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ISSN 2223-165X

V.I. ABAEV NORTH-OSSETIAN INSTITUTE FOR HUMANITARIAN AND SOCIAL STUDIES

OF VLADIKAVKAZ SCIENCE CENTRE OF RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE

AND THE GOVERNMENT OF NORTH OSSETIA-ALANIA

ИЗВЕСТИЯ СОИГСИ

Agababyan A.G. Abkhazian Ag(A)-Nykha and Circassian Ahyn: to the History of one Ritual Order. Print

The article considers in detail an order that can be characterized as the dominant element of the two ritual cults in the Black Sea cultural area. So-called rule of changing the places / alternation of actors when carrying out actions with the sacrificial animal became a unique component of the modern family prayer Ag(a)-nykha and the celebration of Ahуn's «deity», that ceased its existence more than a century ago. This fact, with the exception of individual hints of some ethnographers, hasn’t been given due importance for a long time, and the supposition about the possible proximity and common origin of this celebrations was hushed up. On the example of the data collected by the author during fieldwork in Abkhazia and Shapsugia and the available in the academic access of the Caucasian / North Caucasian folk material (songs, family legends), a detailed structural and semantic analysis of the central plots is carried out which shows the significance of the fixed procedure for ceremonies. Along with this plot, we distinguish a whole complex of narratives (legends and fairy tales), which ideologically justify the necessity of organizing these rituals and clarify the issue of their historical relationship (motive of battle with a snake, herself going cow, etc.). Consequently, the idea of the probable continuity of one cult from another becomes really reasonable. But Abkhazian Ag(a)-nykha and Circassian Ahyn can be the local versions of a wider mythological tradition, and this idea requires further clarification and reconciliation.

Keywords: Ag(a)-nykha prayer, Ampar lineage, Ahyn cult, rule of passage from place to place, alternation of actors, narratives, family legends and traditions.

 

 

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