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DOI: 10.46698/VNC.2022.16.9.006 «ALARDY’S GOLD AND THE SUN OF JOHN THE BAPTIST» (REFRACTION OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION IN THE OSSETIAN FOLK CULT)
Ktsoeva, Sultana G.
Kavkaz Forum. 2022. Issue 9.
Abstract:
Based on narrative sources of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries, the article examines Christian reminiscences of the image and cult of Alardy, the deity of smallpox in the Ossetian religious pantheon, reveals and analyzes previously unexplored aspects of its connection with the Christian prototype - John the Baptist, as well as the essential closeness of Alardy and Falvara as a refraction in the people’s consciousness of the bundle of John the Baptist and Christ. As secondary aspects of the study of the problem, the reasons for the existence of the smallpox deity in the Ossetian ethno-religious pantheon and his similarity with identical deities and their cults among other Caucasian peoples are analyzed. It is found, that the main element of the cult of the Caucasian smallpox deities is oil, which is dedicated in their honor. The assumption is substantiated that the appearance of oil in the cult of Alardy can also be an echo of the Christian tradition, where this product is given, among other things, healing properties, since it symbolizes God’s positive response to prayers for healing. The calendar coincidences of the festive cult of Alardy with the days dedicated to John the Baptist in the church calendar are studied. The conclusion is made about the binding of calendar dates to the days of the summer solstice, which means the waning Sun, symbolizing the sunset of the world luminary. In this regard, the dates associated with Christ are related to sunrise and winter solstice. Based on this, a conclusion is made about the closeness to the solar symbolism of Alardy, which, among other things, was given the epithet «golden» in the folk tradition. The author of the article in his comparative studies adheres to the method of structural anthropology by Claude Levi-Strauss.
Keywords: Alardy, smallpox, John the Baptist, Sun, «golden», Christ, oil
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