Beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus. What gods did the peoples of the North Caucasus believe in before the adoption of Islam? Agrarian communal cults

Before Soviet power, especially in the high mountainous regions of the Caucasus, very archaic features of the economic and social structure were preserved, with remnants of patriarchal-tribal and patriarchal-feudal relations.

This circumstance was also reflected in religious life: although in the Caucasus since the 15th-19th centuries. V. Christianity spread (accompanying the development of feudal relations), and from the Vll-Vllll century. V. - Islam and formally all Caucasian peoples were considered either Christians or Muslims. Under the outer cover of these official religions, many peoples of the mountainous regions actually preserved remnants of more ancient and original religions and beliefs. Often, of course, mixed with Christian or Muslim ideas. This is most noticeable among the Ossetians, Ingush, Savans, Circassians, and Abkhazians.

It is not difficult to give a general description of their beliefs, since they have many common features. All these peoples have preserved agricultural and pastoral cultures. This is evidenced by a large number of sources from the pre-Christian and pre-Muslim periods, ancient and early medieval writers and travelers, and mainly the extremely abundant ethnographic materials of the 15th - 20th centuries, describing in the most detailed manner the survivals of ancient beliefs. Soviet ethnographic literature is very rich in this regard, in terms of the quality of the material.

Family-tribal cultures held quite firmly in the Caucasus as a result of the stagnation of the patriarchal-tribal structure. For the most part, they took the form of reverence for the hearth - a material symbol of the family community. It was developed especially strongly among the Ingush, Ossetians and mountain Georgian groups. The Ingush considered the family hearth and everything connected with it (fire, ash, tension chain) sacred. Many peoples of the Caucasus, Siberia and other regions threw pieces of food into the fire. Shrouds did not just worship fire and ash. They considered the pagan god Safa to be the patron of fire, and his hearth was worshiped not in the home, but in a special defensive tower, which every family previously had and was considered a family shrine. Among the Ingush, each surname (clan) honored its patron, perhaps an ancestor. A stone monument called sieling was built in his honor. Once a year, a prayer was performed near the sieling, that is, on the day of the ancestral holiday.

The united clans also had their own patrons - the Galgai and Fealli, from which the Ingush people later formed. Similar customs are known among the Abkhazians. Each clan had its own deity and a general clan deity. Always once a year, a prayer was held for him in the sacred grove under the leadership of the elder family.

Until recently, the Imeretians (western Georgia) had the custom of annual sacrifices (they slaughtered a kid, lamb or rooster), poured out prayers to God for the well-being of the clan, ate and drank wine from a ritual vessel.

Ritual rites are of the same type, but in some places with complicated forms; as a rule, they were buried in crypts, and the dead were isolated from air and earth. The more important a person was in the family, the more expenses were spent on the funeral and memorial service. This was developed among many peoples of the Caucasus. Purely magical rituals of combating drought are described among the Shansug Circassians. The ritual consisted of the entire male population going to the grave of the one who was killed by lightning (a stone grave, which was considered holy, like the trees around it). They all joined hands and danced barefoot and without hats around the grave to ritual songs. Then they raised the bread and asked the deceased to send rain. Next, the stone was tied to a tree and lowered into the water, after which everyone plunged into the water themselves.

Most of the deities whose names are preserved in the beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus are associated with either agriculture or cattle breeding. Ossetians have the most revered gods with Christian names. Uecilla (Saint Elijah) is the patron saint of agriculture and cattle breeding. Falvar is the patron saint of sheep. Tushogr is a wolf shepherd who allows the wolves to slaughter the sheep. Among the Circassians, the main deities were considered: Isible - the deity of lightning, Sozeresh - the patron of agriculture, the god of fertility, Achin - the patron of cattle, Elish - the patron of sheep. Meriem is the patroness of beekeeping (from the Christian Virgin Mary). Plainche is the patron saint of blacksmiths. Tkhashkhuo is the supreme deity, the god of the sky (there was no cult of him, a weak figure in the religion of the highlanders). Among the Abkhazians, the deity Doja, the patroness of agriculture, occupied a very important place in religion. Aita is the creator of domestic animals, the god of reproduction. Aigir and Azhgveinshaa are hunting deities, patrons of forests and game. Afog is the god of lightning, similar to the Circassian Shabla. Cults, as a rule, took place at local sanctuaries - Dzedars, this is usually an old building or a Christian church, sometimes just a thicket of sacred trees. At each sanctuary there was a priest-dzuarlag, who presided over the performance of rituals. The Caucasian highlanders have preserved traces of craft cults, especially the cult associated with blacksmithing (as is known among the peoples of Siberia and Africa, for example). The Circassians revered the god of blacksmiths, Tlenis. The blacksmith, forge, and iron were credited with supernatural powers and, above all, the ability to magically heal the sick and wounded (especially when bones were broken); the patient was not allowed to sleep with the noise of the iron. The barbaric method of treatment was called “chanting”.

