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SOME ASPECTS OF TRADITION OF VENERATION OF SACRED OBJECTS OF KAZAKHS ASSOCIATED WITH ANCIENT CULT OF NATURE

R. Mustafina

Abstract

The paper is dedicated to some aspects of veneration of sacred objects: the Heaven (Tengri), mountains, hills, caves, stones, water sources, trees. Along veneration of sacred objects of natural landscape, an important place in the beliefs of Kazakhs occupies veneration of ancestors, warriors-heroes, cultural heroes. The vast area around their burials, are considered sacral, within which it is forbidden to tear plants, to hunt for wild animals and on which it is necessary to keep cleanliness. Traditional ritual behavior of people, when visiting shrines, does not allow the use of natural resources in the territory of a sacred object or in the sacred area, which contributes to the restoration of flora and fauna. In recent years, the issues of the need to conduct complex studies of sacred objects as objects of historical and cultural heritage, as well as objects of veneration of nature and their role in protecting environment, are actualized in the context of industrial innovative development of Kazakhstan. The paper is based on the researcherВ’s ethnographical data, which have been collected in different regions of Kazakhstan. There were used methods of participant observation, ethnographic interviewing, comparative, discourse, narrative analysis, qualitative, quantitative, prognostic methods in the study.

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