Rutuls - Religion and Expressive Culture



Religious Beliefs. The official religion was Sunni Islam, which spread among the Rutuls in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Each settlement had a mosque; large settlements had several mosques and Moslem clergy. At the same time, there were remnants of ancient beliefs: a cult of nature, hunting and fertility cults, animal worship, and occult rituals connected with family life and labor activity. For example, to frighten evil spirits a sharp iron object was hidden under the pillow of a newborn baby. Likewise, the bride was supposed to step on something iron when she entered her bridegroom's home. In order to protect the bride from being "spoiled" by the evil spirits on the wedding day, her face was covered with a red veil, and, to make the life of the couple happy, the bride was showered with small coins and candies. Magic rites existed for summoning sun and rain; sacred groves, mountains, springs, tombs, and sites connected with the lives of some saints were worshiped. The tombs of saints were marked with pirs, heaps of stones with sticks decorated with narrow ribbons driven into them. The worshiping of pirs was a combination of pre-Islamic pagan and Islamic rites.

Religious Practices. The Rutuls celebrated a series of bright and emotional festivals and rituals. The most significant yearly holiday was Er, the beginning of the spring and of a new calendar year. For this holiday special food was cooked and distributed among the villagers and a fancy tree was placed on the village square and decorated with apples, sweets, and dyed eggs. People played around it and made swings for the young girls. On this day the first ritual furrow was made. An important holiday at the end of winter marked the end of the seasonal (winter) masculine communities (fraternities). It ended with a theatrical masquerade. The Rutuls had special dances, jargov and risk kyaghrida, which were generally followed by singing.

Arts. Rutul traditional applied arts included the skillful ornamentation of carpets, woolen socks, and footwear and carving on wood and stone frames of windows, fireplaces, tomb monuments, and wooden dishes. The Rutuls have different, genres of folklore: proverbs, legends, fairy tales, ritual songs, and children's folklore. Ashugh (bardic) poetry was well developed. Some famous ashughs were Khazarchi Gaji(ev), Jammeseb Salar(ov), and Nurakhmed Ramazan(ov), who were active before the middle of the twentieth century.

Medicine and Science. Before the Revolution, Rutul settlements had no special medical institutions. Diseases of the digestive system, rheumatism, and children's infectious diseases were widespread. Folk medicine often made effective use of herbs (Saint-John's-wort, mint, plantain, etc.) and natural products (honey, sprouting grain, onion, garlic, and the like). Magical remedies were also popular: talismans, "holy" water, earth from saints' tombs, and all kinds of invocations.

During the Soviet period a Rutulian intelligentsia appeared, including physicians, teachers, engineers, and academics. Some notable figures are the scholars A. Alisultan(ov), K. Jamal (ov), A. Palamamed(ov), G. Musa(ev), F. Guseyn(ova) [Huseyn], the physicist I. Ibragim(ov) [Ibrahim], and the physician Kh. Gagay(ev). National culture is developing as a synthesis of tradition and innovation.

Death and the Afterlife. Rutuls traditionally believed that the spirits of the dead dwelt in a world parallel to the human one, governed by the same laws as the living. Some individuals were thought to be capable of communicating with the spirits. The dead, according to Muslim ritual, were to be buried before sunset on the day of death. Funeral feasts took place on the third, seventh, and fortieth days. Funeral and postfuneral rituals bear traces of pre-Islamic beliefs.


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