Along with the description of family-tribal and communal agricultural and pastoral cults and 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 - dasturias, also had soothsayers - Kadygs. These are either neurologically abnormal or seizure-prone people. Or people who know how to imitate them. Kadygs were both men and women.

All these beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus, as well as the witchcraft, witchcraft, erotic and phallic cults that existed among them, reflecting various aspects of the communal tribal system and its remnants, were mixed to varying degrees with religions brought to the Caucasus from outside - Christianity and Islam, which are characteristic of developed class society. Christianity once dominated most of the peoples of the Caucasus. Later, some of them leaned toward Islam, which was more in line with their patriarchal way of life. Christianity remained predominant among the Armenians, Georgians, part of the Ossetians and Abkhazians. Islam took root among the Azerbaijanis, the peoples of Dagestan, the Chechens and Ingush, the Kabardians and Circassians, and a small part of the Georgians (Adjarians, Ingiloys). Among the peoples of the mountainous part of the Caucasus, these religions in many cases existed only formally.

The North Caucasus is a predominantly Islamic region. Adygeis, Abazas, Circassians, part of the Ossetians, Kabardins, Karachais, Balkars, Nogais, North Caucasian Turkmen - Sunni Muslims (see Sunnism) of the Hanafi madhhab (comprehension); almost all the peoples of Dagestan (including the Turkic-speaking Kumyks), Chechens and Ingush are Sunni Muslims of the Shafiite madhhab. Kalmyks are Lamaist Buddhists (see Buddhism in Russia), some are Orthodox. Orthodoxy is adhered to by the Russian population, including the Cossacks (see Cossacks in Russia), a significant part of the Ossetians, and the Mozdok Kabardians. A small part of the Cossacks are Old Believers (see Old Believers). Some of the Tats (the so-called “Mountain Jews”) are Judaists (see Judaism in Russia).

Before Islam, from the 4th-5th centuries, Christianity appeared in the North Caucasus. Christian influence came from Byzantium, Georgia and Caucasian Albania. On the lands of the Circassians there was a Zikh diocese (from the 7th century), in Alania there was an Alan metropolitanate (from the beginning of the 10th century). Numerous finds of objects of Christian worship, remains of churches, chapels throughout the North Caucasus testify to the extensive missionary activity of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Despite this, the population remained largely semi-pagan, and in many places completely pagan. Judaism in the North Caucasus penetrated with the Tatami Judaists in the 5th-6th centuries and was supported by the political influence of the Khazar Kaganate, where this religion was the state religion, but did not become widespread. Islam began to penetrate into the North Caucasus in the 7th-8th centuries in connection with the Arab conquests. The first to undergo Islamization were the peoples of Dagestan, who adopted the madhhab of Imam Shafi'i from the Arabs. The Northwestern and Central Caucasus were greatly influenced by the Hanafi Golden Horde, and later by the Crimean Tatars, Turks and Nogais, who also spread the Abu Hanifa madhab here. The spread of Islam proceeded gradually: first, representatives of the nobility became Muslims, and then people dependent on them. Chechens and Ingush, converted to Islam by preachers from Dagestan (16-19 centuries), became Shafiites. Here, as in Dagestan, the Sufi brotherhood of Naqshbandiya spread (see Sufism in Russia).

By the beginning of the 19th century, the majority of the population of the North. The Caucasus was converted to Islam. The national liberation movement of the mountaineers during the Caucasian War acquired religion. coloring In Dagestan and Chechnya it resulted in a religious and political movement, which received the name muridism in literature. Imam Shamil, who led the movement and created a theocratic state - the imamate, successfully used the traditions of the Naqshbandi Sufi brotherhood. The ideology was based on the idea of gazavat - a holy war for faith; Adat was consistently replaced by Sharia. In the 50-60s of the 19th century, a new movement arose in Chechnya, led by Sheikh Kunta-Hadji, who called for peace and tranquility. He preached the ideas of the Qadiriya Sufi brotherhood, which he learned during his stay in the Middle East. Tsarist officials dubbed the teachings of Kunta-Hajji “zikrism”, since in the ritual practice of the Qadirites, zikr occupies an important place - loud zeal with the repetition of the name of Allah, accompanied by dancing in a circle. “Zikrizm” covered the mountainous regions of Chechnya and the whole of Ingushetia. After the Caucasian War, a significant part of the Muslims of the North. Caucasus moved to Turkey. There were no obstacles to the worship of those who remained; every village had a mosque, often more than one.

