American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 11, Dec., 2022 301 | P a g e RELICTS OF THE CULT OF NATURE IN THE FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD RITUALS OF THE KARAKALPAK PEOPLE IN ANCIENT AND IN PRESENT TIME Kamalova Raushan Sabirovna Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Researcher Institute of Humanities Karakalpak Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan Nukus, Uzbekistan Abstract The article deals with folk Karakalpak traditions and beliefs in the field of relics of nature. The cultural relationship of the Karakalpak people with other peoples of Central Asia and Kazakhstan in the field of traditional folk cultures is also considered. Keywords: Republic of Karakalpakstan, Karakalpaks, traditional holidays, rituals, relics of nature, cult of water, cult of plants. I. INTRODUCTION Multifaceted human activity over the centuries creates material and spiritual values, forms moral ideals, the worldview of the people, its ideology and mentality. Self- consciousness and self-awareness of a person is impossible without knowledge of the past. In this sense, the Republic of Karakalpakstan is of great interest: it is full of its folk traditions, multifaceted spiritual culture, traditional holidays and rituals in the public life of the people. All this allows us to draw ethnographic parallels, which provide an additional incentive for the reconstruction of the lost chains in a single system of spirituality both in the past and today. Karakalpaks, in accordance with their geographical location, that is, living on the southern coast of the Aral Sea, have been engaged in a complex type of management since ancient times: agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing, and hunting. In connection with this, various rituals and beliefs arose. Any rite, belief, custom in its basis certainly has a historical fact, natural or every day. At first, they arise not as a belief, not as a rite, but as a simple concept or living action, only later, with a change in historical conditions, the idea becomes a belief, the action - rites: they are given new interpretations, although they may not correspond to their true historical origin. [10, P.3] For example, in the winter holidays among the Karakalpaks, the main place is American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 11, Dec., 2022 302 | P a g e occupied by fertility spell rites. Spring holidays are timed to the awakening of nature, preparation for field work. Summer-autumn rituals and holidays are subordinated to the protection of crops and harvesting. In the continuous repetition of agricultural cycles - the annual cycle of agrarian rites - lies the material basis of the ancient and widespread belief in a dying and resurrecting deity of vegetation. According to the Karakalpaks, the harvest depended on how the farmers performed the ritual of sacrifice to the patron of agriculture, Dikhanbaba. The main goal of all traditional cults associated with agriculture is the achievement of fertility in the broadest sense of the word. In these ideas and methods of achieving the goal, one can see the remnants of the cult of fertility, which originated in ancient times and has come a long way in development. Many modern authors have paid special attention to the inseparable connection between beliefs and ritual, between myth and ritual, in their opinion, in almost all cases, myth grew out of ritual, and not vice versa. A myth is, as a rule, something invented to explain a ritual, the true origin of which people themselves have long forgotten. And since the ritual is incomparably more stable than the myth, it is necessary to study the ancient religions precisely from their ritual side - from the ritual. [9, P.7] Thus, folk traditions, beliefs, and customs are the focus of those features that distinguish a people from others, but at the same time, the national traditions of an individual people reflect the features of universal culture. After all, the study of everyday traditions of peoples, their role in the life of the people, changes in the content of these traditions at various stages of the development of society, is one of the main tasks of ethnographic science. For the Karakalpaks, as well as for other peoples, traditional family, everyday rituals and beliefs are considered signs of a person's ethics and morality. II. MAIN PART Considerable relics still exist in the traditional everyday rituals of the Karakalpaks, the reason for the preservation of which was the predominance of the semi-subsistence nature of the economy, the influence of the patriarchal tribal system in social and family life, the low level of productive forces, the semi-sedentary lifestyle, and more. And another reason was the stability of the ideologies, habits and skills of the past, the support of strict public opinion. Thus, since ancient times, ritualism has been an expression, a manifestation of not only the ideas and spiritual