In this article, the origins of today's rituals and traditions go back to primitive times and the stages of development are mentioned.
Keywords: clan, tribe, family, wedding, marriage, agriculture, animal husbandry, initiation rite, matriarchy.
В данной статье истоки сегодняшних ритуалов и традиций восходят к первобытным временам и упоминаются этапы развития.
Ключевые слова: род, племя, семья, свадьба, брак, земледелие, животноводство, обряд инициации, матриархат.
It is known that in the most ancient times, people lived in groups. This has helped them in fighting against wild animals, natural disasters, and avoiding the cold. Each gang had its head and leader. Over time, the leaders began to introduce certain privileges for themselves. This increased the number of candidates for leadership in the gang. Because of this, frequent disagreements began to arise between the claimants and the leading leader. Often these conflicts led to bloodshed and fighting. There were also special fights between the gang leader and the claimants. Sometimes these fights became a big spectacle for gang members. Those who were defeated in battle were often killed so that they could not claim leadership again. Ghalib was the leader of the gang. In order to put an end to such bloodshed and chaos, as well as to regulate relations within the clan, customs that serve the common interest of the members of the society were introduced in the primitive community system. Habits such as unconditional obedience to the leader, taking care of things obtained by hunting or gathering together, and punishing those who started quarrels in the community have appeared since primitive times. To get strength from the base, you need to know it well. The more we appreciate our history, the brighter our future will be.
In this work, we are studying the customs of our ancient ancestors as an important part of our ancient culture. Since the emergence of habits is one of the most ancient phenomena in human life, it is not easy to study them. It is known that the community (clan, tribe) developed on the basis of the relationship between men and women in it. However, the process of culturalization of these relations was not easy and lasted for a long time. For example, hundreds of thousands of years must have passed before the birth of the night ritual, which plays an important role in the formation of the family. Below we will briefly touch on the process of the emergence and gradual development of the family and the wedding ceremony.
In those times, there was no specific order in the relations between the sexes. The oldest organic holiday scene. There was a rock image. Later, seasonal relations between the sexes were regulated and organized during certain events. These seasonal events later became known as «Organic Holidays». During this event, all men and women are allowed to have sex. This holiday was also preserved during fertility and later periods, when a family was born. Herodotus wrote in his book «History» that each of the massagetes married one woman, but they used them together [1]. Perhaps this custom may have occurred in times when family building was not formed during the period when community relations were in full swing.
In a primitive society, sexual relations between a man and a woman within the same clan led to many negative consequences, including the birth of disabled children. Noticing that children are born with disabilities due to sexual relations between relatives, their leaders at first forbade sexual relations between close relatives (mother-child, father-daughter, brother and sister). During the origin of the Ona clan, many new customs, including night (group) marriages, were created. The main feature of marriage was that all the women of one clan belonged to the men of the second clan, and the men of the second clan belonged to the women of the first clan. The sexual union of women of both clans with men of their own clans ended in this way [2].
In many clans, it was introduced that women should have children from men of other clans. As a result, such habits of «exogamy» began to play an important role in the physical improvement of a person. Now the issue of spiritual upbringing of children is on the agenda. Because the children raised by their mothers in these clans did not even know who their fathers were. Uncles helped a lot in raising the boy. Because of this, the uncle's reputation was very high. This custom was preserved in later times. After a certain period, mothers demanded that fathers feed and raise their children, and tried to bring them into the clan in the form of marriage. This custom became the basis for the future family.
In the era of matriarchy, women occupied a leading position in society. The head of the clan was a woman. Women were engaged in housework, cooking, and raising children. Men were subordinate to women and were mainly engaged in hunting. In history, the ratio of men and women has not always been equal. Sometimes the number of men increased, and at other times the number of women increased. This was the basis for the formation of unique customs. It is known to us that there were customs of polygamy in history. However, in ancient times there was also the opposite of polygamy. In particular, the famous archaeologist Tolstov gives interesting information about polygamy in his work «Old Khorezm». In ancient times, one woman married several men or brothers at the same time. Her husband is considered an older brother. In those times, the more husbands a woman had, the higher her reputation. They knew how many husbands she had from the lines on her headscarf. Of course, such customs happened in times when women were less than men. In such times, seeing a girl was considered lucky. However, there were times when many girls were born and the balance in society was disturbed.
One of the traditions formed in some ancient times was the ceremony of «transition to manhood» [3]. In the history of the ancient world, the events of transition to manhood were called «initiation rites». In many nations, this ceremony was held in the form of a test of transition to a great life. In these events, teenagers show their skills in hunting, fighting monsters, fighting enemies, and overcoming natural disasters. When studying the ancient habits of primitive people, one can find more information about their death than about birth and growth. Because from ancient times barbaric customs were used in order to prevent this. For example, in the ancient Arab peoples, if a lot of girls were born, they buried girls (especially sick, ugly, disabled) in the hope that they would have bad luck in the future. It is known from history that the first forms of the family appeared in different ways in different places. The creation of a single (couple) monogamous family was a very important event in human life. Because the emergence of families divided the clan society into small groups consisting of husband and wife, and it created a «community of families».
During the matriarchy period, the girl usually chose her own hair. But the girl had to express her desire to everyone and introduce her chosen groom to everyone. Often, a reception is given during or after this introduction. The fact that this situation became a habit later prompted the creation of the wedding ceremony.
The first forms of wedding ceremonies appeared with the birth of the family in the period of seed production. The wedding has become a celebration for the whole community. Ancient weddings had many notable customs, one of which was to test the readiness of the bride and groom for marriage. During matriarchy, the groom was specially tested. The groom's skills were tested in terms of hunting, burning wood, lighting a fire, and fighting. In the period of patriarchy, the reverse processes are noticeable. The bride showed her skills in sewing clothes, arranging the household, and cooking.