After the revolution, as Soviet power strengthened, Muslim legal proceedings were eliminated, mosques and madrassas began to close. In the 1930s and 40s, there was active persecution and deportation of mullahs, qadis, and sheikhs. This policy met with the greatest opposition in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, where Sufism largely contributed to the preservation of Islam. By the end of the 20s in Chechnya and Ingushetia, about half of the population were murids. The forced eviction of the Vainakhs in 1944 increased their religiosity. People rallied even more around the sheikhs, whose authority increased immeasurably. In Checheno-Ingushetia, by the beginning of the 80s, the number of officially unregistered mosques exceeded the number of registered ones tens of times. The situation in the North-West Caucasus was somewhat different. Here anti-religious activities achieved significant success. The bulk of the population abandoned religious duties.

In the late 80s and early 90s, religious organizations were able to act openly. If in the North-East Caucasus this was the release of religiosity driven deep into freedom (for example, in Chechnya and Ingushetia by 1993 there were already 2,500 mosques compared to 12 in the early 80s), then in the North-West Caucasus a true revival of Islam and Christianity began . The construction of mosques and churches began, and religious schools began to open. There are Islamic universities in the North Caucasus, and young people study in other Islamic states.

The penetration of monotheistic religions into the North Caucasus over time, the loyalty of the North Caucasian peoples to the traditions of their ancestors, and the long-term preservation of patriarchal orders in the mountainous region led to the persistence of ancient beliefs and rituals. The religious beliefs of the North Caucasian peoples have developed some common features: special veneration of the deity of thunder and lightning, functional similarities of other deities and patrons. Beliefs associated with agricultural practices are highly developed; These are mainly magical performances and rituals. Many people are gradually passing away. characters of demonology, but the belief in genies remains.

In the beliefs of the peoples of the North. In the Caucasus, remnants of the cult of ancestors are woven into Muslim holiday rituals. On the days of Eid al-Fitr and Kurban Bayram, as well as the spring holiday of Navruz, prayers are offered for deceased relatives and their graves are visited. Mawlid, the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, is widely celebrated throughout the region. Mawlid is also often held on some important occasion, not necessarily in the month of Rabi al-Aw-wal (when the Prophet was born). A big family holiday is the circumcision of a son (Sunnet). The cult of saints, associated with Sufism in the North-Eastern Caucasus, is widespread.

In recent years, among the Muslim population of the North. Wahhabi ideas began to spread in the Caucasus (see Wahhabism), which causes alarm among officials. clergy. Wahhabism penetrates from Saudi Arabia and other Islamic states both through direct missionary activity and indirectly through young people who studied abroad. The Wahhabis have strong financial support and publish the lion's share of local Islamic literature. Wahhabism gained strength mainly in environmentally and socially disadvantaged places: Chechnya, the foothills of Dagestan, etc. The main focus is on young people. Much attention is paid to the study of Arabic, the Koran and Hadith in the original language. Adat is completely denied, only Sharia and the Sunnah of the Prophet are recognized. Many customs and rituals that are ingrained in people's minds as Islamic are also denied. Thus, it is prohibited to read the Koran at the grave or in the house of the deceased, to read talkyn (instructions to the deceased) at a funeral, to use rosaries, to worship shrines, etc. Muslims who do not accept Wahhabism are accused of idolatry. On this basis, discord in families and clashes in mosques occur. The extremism of the Wahhabis causes caution and condemnation from officials. clergy.

In 1989, the unified Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the North Caucasus (residence - Buinaksk) split into republican Spiritual Administrations, headed by their own muftis. Religious organizations of the Orthodox population of the North Caucasus are under the jurisdiction of the Stavropol diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

A. A. Yarlykapov

Here is quoted from the publication: Religions of the peoples of modern Russia. Dictionary. / editorial team: Mchedlov M.P., Averyanov Yu.I., Basilov V.N. and others - M., 1999, p. 270-273.

(meaning the totality of peoples inhabiting the North Caucasus and part of Transcaucasia: Georgians, Adygs (Kabardians, Adygeans, Circassians), Abkhazians, Abazas, Chechens and Ingush (self-name - Vainakhs), peoples of Dagestan (Avars, Laks, Dargins, Lezgins, Tabasarans, Tsakhurs, Rutulians, etc.) etc.)

According to the religious beliefs of the Caucasian peoples, the earth's firmament has a round shape, is surrounded by the sea or mountains, and at the edge of the world there is a tree of life that vertically connects heaven, earth and the underworld. According to the ideas of the Chechens and Ingush, the underground world consists vertically of seven other worlds, connected to each other by holes or hidden caves located at the edge of each of the worlds (later, the Ingush and Chechens arose the concept of a single underground world).