culture of the people, it also performed the functions of uniting the people, tribal groups, etc. According to the beliefs of the Karakalpaks, the world was created by a tanyr who lives in the sky. In connection with a housewarming or the acquisition of a new thing, relatives and friends congratulate: “kutly bolsyn” - let it be blessed. In response, according to tradition, they answer: “Tanyry zharylkasyn” - may God protect you. American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 11, Dec., 2022 303 | P a g e Sometimes instead of "tanyr" they use the word "huday" - god. Both terms mean - the god who created "he segiz myn alem" - eighteen thousand natural phenomena (organic and inorganic). According to Ibn-Fedlan, in the 10th century they considered their god - “bir tenir”, and if one of the Oguzes acted unfairly or some kind of trouble happened to someone, then this person raised his head to the sky and says “Bir tenir”, that is, I swear by one God. [15, pp.125-126] Among the ethnic groups of a certain region there is a mythology about the creation of the earth from the water space and the creation of man from clay. The myth of the creation of man reflected the idea that the creator of man was the heavenly deity Tenir, who created the body of a man from clay and breathed a soul into him. The Karakalpaks, like other peoples of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, deified objects and natural phenomena - earth, water, fire, flora and fauna, moon, sun, sky, and so on. Therefore, the cult of natural phenomena existed in the mythologies, fairy tales, beliefs, rituals and folklore of the Karakalpak people. For example, the land in the beliefs of the Karakalpaks occupied a very important place. For the ancestors of the South Aral Sea region and the Karakalpaks themselves, the land as a creature that produces everything necessarily has long been a subject of special reverence. The Karakalpaks considered her a living being. And the earth itself was presented in the form of a woman - Ana-zher, she was endowed with cleansing power and was considered a source of fertility. Relics of the cult of the earth are thus traced both in the traditional wedding rituals and in the Navruz holiday. Another sign of the spirit of the earth is such a ritual of treatment among the Karakalpaks as getting rid of the ailments of childless women and sick children. They had to crawl several times through earthen holes and pits. The Karakalpak women believed that, having visited the Sultan Baba mazar, they could conceive a child. There is also Chille-tas, the sacred Chille, - having been near which, you can get rid of your illnesses. Also, one of the manifestations of the cult of the earth is the rolling of childless women from the artificial hill Jumart - kassab, located near the city of Khodjeyli. Relics of the earth cult are also traced in the funeral and memorial rite. According to the stories of older people, a person who died in a foreign land was temporarily buried in this country, asking the land: "Amanat" – “Keep him until a certain period so that the body does not decompose”. According to legend, the earth did not destroy the body until the promised time. This is probably why the most terrible curse was considered “Zher zhutkyr” - so that the earth swallows you. According to some informants, cut hair and nails should be returned to the earth, that is, buried. After all, according to their ideas, people came out of the earth, she fed and watered them, so they must return to it. Apparently, the origins of these beliefs go back to the fact that at the time of the formation of a productive economy, ancient man deified, personified the mother earth, worshiped her supernatural, vegetative power. American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 11, Dec., 2022 304 | P a g e Ancient people believed that the earth and its owner were inseparable. The owner of the earth - the spirit could live in the mountains, on trees, in water and so on. In most cases, the owner of the earth - the spirit could appear in an anthropomorphic image (female form), the relics of which are still found in the mythology of the Karakalpaks. Back in the 19th century, A. Vamberi wrote that among the population of Karakalpakstan there is a myth that Ambarana, the patroness of women, lived on Mnazhat-tau (to the north of the mazar of Sultan Baba): “Mistress Ambarana was Zuleikha beauty, Fatima virtue, and was she is hated and banished by her husband, a sworn enemy of Islam, for having embraced that faith. And she would have starved to death if a female deer had not come to her cave every day, which the hermit milked”, where she was subsequently buried. [3, pp.123-124] Thus, the spirit of the owner of the area and the water of Mnazhat-tau is Ambarana in the form of a woman. Mnajat-tau is a place of pilgrimage for "healing" sick people, children, especially childless women. In one of his latest works, G.P. Snesarev wrote that Mnazhat-tau is the