha Undoubtedly, the main place in all pagan religions of the Adyghes was occupied by a great god. They called him Tha. By...

Religions of the peoples of the Caucasus

Introduction

1. Family and tribal cults

Tribal cults were noted among the same Ingush, Ossetians, and individual Georgian groups. Among the Ingush, each surname (that is, clan) honored its patron, perhaps an ancestor; a stone monument - sieling - was built in his honor. Once a year, on the day of the family holiday, a prayer was held near the sieling. The associations of clans also had their patrons - the Galgai, the feappi, from which the Ingush people later formed. Similar customs are known among the Abkhazians: among them, each clan had its own "shares of the deity", patronizing this one clan. The clan annually arranged prayers for its patron in a sacred grove or in another specific place under the guidance of the eldest in the clan. Until recently, the Imeretins (Western Georgia) had the custom of arranging annual tribal sacrifices: they slaughtered a goat, or a lamb, or a rooster, prayed to God for the well-being of the whole family, then ate and drank wine stored in a special ritual vessel.

2. Funerary cult

The funeral cult, which was very developed among the peoples of the Caucasus, and in some places took on excessively complicated forms, merged with the family and clan cult. Along with Christian and Muslim burial customs, some peoples, especially the North Caucasus, have preserved traces of Mazdaist customs associated with burial: the old burial grounds of the Ingush and Ossetians consisted of stone crypts, in which the bodies of the dead were, as it were, isolated from the earth and air. Some peoples were in the habit of funeral games and competitions. But the custom of organizing periodic commemorations for the deceased was especially carefully observed. These commemorations required very large expenses - for treating numerous guests, for sacrifices, etc. - and often completely ruined the economy. Such a harmful custom was especially noted among the Ossetians (hist); he is also known among the Abkhaz, Ingush, Khevsur Svans, and others. They believed that the deceased himself was invisibly present at the commemoration. If a person, for some reason, did not arrange a commemoration for his dead relatives for a long time, then he was condemned, believing that he was keeping them starving. Among the Ossetians, it was impossible to inflict a greater offense on a person than by telling him that his dead were starving, that is, that he was negligently fulfilling his duty to arrange a commemoration.

3. Agrarian communal cults

Extremely characteristic is the form of religious rites and beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus, which was associated with agriculture and cattle breeding and in most cases relied on a communal organization. The rural agricultural community remained very stable among the majority of the Caucasian peoples. In addition to regulating land use and solving communal rural affairs, its functions also included taking care of the harvest, the welfare of livestock, etc., and religious prayers and magical rites were used for these purposes. They were not the same for different peoples, often complicated by Christian or Muslim admixtures, but basically they were similar, being always in one way or another connected with the economic needs of the community. To ensure a good harvest, to drive away drought, to stop or prevent the loss of livestock, magical rites or prayers to patron deities were arranged (often both). All the peoples of the Caucasus had ideas about special deities - patrons of the harvest, patrons of certain breeds of livestock, etc. The images of these deities among some peoples experienced a strong Christian or Muslim influence, even merged with some saints, while others retained a more original look .

For example, here is a description of the rite of an agricultural communal cult among the Abkhazians: “The inhabitants of the village (atsuta) arranged every spring - in May or early June, on Sunday - a special agricultural prayer called “atsu prayer” (atsyu-nykhea). The inhabitants pooled together to buy rams or cows and wine (by the way, not a single shepherd refused, if necessary, to give a chiseled goat or ram for public prayer, although rams were rarely used as sacrificial animals). In addition, each smoke (that is, the household. - S.T.) was obliged to bring boiled millet (gomi) with it to the appointed place, which was considered sacred according to legend; there they slaughtered cattle and boiled meat. Then an old man respected in that village was elected, who was given a stick with a liver and heart strung on it and a glass of wine, and he, having accepted this and becoming the head of those praying, turned to the east and said a prayer: “God of heavenly powers, have pity on us and send us your mercy: give the fertility of the earth, so that we, with our wives and with our children, would know neither hunger, nor cold, nor grief ”... At the same time, he cut off a piece of the liver and heart, poured them with wine and threw them away from him, after whereupon everyone sat in a circle, wished each other happiness, and began to eat and drink. The prayer received the skin, and the horns were hung on a sacred tree. Women were not allowed not only to touch this food, but even to be present during dinner ... ".