UNIVERSE

According to the native belief of Georgians, the world consists of separate worlds located on intersecting coordinates; the upper world (zeskneli), the earthly world (skneli) and the underground world (kveskneli) are placed vertically; horizontally in front of the center of the universe (sknel) is the front world (tsinaskneli), and behind is the back (literally “last”) world (ukanskneli). The upper world is inhabited by deities, birds and fantastic creatures, the middle world is inhabited by people, animals and plants, the lower world is the world of deceased chthonic creatures - devas, dragons, as well as deep waters. The three vertical worlds correspond to white, red and black colors.

The front world is bright and fertile, corresponds to the concept of “here”, and the back world contrasted with it is dark and mysterious, full of all sorts of dangers and surprises, corresponds to the concept of “there”.

Due to the ominous nature of the underworld, many rituals prohibited looking back.

This entire system of vertically and horizontally located worlds is surrounded by a dark external world (Georgian gareskneli), behind which there is nothing existing and which is understood as frozen darkness and unchanging eternity.

Vertically located worlds are delimited by a thickness of air and the earth's firmament, and horizontal ones by seven (nine) ridges or seas. The transition from one world to another is available only to deities or demigod heroes, and a person can make such a transition only with the permission of a deity through a “change of appearance,” i.e., death (Georgian gardatsvaleba, lit. “change of appearance,” means “death”) ""), when the soul temporarily leaves the body, “travels” along with the deities, moving from one world to another, and after returning again inhabits its body (Georgian Gakhua Megrelauri, Ingush. Botky Shirtka).

All worlds are connected by the world tree standing at the edge of the earth (its variants are a pillar on which the firmament rests; a tower; a chain lowered from the sky;
a deer with huge branchy antlers, along which you can reach the upper world), with an animal tied to it (according to the Abkhazians, when an animal wakes up and strives for freedom, earthquakes occur).

The Rodnoverie beliefs of the Chechens and Ingush associate the appearance of life on earth with a huge white bird that once descended to the earth, which was a flat, waterless expanse, without plants and living creatures. After the bird departed, water and seed emerged from its excrement, and seas, lakes, and rivers were formed from the spilled water; From seeds carried by the wind, various plants emerged. According to other Vainakh myths, mountains, animals, and people were created by the demiurge Dyala.

GODS OF THE CHECHENS AND INGUSHS

DYALA
In Chechen-Ingush mythology, the supreme deity, demiurge.

ELTA
(“grain grain”), in Ingush mythology the god of cereals, patron of wild animals; one of the sons of the god Sela.

ERD
Erdy is a god in Ingush mythology. Has the appearance of a man, lives in the rocky mountains, in a cave from which a glow emanates. A holiday is dedicated to him at the beginning of mowing - the so-called. windy Monday, numerous temples and sanctuaries (Tkhaba-Erdy, Gal-Erdy, Tamyzh-Erdy, Maga-Erdy, etc.).

Tamyzh-Erda
according to the ideas of the Ingush, he is a small man sitting on a horse the size of a kid. When he is angry, his height increases fifteen times, and his horse becomes taller than a tower. There is a myth according to which Tamyzh-Erdy, in the guise of a goat, appeared to a shepherd when he was tending a flock of sheep at the foot of the Red Mountains; the goat spoke to the shepherd and through him ordered the inhabitants of his village to worship Tamyzh-Erda, while defining the details of the ritual. He then named himself and turned into the ether. Moldza-Erdy was worshiped as the god of war; Meler-Erdy - as the patron of fertility and drinks made from bread.

EL
el, in the mythology of the Ingush and Chechens, the underworld of the dead.

ESHAP
in the Nart-Orstkhoy epic of the Ingush and Chechens, an anthropomorphic, sexless monster guards the entrance to the tree (does not allow the living into it and does not let the dead out of it). Has nine eyes, nine arms and legs, fangs protrude from its mouth; he has a huge body, overgrown with long hair, covered with lice.

ZHER-BABA
in the mythology of the Ingush and Chechens, the character is in the guise of an old woman. In the Nart-Orstkhoi epic J.-B. - a prophetic old woman who fed the Nart-Orstkhoi people to their fill with bread baked from a very small amount of flour (saved from the times when dunen berkat - grace existed in the world), and told them the reason for the disappearance of dunen berkat. In fairy tales J.-b. lives far from human habitation - in the forest, in the mountains; she is kind, helps the hero (shows the path to achieving the goal, contributes to his victory over his enemies).