cult of Obo, which is considered an ancient and widespread religious building. The earliest layer in the cult of Obo is the cult of the owner of the area, in honor of such owners the most ancient and primitive sanctuaries were erected, stone mounds, which were considered the abode of these spirits. [20, pp.35-36] According to Kh. Esbergenov, Obo is also the abode of the spirit of the area, the spirit of water, due to the location of Obo along the river bank. [4, pp.363-364] Among the Karakalpaks, there are myths about the Paygambar-kyzy upland, north of the city of Kungrad, and the Kyrk-kyz-mama upland in the Amu Darya region. All these areas are located along the banks of the Amu Darya, so it can be assumed that the origins of these cults are associated with the cult of the Amu Darya, which was represented in the guise of a woman - the cult of fertility. In the myth associated with the height of Paygambar-kyzy, it is said that one young man went to study from this village to another city. After graduation, before returning to his native village, he borrows money from the prophet. The young man promises to return them at a certain time, but he could not return them on time. The prophet himself comes for the debt, but even here the young man does not have money. During this time, the young man started a family and his children have already grown up. On account of the debt, the prophet offers the young man to give his daughter, to which the daughter answers the prophet: “I will marry you on one condition. Tomorrow I will go for a walk with my girlfriends, and there you should recognize me. If you find out, I will be your wife, and if not, I will not be your wife”. The next day the girls went out for a walk, the prophet could not find her among the girls. Then the prophet decided to catch the girls and take a closer look at each one, but the girls began to run away. Tired of the chase and not finding a place to hide, the girls began to ask the mountain to hide them. Then the mountain opened up and there the girls hid from the prophet. Therefore, this hill was called Paygambar-kyzy. People with different diseases and American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 11, Dec., 2022 305 | P a g e without them, of different ages, different nationalities, who believe in the magical power of this area, still make pilgrimages to this hill. [5] A similar mythology exists in connection with the Kyrk-kyz-momo upland (Amu Darya region). The origins of the name Kyrk-kyz-momo are associated with Eternity, with the cult of fertility. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The assumption of scientists that Obo, located on the top of a hill, in the mountains is the abode of the spirit of the owner of the area and water, is confirmed by written sources. In the 19th century A.V. Kaulbars, a Russian scientist who studied the history of the lower reaches of the Amu Darya, testifies that “... according to their concepts, there is a vast area surrounded on all sides by high snowy mountains. The sun rises behind these mountains and passes under their peaks, and in the evening hides behind them. The Creator of the world sometimes sits on one of the highest peaks of these mountains”, etc. [14, P. 528] The cult of Sultan-Vais, like many Central Asian saints, arose in connection with the element of water. Recall that the Sultan-bobo pilgrims are convinced that the spring that filled the sacred hauz (pond) flows out from under the feet of the buried saint. The famous scientist of the medieval East Abu Raykhan al Biruni (X-XI centuries), a native of Khorezm, spoke about the ancient holiday of the Khorezmians Vakhish- Angam in honor of the angel appointed to oversee the waters, in particular, the Jeyhun River (Jeyhun is Arabic and, therefore, quite late the name of the Amudarya river), Vakhsh is one of its tributaries. Here, obviously, there is a semantic similarity between the name of the angel appointed to watch over the waters and the name of the Muslim saint Vakhsh-Vais. Undoubtedly, there is also a direct connection between the sanctuary we are interested in and the cult of water, because it is not by chance that the special veneration with which pilgrims treat water of the Hauz. The closeness of the mazar to the Amu Darya, sacred to believers, is also not accidental. [20, P.35] These thoughts of G.P. Snesarev can be attributed to all Obos of the lower reaches of the Amu Darya, since they are all located along the banks of the Amu Darya, especially along its steep rocky turns, passes. The supernatural power of the plant world is inseparable from the cult of the earth, which occupies a particularly important place in the cult of fertility, since the life of a hunter, a cattle breeder, and a farmer was connected with the wealth of forests, with an abundance of forage in the steppe expanses, with the harvest of the fields. According to the beliefs of the Karakalpaks, the plant world is a totem, a receptacle of spirits, a