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Home Editorial board Publication ethics Information Current Archive Rules for authors Contacts	DOI: 10.46698/VNC.2022.17.10.010 ABOUT ONE RITUAL TEXT OF THE OSSETIANS AND ABKHAZIANS Bessolova, Elena B. Kavkaz Forum. 2022. Issue 10. Abstract: The article considers the ritual walking of a young daughter-in-law to a water source, which is read by the author as the right to use the water of an aul, village, clan, which was equivalent to the right to become a member of the aul (village, clan) where the bride got married. This goal is achieved through the use of ethnographic and linguistic material. It is emphasized that the rite is both initiatory and sacred. Presuming the connection between the purifying power of water and the human psyche, which is characteristic of the traditional cultures of the North Caucasus, the author provides a multidimensional analysis of this phenomenon with the involvement of folklore sources. An attempt is made to interpret various magical elements that accompany the mentioned rite, which is part of the structure of complex wedding rituals. The semantics and symbolism of the ritual have been studied; actional and verbal features, mythological and ritual realities and functions of water worship, motives for exchanges and propitiations. The similarity of various elements of the rite is emphasized and analyzed, the linguistic parallels are also explored. Relevant texts from the legends about the Narts are used as sources, the hierarchy of water deities and semi-deities is analyzed, the mythological connection of both worlds - the sacred and the valley, where water acts as a connecting element between them, is analyzed. The analysis of prayers uttered by women during the ceremony is carried out. With the help of a comparative typological analysis, much in common was found in the aforementioned ritual of the Ossetians and Abkhazians. The origins lie in direct contacts and intensive ethno-cultural exchange in the past. In addition, similarities can be explained by typologically identical views and the specifics of the geographical environment. Keywords: the Ossetians, the Abkhazians; rite of worshipping water; magic and ritual functions + References 1. Dzadziev, A.B., Dzutsev, Kh.V., Karaev, S.M. Etnografiya i mifologiya osetin. Kratkii slovar’ [Ethnography and mythology of the Ossetians. Brief dictionary]. Vladikavkaz, 1994. 284 p. 2. Abaeva, F.O. Obryadovyi svadebnyi tekst osetin (leksika, semantika, simvolika) [Ritual wedding text of the Ossetians (lexicon, semantics, symbols)]. Vladikavkaz, 2013. 251 p. 3. Pamyatniki narodnogo tvorchestva osetin [Monuments of folk art of the Ossetians]. Compiler T.A. Khamitsaeva. Vladikavkaz, Ir, 1992. T.I. Trudovaya i obryadovaya poeziya [T.I. Labor and ritual poetry]. 440 p. 4. Kaitov, S. Osetinskie motivy [Ossetian motives]. Vladikavkaz, Ir, 2009. 591 p. (in Ossetian). 5. Chibirov, L.A. Drevneishie plasty dukhovnoi kul’tury osetin [The oldest layers of the spiritual culture of the Ossetians]. Tskhinvali, Iryston, 1984. 218 p. 6. Kaloev, B.A. Osetiny [Ossetians]. Moscow, Nauka, 2004. 471 p. 7. Abaev, V.I. Kul’t «semi bogov» u skifov [The cult of the «seven gods» among the Scythians]. Izbrannye trudy. V 2 t. [Selected Works. In 2 vols]. T. I. Religiya, fol’klor, literature [T. I. Religion, folklore, literature]. Vladikavkaz, Ir, 1990, pp. 89–96. 8. Inal-ipa, Sh.D. Etnografiya brachno-semeinykh i sotsial’nykh otnoshenii abkhazov [Ethnography of marriage, family and social relations of the Abkhaz]. Trudy v XI t. [Proceedings in the XI volume]. Compiled by V.L. Biguaa, S.A. Dbar. Sukhum, Dom pechati, 2016, vol. I, pp. 152–157. 9. Biguaa, V. Ritual’nyi mir traditsionnoi religii abkhazov [The ritual world of the traditional religion of the Abkhaz]. Moscow, MAKS Press, 2018. 336 p. 10. Beili, H. Zabytyi yazyk simvolov [Forgotten language of symbols]. Moscow, ZAO Izdatel’stvo Tsentrpoligraf, 2010. 573 p. 11. Kuz’mina, E.E. Kolesnyi transport i problemy etnicheskoi i sotsial’noi istorii drevnego naseleniya yuzhnorusskikh stepei [Wheeled transport and problems of ethnic and social history of the ancient population of the southern Russian steppes]. Vestnik drevnei istorii [Ancient History Bulletin]. 1974, no. 4 (130), pp. 68–87. ← Contents of issue


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