GODS OF GEORGIA

At the head of the Georgian pantheon is the supreme god - Gmerti, who, although he shares some functions with other deities, is essentially the only founder and guardian of the world order, the ruler of everything that exists. He resides in seventh heaven, and without his will nothing happens either under the sun or in the world of the dead. The remaining deities - Khvtisshvili (children of Gmerti) act as local deities - patrons and intermediaries between people and the supreme deity. The head of the latter is considered to be Quiria, the ruler of the land, who has his own tent, that is, a courtyard. According to some myths, he is considered an intermediary between God and the rest of the Khvtisshvili, who only on special occasions gather at the gates of the supreme deity.

GODS OF ABKHAZIA

At the head of the Abkhaz pantheon is Antsva, who absorbed the features of ancient thunderstorm and hunting deities, the mother goddess, etc.

GODS OF ARMENIANS

BUG
ZHAMANAK (“time”), according to Armenian beliefs, the personification of time is a gray-haired old man, sitting on the top of a high mountain (in the sky). As a time manager, he holds two balls in his hands - white and black. He lowers one ball down one side of the mountain, unwinding it, and winds up the second ball, lifting it along the other side of the mountain. When the white ball (symbolizing the day, the daytime sky), unwinding, reaches the bottom, the sun brightens and rises. When he winds up a white ball, and unwinds the black one (a symbol of the night, the night sky), and lowers it down, it gets dark and the sun sets.

GODS OF OSSETIAN

KARCHIKALOY
in the Ossetian pantheon he is the patron saint of birds. According to legend, K. and the patron of animals, Afsati, exchanged gifts. K. gave Afsati a mountain turkey, and he gave him a hare. Since then, when hunting a mountain turkey, people began to ask for luck to be sent to Afsati, and when hunting a hare, to K.

KAFTYSAR-HUANDONG-ALDAR
lord of fish; treats the Narts sometimes with hostility, sometimes benevolently, and is called a “foreigner.”

GODS OF THE KABARDINS

JIG-GUASHA
in Adyghe mythology, a goddess, patroness of trees. Distinguished by deep wisdom. Below J.-g. - a tree, its upper part is a beautiful woman made of gold and silver. She lives on the sea coast, where she is surrounded by thauhuds. J.-G. gave birth to a sunny son from Tlepsh (who met her during his travels around the world in search of knowledge for the Narts). The boy inherited his mother's wisdom: his first words contained advice to the Narts to navigate their hikes along the Milky Way.

GODS OF ADYGEA, DAGESTAN, etc.

In Adyghe mythology, the head of the pantheon, demiurge and first creator is Tha
- “sun”, ZEKUATHA in the Adyghe pantheon, god is the patron saint of travelers and horsemen. According to the ideas of the Black Sea Circassians (Shapsugs), Z. is always going somewhere. In its functions it is close to the god of war.

In Dagestan there is no common name for mythological characters with the same functions; almost every nation has its own gods. At the head of the pantheon are Zal (among the Laks), Beched (among the Avars), Gynish (among the Tsakhurs), Yinish (among the Rutulians), etc.

The mythological ideas of the Caucasian-Iberian peoples are characterized by the personification of the sun and moon, and other celestial bodies. In Georgian myths, the moon is a man, the sun is a woman; they act sometimes as brother and sister, sometimes as husband and wife, or as son and mother. The mountaineers of Dagestan gave the moon and the sun the appearance of a girl and a boy, and in some myths they were considered brother and sister, in others - lovers. The Abkhaz pantheon originally included the sunrise and sunset deity Khait, associated with the world of the living, the world of the dead, and the sea. According to ancient beliefs, all the rivers flow from the mountains into the sea kingdom of Haita through a huge hole. The female counterpart of Khaita is Kodosh, whose cult was widespread in the coastal zone of Abkhazia and among some neighboring Adyghe tribes (for example, among the Shapsugs), expressed in the veneration of groves and individual trees dedicated to her. Later, Amra (personification of the sun) and Amza (personification of the moon) entered the Abkhaz pantheon.

Patron gods

In the Caucasus, stories about deities - patrons and owners of natural objects - rivers, lakes, seas, mountain peaks, etc., as well as about the so-called. hunting deities, without whose consent the hunter cannot obtain prey.
There are also legends about the owners of wild animals, herding and milking deer and aurochs. They give the hunter game, killing which without their permission is prohibited, and the disobedient is always punished. Hunting deities include the Georgian Ochopintre, Dali, the Abkhazian Azhveipsh, with whom Aerg is sometimes identified, the Adyghe Mezitha, who supplanted the previously revered goddess of hunting Mezguashi, the Dagestan Abdal (Avdal), the Ingush Elta (who is also the god of cereals), etc.

Many Dagestan peoples exhibit totemic ideas. The totems are the ancestor of people - a bear, a cow, a dog, a horse, an eagle.
The role of the snake is significant; Among the Avars and Laks, the snake is a good spirit, the patron of the house; among the Gidatlins, it is the personification of water, rain and lightning. Totemic ideas can also be traced in Checheno-Ingush mythology.