relic of a deity, the souls of dead people. The Karakalpaks were very careful about those plants that grew on the territory of the cemetery - it was not allowed to break trees, as they believed that the soul of a deceased ancestor, holy people, was in the tree, and thus they imposed a taboo on such territory. American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 11, Dec., 2022 306 | P a g e Ethnographers of Karakalpakstan recorded a legend back in the 60s of the 20th century, in particular in the Kungrad region, that Saint Hakim-ata (XII century), having not received permission from Bura Khan to build a residential building in the forest, began to clear the site from weeds, trees and so on. Upon learning of this, the forester began to scold him and decided to punish him, but the plants protected Hakim-ata and explained to the forester that Hakim-ata is a saint. The forester was surprised that the plants also speak humanly, and got scared, after which he stopped pursuing Hakim-ata. The forester reported the incident to Bura Khan, who recognized Hakim-ata as a holy man and gave his youngest daughter Ambaran to him as his wife. [10, pp.94-95] The cult of plants among the Karakalpaks is clearly manifested in the ritual food “nauryzlyk gozhe”, “sumelek”, “mai-sek”. Ritual food "mai-sok" was prepared at large events, for example, weddings, births of children ("shashyu-toy"), as well as at the funerals of old people who lived a long happy life, had many children, saw grandchildren, great-grandchildren. The method of preparing this dish was as follows: They took millet, fried it without oil in a cauldron (cauldron) to remove the husk, it turned out sek, and mixed it with butter (sary-mai). This dish was treated, mainly at weddings, to the bride, mother-in-law and other women. There is evidence that in the past, the Karakalpaks of the groom in the bride’s house were put on the right half of the yurt (“oń zhaq”, that is, the right side) behind the curtain “shymyldyq” and treated to “mai-sok”. [8] The use of whole unground grain in the ritual food "mai-sok" meant the reincarnation of the spirit of plants in young people (groom and bride) so that they were capable of childbearing. Ritual food from millet in some written sources was characterized as the national food of the Karakalpaks – “only the Karakalpaks nationality eat millet”. [18, P.233] Obligatory ritual food in the family and everyday rituals of the Karakalpaks traces the relics of the cults of fruits - apricots, berries - djids. They were used without fail in wedding and maternity ceremonies. The cult of fruits can be traced to "otyryspa" (gatherings of youth), at weddings, during matchmaking, "shashyu" (literally - scattering) and so on. It is also known that bread was of particular importance in family rituals. When concluding agreements, they ate bread together - “nan syndyryu” (that is, to break bread together). The presence of fruits, as well as the cult of vegetation in these rites, testify to the cult of fertility. Therefore, here one can trace the personification of the whole grain, as a source of rebirth - both plants and people themselves. IV. CONCLUSION Along with mythological ideas, the Karakalpaks also had a rational understanding of the properties of plants. For example, folk healers of the 19th century, when determining a person's disease, that is, diagnosing a patient, used many medicinal American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 11, Dec., 2022 307 | P a g e plants as remedies. Jida was used to treat diarrhea in children, licorice was used to treat coughs, bronchitis, and colds. Many of these remedies are confirmed by modern medicine, as published in the periodical press. [19] In this regard, apparently, the origins of the cults of earth, water, plants, in a word, the cult of nature, which manifest themselves in various aspects of the life of the Karakalpaks, are associated with the types of management that date back to the time of the Indo-European tribes, in particular, the Scythian-Sakas. Relics of these cults still exist in the family rituals of the Karakalpaks. This is partly why the cult of the sky with the term "tanyr" refers to the Turkic layers of the cult of nature, because, as you know, the Iranian-speaking Scythian-Sak and medieval Turkic-speaking tribes with their traditional cultures entered the ethnogenesis and ethnic composition of the Karakalpaks. The continuous interaction of renewal and continuity of culture has been characteristic of the entire history of mankind from the period of its separation from the animal world to the present day and has been a necessary condition for its progressive development, as well as a strong increase in the number of innovations in the daily life of the broad masses in our era, compared with past historical periods. This is due to the depth of social, cultural and domestic transformations in the lives of peoples. 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