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Emelyanenko T. Rite in Honor of Bibi Seshanbe Among the Tajiks of Samarkand (Based on the Field Materials of 2010–2022)

Tatyana Emelyanenko
The Russian Museum of Ethnography
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0003-0095-6099
E-mail: rem.tatyana@mail.ru

 

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ABSTRACT. The article is devoted to the description and consideration of the features of the ancient women’s rite in honor of Bibi Seshanbe (“Lady Tuesday”) in Samarkand, the patroness saint of women, also known to many settled peoples of Central Asia and having pre-Islamic origin. Despite the Islamization of the rite, many rituals associated with pre-Islamic ideas have been preserved in it, and among the Tajiks of Samarkand they are especially numerous, and in the modern version of the local rite, the majority finds parallels in wedding rituals, and not only in the funeral and memorial rituals, corresponding to honoring the memory of Bibi Seshanbe. This was manifested in the assortment of ritual dishes, products, objects, in the presence of kelins — newlyweds at the ceremony, in the festive clothes of women present at the ceremony, and their large number. In Samarkand, the ceremony is a festive event and not a mournful one, as it should have been by its nature. The article is written on the basis of the materials collected by the author mainly in 2010 during an expedition to Uzbekistan; additional information important for understanding the local features of the rite and its modern development was obtained during trips to Uzbekistan in subsequent years.

 

KEYWORDS: rites, rituals, food, Tajiks, Samarkand, Bibi Seshanbe

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8619-2022-2(16)-154-165
УДК 39(222.8)

 

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