The patrons of people among the Chechens and Ingush are the bird that bestows grace (fara khazilg) and the snake.

In the Abkhaz pantheon of gods, Afa is the lord of thunder and lightning, sending fiery arrows from the sky. The Adygs believe in the great thunder god Shible, who, along with the god of the soul Psath, followed immediately after Tha (Tkhashkho) in the pantheon of gods. In Dagestan, the deities of thunder and lightning Ass (among the Laks), Arsh (among the Tsakhurs), and the deities of rain (Zyuvil among the Laks, Gudil among the Tabasarans, Gudi among the Rutulians, Godey among the Tsakhurs, Peshapai among the Lezgins) are revered.

Fertility Gods

Ritual processions with phallic dolls largely replicate the festivals in honor of fertility deities. In Dagestan, the Lezgins revered the deity of agriculture and cattle breeding, Gupar. Among other Caucasian peoples, these ideas are more differentiated. The Abkhazians, along with the main deity of cattle breeding, Aitar, revered the patron deity of livestock, especially buffaloes, Mkamgaria (Akamgaria, Skamgaria). The Adygs revered the patron saint of oxen - Khakustash, and cows - Pshishak; In addition to them, the deities were revered - the patrons of large and small livestock - Akhyn and Amish.

Also preserved are ideas about good and evil spirits, forest people, which were later combined under the influence of Christianity and Islam with ideas about the devil, Shaitan, and Iblis. In Chechen-Ingush mythology, tarams are good guardian spirits; There are numerous evil spirits - diamonds, hun sags, uburs, vochabi, gamsilg. Among evil spirits, personifications of various diseases play a significant role. Among the Dagestan peoples, shaitans are anthropomorphic creatures, overgrown with hair, with twisted legs and arms, and smaller than a person. They live in secluded places, lead the same lifestyle as people: they celebrate weddings, give birth to children (in case of difficult births, they invite a midwife); love to ride horses. Sometimes they take the form of a familiar person (Avar myth “The Shepherd and the Father”).

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 some of the Caucasian peoples (ancestors of Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis) had their own states and high culture back in ancient times.

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-tribal 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 Caucasian peoples were considered either Christian or Muslim; under the outer cover of these official religions, many backward peoples of the mountainous regions actually retained very strong remnants of more ancient and original religious beliefs, 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 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 the study of pre-Christian and pre-Muslim beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus are the testimonies of ancient and early medieval writers and travelers (rather meager), and mainly the extremely abundant ethnographic materials of the 18th-20th centuries, describing in the most detailed manner the remnants of ancient beliefs. Soviet ethnographic literature is very rich in this regard, in terms of the quality of records.

1. Family and tribal cults

Family-tribal cults held quite firmly in the Caucasus due to the stagnation of the patriarchal-tribal structure. In most cases, they took the form of reverence for the hearth and home - a material symbol of the family community. It was especially developed among the Ingush, Ossetians, and mountain Georgian groups. The Ingush, for example, considered the hearth and everything connected with it (fire, ash, fire chain) to be a family shrine. If any stranger, even a criminal, entered the house and grabbed the chain of custody, he came under the protection of the family; the owner of the house was obliged to protect him with all measures. This was a kind of religious interpretation of the well-known patriarchal custom of hospitality of the Caucasian peoples. Before each meal, small sacrifices - pieces of food - were thrown into the fire. But there was apparently no personification of the hearth, or fire (unlike the beliefs of the peoples of Siberia). Among the Ossetians, who had similar beliefs, there was also something like a personification of the nadochny 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 previously had and was itself considered a family shrine; this hearth was not used at all for everyday needs, it was used only for special family rituals.

Tribal cults are 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 was built in his honor - sieling. Once a year, on the day of the family holiday, a prayer was held near the sieling. Associations of clans also had their own 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” that patronized this one clan. The clan annually held prayers to its patron in a sacred grove or in another designated place under the leadership of the eldest in the clan. Until recently, the Imeretians (Western Georgia) had a custom of organizing annual family sacrifices: they slaughtered a kid, or a lamb, or a rooster, prayed to God for the well-being of the entire family, then ate and drank wine stored in a special ritual vessel.

2. Funeral cult

The funeral cult, which was very developed among the peoples of the Caucasus, merged with the family-tribal cult, and in some places took on overly complicated forms. Along with Christian and Muslim funeral customs, some peoples, especially the North Caucasus, also 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 had the custom 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 sacrifice, etc. - and often completely ruined the household. Such a harmful custom was especially noted among the Ossetians (Hist); it is also known among the Abkhazians, Ingush, Khevsur Svans, etc. They believed that the deceased himself was invisibly present at the wake. If a person, for whatever reason, did not arrange a wake for his deceased relatives for a long time, then he was condemned, believing that he was keeping them from hand to mouth. 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 carelessly fulfilling his duty to organize a funeral.

