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Home Editorial board Publication ethics Information Current Archive Rules for authors Contacts	THE SOUND CODE ‘TSOPPAY’ RITUALS IN OSSETIC TRADITION Dzlieva, Dzerassa M. Kavkaz Forum. 2025. Issue 24. Abstract: Ossetian ritual folklore has repeatedly been the subject of study by various researchers. The roots of the rituals discussed in this article go back to ancient times, and, studying them from various perspectives, is, in our opinion, highly relevant to modern science. The rituals discussed in this scientific work are associated with the images of Wacilla/Wacella and Eliya/Eliya, who in various local Ossetian traditions performed the functions of thunderers. The cults dedicated to them are still alive in Ossetia today. In our work, we focused on the song Tsoppay, the performance of which, in tradition, was associated with rituals of walking around a person struck by lightning or annual celebrations in honor of people struck by lightning. In addition, we managed to discover new contexts for the performance of this song, previously not described in either ethnographic literature or archival sources. The article employs a comprehensive research method that combines ritual and music, with a special focus on the magic of singing, which is what makes the chosen topic so relevant. The materials on the research topic include archival sources, published samples, as well as our own field material collected in 2025 in various regions of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, which is being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The musical-typological analysis conducted allowed us to conclude that all Tsoppay songs have different musical-typological characteristics. This may indicate both the local diversity of songs of this type and their different ritual. Keywords: Ossetian folklore, religious and mythological songs, traditional music, Ossetian culture, ethnomusicology. Language: Russian Download the full text For citation: Dzlieva, D.M. The Sound Code ‘Tsoppay’ Rituals in Ossetic Tradition. KAVKAZ-FORUM. 2025, iss. 24 (31), pp. 57-68 (In Russian). + References 1. Ailarov, I.Kh. Bozh’ya pravda [God’s Truth]. Vladikavkaz, Ir, 2011. 287 p. (in Ossetian). 2. Sokaeva, D.V., Shafagi, M. Tsoppai: genezis i semantika obryadovoi struktury [Tsoppay: Genesis and Semantics of Ritual Structure]. Izvestiya SOIGSI. Shkola molodykh uchenykh [Proceedings of the North Ossetian Institute for Humanitarian and Social Studies. School of Young Scientists]. 2021, no. 27, pp. 82–95. 3. Abaev, V.I. Izbrannye trudy. V 2 t. [Selected Works. In 2 vols]. T.1. Religiya, fol’klor, literature [Vol. 1. Religion, Folklore, Literature]. Vladikavkaz, Ir, 1990. 639 p. 4. Abaev, V.I. Istoriko-ehtimologicheskii slovar’ osetinskogo yazyka. V 4 t. [Historical and Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language. In 4 volumes]. Moscow-Leningrad, Nauka, 1958, vol. 1. 655 p. 5. Malkonduev, Kh.Kh. Obryadovo-mifologicheskaya poehziya balkartsev i karachaevtsev. Zhanrovye i khudozhestvenno-poehticheskie traditsii [Ritual and mythological poetry of the Balkars and Karachays. Genre and artistic-poetic traditions]. Nalchik, Ehl-Fa, 1996. 271 p. 6. Gucheva, A.V. Pesni v chest’ boga groma i molnii v adygskom obryade «Shchybleh udzh» [Songs in honor of the god of thunder and lightning in the Adyghe rite «Shchyble udzh»]. Problemy muzykal’noi nauki / Music Scholarship [Problemy musical’noy nauki / Music Scholarship]. 2018, no. 1, pp. 112–119. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17674/1997-0854.2018.1.112-119 7. Chirikba, V.A. Abkhazskii kul’t groma i molnii i ego severokavkazskie paralleli [Abkhazian cult of thunder and lightning and its North Caucasian parallels]. Antropologii [Anthropology]. 2023, no. 2, pp. 5–25. https://doi.org/10.33876/2782-3423/2023-2/5-25. 8. Dzitstsoity, Yu.A. Nartovskii ehpos i Amiraniani [Nart Epic and Amiraniani]. Tskhinval, Poligraficheskoe proizvodstvennoe ob’’edinenie, 2003. 223 p. 9. Neikova, R. Kalush i Chopa / Tsoppai. Balkano-kavkazskie fol’klornye paralleli [Kalush and Chop / Tsoppai. Balkan-Caucasian Folklore Parallels]. Izvestiya SOIGSI [Proceedings of the North Ossetian Institute for Humanitarian and Social Studies]. 2017, iss. 23 (62), pp. 21–45. 10. Khamitsaeva, T.A. Semeinaya obryadovaya poehziya osetin [Family Ritual Poetry of the Ossetians]. Voprosy osetinskogo literaturovedeniya [Questions of Ossetian Literary Studies]. Ordzhonikidze, 1978, vol. 33, pp. 140–179. 11. Nauchnyi arkhiv Severo-Osetinskogo instituta gumanitarnykh i sotsial’nykh issledovanii im. V.I. Abaeva (NA SOIGSI) [Scientific Archive Proceedings of the North Ossetian Institute for Humanitarian and Social Studies (SA NOIHSS)]. Fund 4. History. Case 64. 12. Osetinskie narodnye pesni, sobrannye B.A. Galaevym v zvukozapisyakh, notirovannykh 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, Muzyka, 1964. 249 p. ← Contents of issue


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