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Scientific Review. Historical sciences

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THE BURIAL RITUAL: ITINERARY TO THE SUN (HURMÆDZÆUÆGGAG)

Кокоева А.Б.
In an article based on the our informants data are considered characteristic of rituals associated with «soul settlement next to the sun». Rite «hurmædzæuæggag» or «itinerary to the sun» aims: suitable «to carry the dead to the next world» to the moment when the deceased and his soul will not leave all earthly places and not dwell in the eternal present world «ætsæg dunyo». This explained rituals, customs and taboos, consistently committed after a person’s death before the funeral and memorial services following it inclusive. There is a relationship between the rite «itinerary to the sun» and the cult of fire and the sun. Fire, on the proposal of the Ossetians, most revered spirit that has life-giving and cleansing power. The presence of this rite, is a remnant of the once-existing burial ceremonies in the home (the hearth, the threshold considered the abode of the spirits of the ancestors). About what a significant role played by the fire, the hearth and the threshold of the Ossetians, judged by those prohibitions are observed after a death in the house.