Abkhazian Cult of Thunder and Lightning and its North Caucasian Parallels, by Viacheslav Chirikba
Abkhazian cult of thunder and lightning and its North Caucasian parallels
Абхазский культ грома и молнии и его северокавказские параллели
Author: Viacheslav Chirikba
Year: 2023
Place of Publication: Moscow, Russia
Published by: Anthropologies, No:2 - Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Russian Academy of Science.
Number of pages: 26 (pp.5-25)
Language: Russian
Abstract
The article is devoted to a review of rituals previously practiced in Abkhazia, the Western Caucasus and Ossetia associated with the cult of thunder and lightning, as well as a discussion of the mysterious term chop(p)a associated with this cult and its phonetic
variants, often used in the song accompaniment of the burial ceremony of lightning victims. The question is raised about the possibility of postulating the Caucasian mythological union (according to the model of the supposed Caucasian language union), as well as local unions of mythological systems of the peoples of the Caucasus.
Chirikba V.A.
D.I. Gulia Abkhazian Institute of Humanitarian Studies, leading researcher; Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, senior researcher.
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