Research

Journal Amirani. 2001. Volume 4

The spring Ritual of the sharpening of the dagger among the Tabasarans

Author(s): Lyudmila Gmyrya

Tabasaran people are one of several peoples occupying the southeast region of Daghestan, specifically its subalpine zone. The Tabasaran language belongs to the Lezgian group of the Nakho-Daghestanian family of indigenous Hibero-Caucasian languages. Written records mention the Tabasarans as early as the 3rd-4th centuries.
Tabasaran culture has many distinctive, original features. Of particular interest are traditional (pre-Islamic) beliefs related to agriculture. The systematic description and study of Tabasaran traditional religion began in the mid-19 century, although some elements are described in earlier sources. In the works of medieval authors we find precious information concerning the cult of the "Sacred Dagger".



Journal Amirani. 2001. Volume 4

Agriculture and agrarian customs among the Avars

Author(s): Nana Omarashvili

Agriculture has a long history in Dagestan. Archaeological monuments enrich our notion of ancientness of agriculture as well as its role. As is becoming clear, agriculture was highly developed in the chalcolithic and bronze ages when the ethnic composition of Dagestan population was defined. All names of agricultural implements were the same for the entire population of Dagestan. Those implements date back to the period when this population spoke one and the some language. The same could be said about Agricultural holidays.
The ethnographic materials presented in this paper reveal the old traditional beliefs of the Avars that were not affected by two, wide-spread religions in Dagestan-Christianity and Islam.
It was easier for Dagestanian highlanders to use old magic methods in their everyday practical life. The representatives of the Islamic Geology decided to allow this situation to persist and give Islamic motivation to these old beliefs.



Journal Amirani. 2017. Volume 29

From the ethnic and cultural history of the ancient population of the Central Caucasus

Author(s): Paata Bukhrashvili

The dwelling, as the materialized reflection of the culture of a distinct social organism, namely the family, along with many other functions, fulfilled the very important role of religious center for the unit’s ideological whole, the family. From the distant past, the family’s most holy relics, and various objects fulfilling sacred functions, were kept in the home; there, in the hearth, burnt the “sacred” flame; there stood the mother pillar, as a symbol of family unity; there were stored various idols.



Journal Amirani. 2021. Volume 34

Once more about the sanctuary of Nazarlebi (Comparative ethno-archaeological observations)

Author(s): Paata Bukhrashvili

The present article deals with the ethno-archaeological interpretation of the rotunda and the depot find of Nazarlebi. Here the opinion is expressed that the round sacred building in the Nazarlebi ramparts represented a kind of center of the military-theocratic society in its time (Late Bronze and Early Iron Age), which was structured in a pre-class society.



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