Some elements of the spiritual culture of Kabardians in the report on the business trip of E.N. Studenetskaya to the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to collect ethnographic material (1947)

Abstract

This article highlights one of the important spiritual culture issues of Kabardians: religious beliefs. E.N. Studenetskaya during the next trip to the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1947 covered the key aspects of the people’s life. In the fieldwork’s course, materials were collected not only on housing, clothing, religious beliefs but also on the traditions of upbringing, children, the relationship between the elders and the younger, on the example of the men’s holiday “thieshue uj,” family and household legends in which the connection with animals is traced. As an example in the report, she highlights the attitude of the Naloyev genus to the snake as a sacred creature. Folklore material related to the spirits of the elements, the origin of the traditional bowed musical instrument shykIepshyn and blacksmithing were also recorded. The attempt of E.N. Studenetskaya to fix Kabardian terminology on the topics under study deserves special attention. The work contains extracts from the report on the business trip of E.N. Studenetskaya to the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on the collection of ethnographic material in 1947.