Mourning for the deceased was observed very strictly and was also associated with superstitious beliefs. Particularly severe restrictions and regulations of a purely religious nature fell on the widow. Among the Ossetians, for example, she had to make the bed for her deceased husband every day for a year, wait for him at the bedside until late at night, 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 stands there for several minutes in this position, like as if giving me a wash. At the end of the ceremony, she returns to the bedroom and puts the utensils back in their place.”

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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-tribal 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 Caucasian peoples were considered either Christian or Muslim; under the outer cover of these official religions, many backward peoples of the mountainous regions actually retained very strong remnants of more ancient and original religious beliefs, 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 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 the study of 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 meager), and mainly the extremely abundant ethnographic materials of the 18th-20th centuries, describing in the most detailed manner the remnants of ancient beliefs. Soviet ethnographic literature is very rich in this regard, in terms of the quality of records.

1. Family and tribal cults

Family-tribal cults held quite firmly in the Caucasus due to the stagnation of the patriarchal-tribal structure. 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 mountain Georgian groups. The Ingush, for example, considered the hearth and everything connected with it (fire, ash, fire chain) to be a family shrine. If any stranger, even a criminal, entered the house and grabbed the chain of custody, he came under the protection of the family; the owner of the house was obliged to protect him with all measures. This was a kind of religious interpretation of the well-known patriarchal custom of hospitality of the Caucasian peoples. Before each meal, small sacrifices - pieces of food - were thrown into the fire. But there was apparently no personification of the hearth, or fire (unlike the beliefs of the peoples of Siberia). Among the Ossetians, who had similar beliefs, there was also something like a personification of the nadochny 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 previously had and was itself considered a family shrine; this hearth was not used at all for everyday needs, it was used only for special family rituals.

Tribal cults are 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 was built in his honor - sieling. Once a year, on the day of the family holiday, a prayer was held near the sieling. Associations of clans also had their patrons - the Galgai, the Feappi, from which the Ingush people were later formed. Similar customs are known among the Abkhazians: among them, each clan had its own “shares of the deity” that patronized this one clan. The clan annually held prayers to its patron in a sacred grove or in another designated place under the leadership of the eldest in the clan. Until recently, the Imeretians (Western Georgia) had a custom of organizing annual family sacrifices: they slaughtered a kid, or a lamb, or a rooster, prayed to God for the well-being of the entire family, then ate and drank wine stored in a special ritual vessel.

2. Funeral cult

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 was based on a communal organization. The rural agricultural community remained very stable among the majority of Caucasian peoples. Its functions, in addition to regulating land use and solving community rural affairs, also included caring for the harvest, the well-being of livestock, etc., and for these purposes religious prayers and magical rites were used. They were different among different peoples, often complicated by Christian or Muslim admixtures, but basically they were similar, being always connected in one way or another with the economic needs of the community. To ensure a good harvest, drive away drought, stop or prevent the loss of livestock, magical rituals or prayers to patron deities (often both together) were performed. 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 among others they retained more original look.

Here is an example of a description of the ritual of an agricultural communal cult among the Abkhazians: “Residents of the village (atsuta) held a special agricultural prayer called “atsu prayer” (atsyu-nykhea) every spring - in May or early June, on Sunday. Residents contributed to the purchase of sheep or cows and wine (by the way, not a single shepherd refused, if necessary, to give a casted goat or ram for public prayer, although rams were rarely used as sacrificial animals). In addition, each smoke (that is, household - S.T.) was obliged to bring boiled millet (gomi) with them to a designated place, which was considered sacred according to legend; there they slaughtered cattle and cooked meat. Then an old man, respected in that village, was chosen, who was given a stick with a liver and a 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 the heavenly powers, have pity on us and send us thy mercy: grant the fertility of the earth, so that we, our wives and our children may not know hunger, cold, or grief.” At the same time, he cut off a piece of the liver and heart, poured wine over them and threw them away from him, after why everyone sat in a circle, wished each other happiness and began to eat and drink. The skin was received by the worshiper, 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 rituals of combating drought are described among the Shapsug Circassians. One of the ways of causing rain during a drought was for all the men of the village to go to the grave of a person killed by lightning (a “stone grave” that was considered a community 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. Having arrived at the place, they all joined hands and danced, barefoot and without hats, around the grave to the ritual songs. Then, raising the bread, the relative of the deceased addressed the latter on behalf of the entire community with a request to send rain. Having finished his prayers, he took a stone from the grave, and all participants in the ceremony went to the river. A stone tied with a rope to a tree was lowered into the water, and everyone present, right in their clothes, plunged into the river. The Shapsugs believed that this ritual was supposed to cause rain. After three days the stone had to be removed from 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 entire earth. Among other methods of magically causing rain, walking with a doll made from a wooden shovel and dressed in a woman’s outfit is especially typical; This doll, called hatse-guashe (princess-shovel), was carried around the village by the girls, doused with water near each house, and finally thrown into the river. The ritual was performed only by women, and if they happened to meet a man, he was caught and also thrown into the river. Three days later, the doll was taken out of the water, undressed and broken.