Features of the culture of the peoples of the Caucasus. Family and tribal cults, the patriarchal custom of hospitality of the Caucasian peoples. funeral rites. A form of religious rites associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. Deities, religious syncretism.

Religions of the peoples of the Caucasus

INTRODUCTION

But in some, especially in the highland regions of the Caucasus, until the establishment of Soviet power, very archaic features of the economic and social structure were preserved, with remnants of patriarchal-clan and patriarchal-feudal relations. This circumstance was also reflected in religious life: although in the Caucasus since the 4th-6th centuries. Christianity spread (accompanying the development of feudal relations), and from the 7th-8th centuries, Islam and formally all the Caucasian peoples were considered either Christian or Muslim, under the external cover of these official religions, many backward peoples of the mountainous regions actually retained very strong remnants of more ancient and original religious beliefs, part, of course, mixed with Christian or Muslim ideas. This is most noticeable among the Ossetians, Ingush, Circassians, Abkhazians, Svans, Khevsurs, Pshavs, Tushins. It is not difficult to give a generalized description of their beliefs, since they have so many similarities. All these peoples have preserved family and tribal cults, funeral rites associated with them, as well as communal agricultural and pastoral cults. The sources for studying the pre-Christian and pre-Muslim beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus are the testimonies of ancient and early medieval writers and travelers (rather scarce), and mainly extremely abundant ethnographic materials of the 18th-20th centuries, describing in the most detailed way the remnants of ancient beliefs. Very rich in this respect, in terms of the quality of records, is Soviet ethnographic literature.

1. Family and tribal cults

2. Funerary cult

The funeral cult, which was very developed among the peoples of the Caucasus, and in some places took on excessively complicated forms, merged with the family and clan cult. Along with Christian and Muslim burial customs, some peoples, especially the North Caucasus, have preserved traces of Mazdaist customs associated with burial: the old burial grounds of the Ingush and Ossetians consisted of stone crypts, in which the bodies of the dead were, as it were, isolated from the earth and air. Some peoples were in the habit of funeral games and competitions. But the custom of organizing periodic commemorations for the deceased was especially carefully observed. These commemorations required very large expenses - for the entertainment of numerous guests, for sacrifices, etc. - and often completely ruined the economy. Such a harmful custom was especially noted among the Ossetians (hist); he is also known among the Abkhaz, Ingush, Khevsur Svans, and others. They believed that the deceased himself was invisibly present at the commemoration. If a person, for some reason, did not arrange a commemoration for his dead relatives for a long time, then he was condemned, believing that he was keeping them starving. Among the Ossetians, it was impossible to inflict a greater offense on a person than by telling him that his dead were starving, that is, that he was negligently fulfilling his duty to arrange a commemoration.

3. Agrarian communal cults

Extremely characteristic is the form of religious rites and beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus, which was associated with agriculture and cattle breeding and in most cases relied on a communal organization. The rural agricultural community remained very stable among the majority of the Caucasian peoples. In addition to regulating land use and solving communal rural affairs, its functions also included taking care of the harvest, the welfare of livestock, etc., and religious prayers and magical rites were used for these purposes. They were not the same for different peoples, often complicated by Christian or Muslim admixtures, but basically they were similar, being always in one way or another connected with the economic needs of the community. To ensure a good harvest, to drive away drought, to stop or prevent the loss of livestock, magical rites or prayers to patron deities were arranged (often both). All the peoples of the Caucasus had ideas about special deities - the patrons of the harvest, the patrons of certain breeds of livestock, etc. The images of these deities among some peoples experienced a strong Christian or Muslim influence, even merged with some saints, while others retained more original look.

