Vainakh Religion

The Vainakh, or Nakh peoples (Chechens and Ingush) of the North Caucasus fell under Byzantine influence during the Middle Ages. This led to the adoption of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in some parts of the country, particularly in the mountainous South). This Christianization, however, was short-lived. After the devastation of the Nakh heartland by Tamerlane, Christianity waned due to loss of contact between Georgia and Nakh Christians. Gradually, the Chechens and Ingush returned to their native, pagan beliefs. The Vainakh began to embrace Islam from 16th and 17th centuries. Most Chechens (about 2 million) and Ingush (about 1 million) people are Muslim of the Shafi`i school. The Kists, a subgroup (about 15,400 people) is mainly Sunni Muslims with a Georgian Orthodox minority. The Bats, another subgroup (approx. 3,000 people) are Georgian Orthodox Christians. Jordanian historian Amjad Jaimoukha has reconstructed some of the elements of Vainakh pre-Islamic religion and mythology, which includes traces of ancestor worship and funerary cults. The Nakh peoples, like many other peoples of the North Caucasus such as the Circassians, practiced tree worship, and believed that trees were inhabited by spirits. Vainakh peoples developed many rituals to serve different kinds of trees. The pear tree held a special place in Vainakh religion. Jaimoukha notes some comparisons with the religion of the Circassians, but a greater affinity with the Iron Age mythology of western Indo-European cultures. There are parallels to Celtic polytheism, including tree worship, and reconstructed calendar festivals such as Halloween and Beltane (May Day), the veneration of fire, and certain ghost related superstitions. Amjad Jaimoukha provides an extensive provisional list of Vainakh deities which begins with Dal, or Dala, the supreme god. Other major gods and goddesses are Gal-Yerdi, or Gela (sun god and patron of cattle breeders), Hela (god of darkness), Seela, or Sela (god of stars, thunder, and lightning, often portrayed as being cruel and evil), Sata or Sela Sata (wife or daughter of Seela according to different versions, and a goddess of artisanship, especially female crafts), Maetsill (god of agriculture, the harvest, and protector of the weak), Ishtar-Deela (the lord of life and death and ruler of the underworld who is responsible for punishing the wicked), Molyz-Yerdi (the war god), Elta (god of the hunt, animals, and before Maetsill took over this role, of the harvest), Taamash-Yerdi (the lord of fate, small in size but gigantic upon being angered), Tusholi (goddess of fertility and an even greater protector of the people than her father, Deela), Dartsa-Naana (goddess of blizzards and avalanches), Mokh-Naana (goddess of the winds), Seelasat (protectress of virgins and possibly identical to Sata/Sela Sata), Meler Yerdi (god of plants and cereal beverages), Aira (patron of the eternal timeline), Mozh (evil sister of the sun and moon responsible for eclipses), Khagya-Yerdi, or Maetskhali (lord of the rocks), and P'eerska (the keeper of time). Supernatural creatures and heroes are Nokhcho (mythical founder of the Vainakh people), Pkharmat (a semi-divine Nart who stole fire from cruel Sela), the Pkhagalberi tribe (dwarfs who were invulnerable to every type of weapon), Turpal (an untamed horse that helped Pkharmat in his journey), Uja (cyclops and faithful servant of evil Sela who chained Pkharmat to the summit of a mountain as punishment for having stolen fire), Ida (falcon king of birds who comes every morning to tear at chained Pkharmat's liver), the Narts (a race of giants who could either be good or evil), Taram (invisible spirits that protect people and househols from disasters), Uburs (evil spirits who can possess animals), Hunsag (patron spirit of the forest and forest animals who seeks to destroy hunters), and Batiga-Shertko (a shamanistic figure who can cross over into the underworld to determine the condition of the dead).