Thus, on the basis of the civilization of mankind, the first foundation of society — the basis for the emergence of the family — the wedding ceremony was created. The teenager prepared for this ceremony for a long time. In it, he tried to demonstrate his readiness and strength for life. During this ceremony, the teenager was subjected to special torture. Those who did not pass this unique «test» were sentenced to death. After the manhood ceremony, the «wedding boy» was circumcised. Then he abandoned his childhood habits and joined the adults. He went hunting with them and became an equal member of the team. Later, after this ceremony, he had the right to marry.
In general, in the process of historical development, customs played a very important role in mankind's step from wildness (barbarity) to civilization. Starting from the primitive society, in the process of the development of relations between people, a system of direct existence, order, customs and ceremonies begins to be formed with the life of a person, family, community. These customs and rituals had a great impact on the development of a person, family and community.
The Chinese chronicle «Tan-shu» says the following about the silver ceremony of the Turks: A good life is achieved as a result of hard work, struggle, and overcoming difficulties. The desire to live a good life requires constant training of the mind and conscious work. Conscious work appears through experience and skill. In nature, everything appears out of necessity. The world of plants, the entire living world and the «master of all beings — man» also came into existence based on vital necessity. Among all creatures, Man develops quickly because his desire to live well is very strong. Those who think, think, observe and work live better than others. Experiences created on the basis of conscious work turn basic actions into skills, make work easier, and provide an opportunity to perform it quickly and accurately. Conscious work and experience prevent «reinvention» of every work. The use of work experiences from others is the basis for progress. The experiences that emerged on the basis of conscious work gradually turned into skills and habits.
Herodotus writes about a peculiar ritual of the Massagetae from the harvest period: «They piled the fruits of certain trees together. Then they lit a fire, ran around it in a circle, and They threw the fruits into the fire. Then they smelled the burning fruits and enjoyed their smell, just as the Hellenes were drunk with wine. The more fruits they threw into the fire, the more they enjoyed it». This ceremony indicates that the arts of games, dances and singing have also developed in massagets.
«Hunting games» had a special place in the life of primitive people, they were held before and after the hunt. The pre-hunt games are organized as a kind of small serious event, serving as a pre-hunt exercise (checking readiness for the hunt, mental and physical preparation for the hunt). In pre-hunting exercises, people learned to catch and approach the prey. To do this, they put on a mask to become an animal, practice how to walk, stand and make sounds. Young people also participated in these games and were taught to hunt. This served as a kind of school, firstly, it helped the members of the team to grow hunting skills, and secondly, it shaped and developed the art of imitation.
The last games after the hunt were held only when the hunt was successfully completed. After all, returning from hunting with prey saved the team from starvation. Due to abundance, a mood of joy and celebration appeared. Animal husbandry was formed based on hunting. The raising of hunted animals for future consumption as food gave rise to animal husbandry. In this way, experiments on raising and breeding domestic animals were gradually created. Animal husbandry was necessary for people as food (meat, milk, eggs). Over time, labor training related to catching, feeding and breeding animals has become a habit. For example, when a cow gives birth, it is customary to make «Kelagay Oshi», feed (fatten) a calf, milk a cow («khush-khush»), «run the heifer», slaughter livestock and prepare meat products for the winter, raised to the level of ritual. It is known that in Central Asia, spring, summer and autumn provide favorable conditions for raising cattle. In winter, it is difficult to raise cattle. Therefore, in ancient times, many livestock were slaughtered in the fall and stored as meat for winter consumption. There are dozens of special processing methods such as meat preservation, drying, salting, and frying in oil. The process of preparing meat for the winter took place in the form of a large gathering — hashar and feast. This custom was later called «sagim» [4].
The process of obtaining raw materials (wool, skin, fur) from livestock has also created unique customs. For example, the seasonal ceremony of shearing sheep wool, customs of smelling cattle skins and making fur from them, traditions of spinning wool and sewing clothes were carried out with the help of unique rituals, paintings and songs and dances. Some forms of using some domestic animals (horses, oxen, donkeys, camels, deer) as labor tools have become customs and rituals. For example, feeding oxen for plowing in the spring, oiling and painting its horns, plowing ceremonies («horn oil» or «saddle horse» ceremonies) were held as a big celebration in ancient times.
The most joyful event in the life of peasants was the process of harvesting and tasting new delicacies. The desire to work all summer and grow a bountiful harvest created an upbeat mood among the farmers. People who were satisfied with the collected harvest joyfully reflected the work processes through games and rituals. «Labor Games» created a good mood and a festive spirit. As a result of the rapid development of sedentary agriculture, the celebrations dedicated to the beginning of the labor season in the spring and the harvesting of the harvest in the fall gradually became a tradition [5].
Conscious work is the basis of traditions, the original foundation. Repetition of work experiences and customs in the form of games in free time, rituals created favorable conditions for the development of the first human culture and art. Various games, theater and dance, pantomime, and the first manifestations of music art appeared during the performance of cultural rituals reflecting the labor process.
Regerences:
- История Узбекистана в источниках. T.: «Фан». 1984, с 54
- И. Сирожиддинов. «Никоҳ қандай пайдо бўлган?" //” Саодат”. 1990. 24–25-бетлар
- История древного мира. — М.: «Просвещение». 1979, 54 с.
- Н. M. Maллаев. "Ўзбек адабиёти тарихи». T.: "Ўқитувчи ". 1965, 80-бет
- Маткаримова, Н. М. (2020). Хоразм воҳаси ўзбекларининг никоҳ тўйи маросимлари (ХХ аср ва мустақиллик даври): Тарих фанларидан фалсафа доктори (PhD)… дис.