For example, here is a description of the rite of an agricultural communal cult among the Abkhazians: “The inhabitants of the village (atsuta) arranged every spring - in May or early June, on Sunday - a special agricultural prayer called “prayer atsu” (atsyu-nykhea). The inhabitants pooled together to buy rams or cows and wine (by the way, not a single shepherd refused, if necessary, to give a chiseled goat or ram for public prayer, although rams were rarely used as sacrificial animals). In addition, each smoke (that is, the household. - S.T.) was obliged to bring boiled millet (gomi) with it to the appointed place, which was considered sacred according to legend; there they slaughtered cattle and boiled meat. Then an old man respected in that village was elected, who was given a stick with a liver and heart strung on it and a glass of wine, and he, having accepted this and becoming the head of those praying, turned to the east and said a prayer: “God of heavenly powers, have pity on us and send us your mercy: give the fertility of the earth, so that we, with our wives and with our children, would know neither hunger, nor cold, nor grief ”... At the same time, he cut off a piece of the liver and heart, poured them with wine and threw them away from him, after whereupon everyone sat in a circle, wished each other happiness, and began to eat and drink. The prayer received the skin, and the horns were hung on a sacred tree. Women were not allowed not only to touch this food, but even to be present during dinner ... ".

Similar rituals with a doll were known among the Georgians. The latter also celebrated the magical ritual of “ploughing out” the rain: the girls dragged the plow along the bottom of the river back and forth. To stop too long rain, a strip of land near the village was plowed in the same way.

4. deities

Most of the deities, whose names are preserved in the beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus, are associated either with agriculture or cattle breeding - directly or indirectly. There are also patron deities of hunting. Among the Ossetians, for example, the gods were most revered (Christian features and even Christian names were layered on their images): Uatsilla (that is, Saint Ilya) - the patron of agriculture and cattle breeding, sending rain and thunderstorms; Falvar is the patron saint of sheep; Tutyr - a shepherd of wolves, allowing wolves to slaughter sheep; Avsati - the deity of wild animals, the patron saint of hunters. Among the Circassians, the main deities were considered: Shible - the deity of lightning (death by lightning was considered honorable, a person killed by lightning was not supposed to mourn, his grave was considered sacred); Sozeresh - the patron of agriculture, the god of fertility; Emish is the patron saint of sheep; Ahin is the patron of cattle; Meryem - the patroness of beekeeping (the name, apparently, from the Christian virgin Mary); Mesith - the patron saint of hunters, a forest deity; Tlepsh - the patron of blacksmiths; Thashkhuo is the supreme god of the sky (a rather dim figure, there was almost no cult of him). Among the Abkhazians, the most important places in religion were occupied by: the goddess Daja, the patroness of agriculture; Aitar - the creator of domestic animals, the god of reproduction; Airg and Azhveipshaa - hunting deities, patrons of forests and game; Afy is the god of lightning, similar to the Circassian Shibla.

5. Sanctuaries

The cult of local, communal patrons was usually tied to local sanctuaries, where rituals were performed. Among the Ossetians, these were dzuars. A dzuar is usually an old building, sometimes a former Christian church, and sometimes just a group of sacred trees. At each sanctuary there was an elected or hereditary community priest - dzuarlag, who led the performance of rituals. The Ingush had communal shrines - Elgyts, as a rule, special buildings; there were also sacred groves. Nothing is known about whether the Circassians and Abkhazians had such religious buildings, but each community used to have its own sacred grove; by the beginning of the 20th century. only a few sacred trees have survived. The sacred places of the Khevsurs were especially revered: these are the so-called khati - sanctuaries built among huge centuries-old trees (these trees were forbidden to be cut down). Each hati had its own land allotment, its own property, and livestock. All income from this land and livestock went to cult needs - the organization of rituals and holidays. Elective priests - khutsi, or dasturi and dekanozi - disposed of property and supervised rituals. They enjoyed great influence, they were obeyed in matters not related to religion.

6. blacksmith cult

The magical significance of iron as a talisman was noted among all the peoples of the Caucasus. For example, the custom is known to spend newlyweds under crossed checkers.

7. Remnants of shamanism

8. Religious syncretism

Now the population of the Caucasus, for the most part, has already freed itself from the dominance of religious ideas. Most of the old rites and religious customs have been abandoned and forgotten.

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