Echoes of an Abkhazian ancestral cult: Anykhanykhua (anəxanəhºa) – prayer of the Kharaniia family

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2020-50-2/95-105

Abstract

The article gives a description and interpretation of a religious cult of one of the Abkhazian communities, the chronological framework of which covers the last three centuries. The study is based on new field ethnological material collected by the author. The cult originated in extraordinary, but at the same time interesting circumstances, which occurred in the life of the ancestor of people who annually pray to God with a “blood sacrifice”. The cult is an offspring of the traditional religion of the Abkhazian people Antsakhatsara (ancºaxaҫara) – “faith in God”.

References

1. Adzhindzhal, I.A. 1969. Iz etnografii Abkhazii [From the ethnography of Abkhazia]. Sukhumi: “Alashara”.
2. Ardzinba, V.G. 2015. Sobranie trudov [Collected Works]. Vol. III. Moscow; Sukhum.
3. Biguaa, V.L. 2018. Ritual'nyi mir traditsionnoi religii abkhazov [The ritual world of the traditional religion of the Abkhazians]. Moscow: “Maks press”.
4. Biguaa, V.L. 2012. Voprosy traditsionnoi religii i bytovoi kul'tury abkhazov [Issues of traditional religion and everyday culture of Abkhazians]. Sukhum: “Alasharbaga”.
5. Biguaa, V.L. 2010. Abkhazskaia traditsionnaia sem'ia i deistvitel'nost' [Abkhazian traditional family and reality]. Sukhum.
6. Chursin, G.F. 2019. Opyt etnologicheskogo issledovaniia [Abkhazians. Experience of ethnological research]. Sukhum: Akademia.
7. Dzhanashia, N.S. 1960. Stat'i po etnografii Abkhazii [Articles on the ethnography of Abkhazia]. Sukhumi: Abkhazskoe gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo.
8. Inal-ipa, Sh.D. 1965. Abkhazy. [Abkhazians]. Sukhumi: “Alashara”.
9. Kharaniia, V. 2019. Put' k istokam. [Path to the origins]. Sukhum.
10. Tardzhman-ipa, G. 2012. Pishcha i domashniaia utvar', zastol'nyi etiket [Food and household utensils, table etiquette]. In Abkhazy [Abkhazians], edited by V.A. Tishkov. Moscow: Nauka.