Similar rituals with dolls were known among the Georgians. The latter also had a magical ritual of “plowing out” the rain: the girls dragged the plow along the bottom of the river back and forth. To stop the rain that was too long, they plowed a strip of land near the village 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 with cattle breeding - directly or indirectly. There are also patron deities of hunting. Among the Ossetians, for example, the gods were most revered (their images were layered with Christian features and even Christian names): Uacilla (that is, Saint Elijah) - the patron saint of agriculture and cattle breeding, sending rain and thunderstorms; Falvar is the patron of sheep; Tutyr is a wolf shepherd who allows the wolves to slaughter the sheep; Avsati is the deity of wild animals, the patron of hunters. Among the Circassians, the main deities were considered: Shible - the deity of lightning (death from lightning was considered honorable, a person killed by lightning was not supposed to be mourned, his grave was considered sacred); Sozeresh is the patron of agriculture, the god of fertility; Emish is the patron saint of sheep; Ahin is the patron of cattle; Meriem is the patroness of beekeeping (the name, apparently, from the Christian Virgin Mary); Mezith - patron of hunters, forest deity; Tlepsh is the patron saint of blacksmiths; Tkhashkhuo is the supreme god of the sky (a rather dull 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 - creator of domestic animals, god of reproduction; Airg and Azhveipshaa are hunting deities, patrons of forests and game; Afa 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 vaguely delimited functions. These most famous deities were popular throughout the people, although their veneration often took the form of the same communal cult. But in addition to these national deities, there were purely local patron deities, each community having its own; It is sometimes difficult to distinguish them from their generic patrons, because the rural community of some peoples of the Caucasus itself has not yet completely freed itself from the generic shell.

5. Sanctuaries

The cult of local, community 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 - a dzuarlag, who supervised 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 previously had its own sacred grove; by the beginning of the 20th century. Only a few sacred trees have survived. The Khevsurs especially revered sacred places: these are the so-called khati - sanctuaries built among huge ancient trees (these trees were forbidden to be cut down). Each hati had its own land plot, its own property, and livestock. All income from this land and livestock went to religious needs - the organization of rituals and holidays. Elected priests - Khutsi, or Dasturi and Dekanosi - managed the property and supervised the rituals. They enjoyed enormous influence and were listened to 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. Supernatural properties were attributed to the blacksmith, forge, and iron, and above all the ability to magically heal the sick and wounded. The forge was the place where such healing rituals were performed. Connected with this is the special barbaric custom of “treating” the wounded among the Circassians - the so-called chapsh; they tried to entertain the wounded person (especially if a bone was broken) day and night, not allowing him to fall asleep; fellow villagers gathered to see him, organized games and dances; Each person entering loudly struck the iron. The wounded man had to strengthen himself and not reveal his suffering. According to an eyewitness, sometimes, “exhausted by illness, noise, dust, the patient falls asleep. But it was not there. The girl sitting next to the patient takes a copper basin or iron ploughshare in her hands and begins to hit the copper basin (or ploughshare) over the patient’s head with all her might with a hammer. The patient wakes up groaning...”

The Abkhazians had a similar cult of the blacksmith god Shashva. They also preserved traces of the veneration of the goddess Erysh, 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, there is a well-known custom of holding newlyweds under crossed checkers.

7. Vestiges of shamanism

Along with the described family-tribal and communal agricultural-pastoral cults, remnants of more archaic forms of religion, including shamanism, can also be found in the beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus. The Khevsurs, in addition to the usual community priests - dasturi and others - also had soothsayers - kadagi. These are either nervously abnormal people who are prone to seizures, or people who can skillfully imitate them. There were men and women Kadagas; “During the temple holiday, mainly in the morning on New Year’s Day, some Khevsur trembles, loses his memory, becomes delirious, 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 spirit among the peoples of Siberia. Kadagi gave various advice, especially in the event of any misfortunes, and explained why exactly the hati (saint) was angry. He also determined who could be a dasturi or a dekanosi.

8. Religious syncretism

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

Beliefs of the peoples of the Caucasus. What gods did the peoples of the North Caucasus believe in before the adoption of Islam? Agrarian communal cults

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