Ossetic folk calendar is a complex system for counting and regulating year period. One of the most revered among all Ossetic folk calendar holidays, is the one honoring the patron of smallpox, measles and eye diseases – Alardy. Rather good preservation of the musical component of the cult may account for its popularity. According to our informants, the obligatory attribute of rituals in honor of the patron of smallpox was the performance of the songs "Alardyan zaræg" (Songs honoring Alardy). Sources for the study were the collections of "Iron Adæmon Sfældystad", "Ossetic Folk Art Monuments", as well as materials from the V.I. Abaev NOIHSS VSC Scientific Archive and our own field researches. The musical material "Alardyæn zaræg" is fairly well represented in the V.I. Abaev NOIHSS VSC Scientific Archive and personal author’s audio-fund. The study analyzed more than 20 samples of songs in honor of Alardy. Poetic features of the texts are revealed, special attention is paid to the harmonic and melodic features of the songs. General observations relate to the dynamics of historical development associated with the extinction of the cult and the loss of contexts for the performance of ritual songs. Analysis of the musical component of the Alardy cult, which reflects the ancient religious beliefs and beliefs of the people, makes it possible to conclude that the body of songs in honor of this patron, in the past consisted of three typological groups performed in various ritual contexts. However, over time, the cult of the Ossetic patron of smallpox gradually faded away, and therefore healing songs and songs performed by women, in honor of Alardy during the Tulanta rite completely disappeared.

Keywords: musical folklore, Ossetic folk calendar, ceremonial songs, Alardy, Ossetic ethnomusicology

References:

1.    Chibirov L.A. (comp.) Periodicheskaya pechat' Kavkaza ob Osetii i osetinakh. [Caucasus’ periodicals on Ossetia and Ossetians]. Tskhinvali, Iryston, 1987, vol. 3. 444 p.

2.    Abaev V.I. Istoriko-etimologicheskii slovar' osetinskogo yazyka [Historical and etymological dictionary of the Ossetian language]. Moscow—Leningrad, Nauka, 1958, vol. 1. 655 p.

3.    Kusaeva Z.K. Tsykurajy færdyg (chudesnaya busina) i "magicheskij kristall" A.S. Pushkina [Tsykuraiy færdyg (a wonderful bead) and the "magic crystal" of A.S. Pushkin]. Nartovedenie na rubezhe XX-XXI vv. [Nartology at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries]. Vladikavkaz, 2017, no. 4, p. 124-133.

4.    Nartovskie skazaniya: Epos osetinskogo naroda [The Nart legends: The epic of the Ossetian people]. Compiled by T.A. Khamitsaeva. Vladikavkaz, North Ossetian Institute for Humanitarian and Social Studies, 2012, vol. 7. 617 p.

5.    Gutiev K.C. (red) Narty kaddzhytæ. T. IV [The Nart legends. Vol. IV]. Makh dug [Our epoc]. 2006, no. 1, pp. 82-103. (in Ossetian)

6.    Nartovskie skazaniya: Epos osetinskogo naroda [The Nart legends: The epic of the Ossetian people. Comp. by T.A. Khamitsaeva]. Vladikavkaz, V. Gassiev Printing enterprise, 2005, vol. 3. 712 p.

7.    Nartovskie skazaniya: Epos osetinskogo naroda [The Narts’ legends: The epic of the Ossetian people]. Compiled by T.A. Khamitsaeva. Vladikavkaz, Iryston, 2003, vol. 1. 589 p.

8.    Alborov B.A. Ingushskoe “Gal'erdy” i osetinskoe “Alardy” [Ingush "Halierdy" and Ossetian "Alardy"]. Nekotorye voprosy osetinskoj filologii [Some issues of the Ossetian philology]. Ordzhonikidze, Ir, 1979, pp. 52-141.

9.    Uarziati V.S. Izbrannye trudy: Etnologiya. Kul'turologiya. Semiotika [Selected Works: Ethnology. Culturology. Semiotics. Comp. by V.A. Tsagaraev, E.M. Kochieva]. Vladikavkaz, Proect-Press, 2007. 861 p.

10.    Khamitsaeva T.A. Kalendarnye obryady i obryadovaya poeziya osetin vesenne-letnego tsikla [Calendar rites and ritual Ossetians’ poetry of the spring-summer cycle]. Voprosy osetinskoj literatury i fol'klora [Questions of the Ossetian literature and folklore]. Ordzhonikidze, Ir, 1988, pp. 182–197.

11.    Gatiev B.P. Sueveriya i predrassudki u osetin [Superstitions and prejudices among Ossetians]. Sbornik svedenij o kavkazskih gortsah [Collection of information on the Caucasian mountaineers]. Tiflis, Caucasian Mountain Office, 1886, iss. 9, pp. 1–83.

12.    Miller Vs. Osetinskie ehtyudy [Osetian etudes]. Uchenye zapiski imperatorskogo Moskovskogo universiteta [Academic notes of the Imperial University of Moscow]. Moscow, 1881. (Reprinted edition: Vladikavkaz, 1992, iss. 1. 717 p.)

13.    Darchieva M.V. "Prazdnichnoe vremya" v ehpicheskih skazaniyah i traditsionnoj kul'ture osetin (na primere prazdnika Alardy) ["Festive time" in the epic legends and traditional culture of Ossetians (on the example of the Alardy holiday)]. Fundamental'nye issledovaniya [Fundamental studies]. 2013, no. 4-4, pp. 1000-1004.

14.    Khamitsaeva T.A. (red.) Pamyatniki narodnogo tvorchestva osetin: Trudovaya i obryadovaya poehziya osetin [Monuments of the folk art of the Ossetians: Labor and ritual poetry of Ossetians]. Vladikavkaz, Ir, 1992. 438 p.

15.    Kusaeva Z.K. Obryad kak syuzhetoobrazuyushchij komponent v osetinskoj "Nartiade" [Rite as a plot-forming component in the Ossetian "Nartiada"]. Osetinskij yazyk v usloviyah globalizacii Materialy II vserossijskoj (s mezhdunarodnym uchastiem) nauchno-prakticheskoj konferencii [Osetian language in the conditions of globalization: Materials of the II All-Russian (with international participation) scientific-practical conference]. Moscow, 2014, pp. 143-156.

16.    Arshba S.G. Narodnaya medicina abhazov [Abkhazian folk medicine]. Moscow, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Science, 2007. 217 p.

17.    Osetinskie narodnye pesni, sobrannye B.A. Galaevym v zvukozapisyah, notirovannyh sovmestno B.A. Galaevym i E.V. Gippiusom [Ossetian folk songs collected by B.A. Galaev in sound recordings, notated jointly by B.A. Galaev and E.V. Gippius]. Moscow, Music, 1964. 249 p.

18.    Nauchnyj arhiv SOIGSI [Scientific archive of the North Ossetian Institute for Humanitarian and Social Studies]. Fund Art. Inventory 2.

19.    Dzlieva D.M. Lichnyi arhiv. Аudiofond [Personal Archive. Audio-Fund].