AGNUS DEI: Christian motives in the image and cult of Falwara among the Ossetians

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2021-54-2/61-71

Abstract

The article discusses the general issues of the ethnic religion of the Ossetians. Recently, there has been a growing trend to return to the "original", and, consequently, to reject any "external" influence on the Ossetian culture in general and religion in particular. A certain part of the Ossetians (and their number is increasing) have developed the conviction that the Ossetian ethnic religion is a unique monotheism, which formed independently of the Abrahamic religions. This has become a kind of a social myth. Undoubtedly, the ethnic religion of the Ossetians is a unique phenomenon. But its uniqueness lies in its eternal openness to intercultural interaction while maintaining its own identity. Apart from its archaic features, it absorbed elements of religions from Ancient Iran, India, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam in a quaint and natural way. This is due to the fact that the Ossetians as an ethnic group formed at the East-West cultural border.

Specifically, the article is devoted to the Christian reminiscences in the image and cult of Falvara, the deity of the Ossetian ethnoreligious pantheon – the patron saint of goats and sheep. The article aims to study how the Christian tradition influenced the image of Falvara and how strong this influence was. The extreme narrowness of the source base forces us to rely mainly on logical rather than  historical research method. Nevertheless, the main conclusions were made based on the data of narrative sources of the last third of the 19th century.

The research is based on the synchronic approach within the framework of structuralism, developed by K. Levi-Strauss. According to this approach, all cultural systems (language, mythology, religion, art, customs, traditions) can be studied as sign systems. Ideological transformations of the ethnic group were analyzed using methods of a relatively new methodological approach of historical psychology.

For Citation: Ktsoeva, S.G. 2021. AGNUS DEI: Christian motives in the image and cult of Falwara among the Ossetians. Herald of Anthрropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 2: 61–71.

References

• Abaev, V.I. 1989. Istoriko-etimologicheskii slovar’ osetinskogo yazyka: V 4 t. [Historical and Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language, 4 vols.]. Vol. 4. Moscow; Leningrad: Izdatelʼstvo AN SSSR.
• Abaev, V.I. 1990. Kak apostol Petr stal Neptunom [How the Apostle Peter Became Neptune]. In Izbrannye trudy: religiia, fol’klor, literature [Selected Works: Religion, Folklore, Literature], by V.I. Abaev, 123–136. Vladikavkaz: IR.
• Bidzhelov, B.Kh. 1992. Soczial’naia sushchnost’ religioznykh verovanii osetin [The Social Essence of the Religious Beliefs of the Ossetians]. Vladikavkaz: Ir.
• Darchiev, A.V. 2013. Evoliutsiia funktsii bozhestv osetinskogo panteona Falvara i Mykalgabyra [Evolution of the Functions of the Deities of the Ossetian Pantheon Falvar and Mykalgabyr]. Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politicheskie i yuridicheskie nauki, kul’turologiia i iskusstvovedenie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki (Tambov) 12 (2): 38–45.
• Darchieva, M.V. 2012. Verbal’nyi kod osetinskogo obriadovogo teksta (na materiale nekotorykh traditsionnykh obriadov) [Verbal Code of the Ossetian Ritual Text (On the Material of Some Traditional Rites)]. Vladikavkaz: SOIGSI.
• Kaloev, B.A. 1971. Osetiny [Ossetians]. Mosсow: Nauka.
• Kaloev, B.A. 2015. Osetiny: istoriko-etnograficheskoe issledovanie [Ossetians: Historical and Ethnographic Research]. Mosсow: Nauka.
• Kaloev, B.A. 1993. Skotovodstvo narodov Severnogo Kavkaza [Cattle Breeding of the Peoples of the North Caucasus]. Mosсow: Nauka.
• Kokiev, G.A. 1928. Sklepovye sooruzheniia gornoi Osetii (Istoriko-etnologicheskii ocherk) [Crypt Structures of Mountain Ossetia (Historical and Ethnological Sketch)]. Vladikavkaz: tipo-foto-tsinkografiia izdatel’stva “Rastdzinad”.
• Kochiev, K.K. 1985. Iz istorii skotovodcheskikh kul’tov osetin. Falvara [From the History of Ossetian Cattle Breeding Cults: Falwara]. IUONII XXIX: 150–160.
• Mamiev, M.E. 2014. Alanskoe pravoslavie: istoriia i traditsiia [Alanian Orthodoxy: History and Tradition]. Moscow: SEM. 
• Miller, Vs.F. 1882. Osetinskie etiudy [Ossetian Sketches]. Pt. II. Mosсow: Tipografiia A. Ivanova.
• Pchelina, E.G. 2013. Obriad gostepriimstva u osetin [Ossetian Hospitality Ceremony]. In Ossetica: izbrannye trudy po istorii, etnografii i arkheologii osetinskogo naroda [Ossetica: Selected Works on History, Ethnography and Archeology Ossetian People], by T.G. Pchelina, 72–106. Vladikavkaz: Zolotoe sechenie.
• Tuallagov, A.A. 2017. Tutyr [Tutyr]. NARTAMONGÆ XII (1–2): 205–233.