Objects of the sacred landscape of the Bashkirs in the materials of the photographic library of the department of ethnology of the Institute of history, language and literature, Ufa scientific centre Russian Academy of Sciences (from the 1960-s to the 2010-s)

In this paper two objects of worship of natural origin of Bashkirs which had undergone the transformation during the last half century are compared. The purpose of the paper is to study the forms of transformation that are typical to the pilgrimage practice of the last decades and their causes using the example of these objects. As an example, two objects are taken - revered sources in Miyakinsky and Beloretsky disrticts of the Republic of Bashkortostan. In the phototech of the Department of Ethnology of the Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Ufa Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences are stored photos taken with half a century intervals. On the basis of which is made the comparison. The first object of investigation is a source at the foot of the Narystau mountain in the valley of the Dema river in the Miyakinsky district of the republic. On the photo of 1963 it stands out only by a low masonry built with stone-flagstone. On top the construction was closed with a wattle protecting it from litter. This place has been the object of pilgrimage for several centuries till present. It has long been known far beyond the boundaries of this region, at the end of the XIX century pilgrims from the Kazakh steppes came to see him. Water from the source is considered to possess supernatural healing properties. In Soviet times, for understandable reasons, the scales of veneration changed, pilgrims to the graves became much less. The understanding of the source's sacredness persisted, but the water from it was mostly used for utilitarian purposes. The veneration of the source is connected with the proximity to the burial of the saints (auliya) at the top of the neighboring mountain. According to the most common version, the graves were attributed to the epic heroes Idukai and Muradym, on the other, on the mountain is the burial of the holy woman by the child. A recently published version of the ownership of graves by the companions of the Prophet Mohammad (Sahab) practically supplanted the previous ones. Thanks to the Internet it was quickly replicated. With the support of the local charitable foundation the territory near the source is refined: was built the mosque, the tombstone on the mountain, where the names of the Sahabs are indicated. According to the photo of 2017, the place has changed beyond recognition. The pilgrimage received a new impulse, here again comes people from neighboring regions. Another object is the mineral springs in the village of Assy Beloretsky district, also long revered and used by the local population. In the photo of 1975 a small frame was placed above the source. In 2001 on the basis of sources was founded the well-known balneotherapeutic resort “Assy”. Accordingly, the popularity of sources has increased, it is still used by local residents, but on a larger scale. They provide beds and medical baths for a fee in their yards. Thus, the forms of veneration of these objects took a broader scope. This was facilitated in one case by a new version of the origin of the burial sites of saints and the possibility of mass dissemination of information via the Internet, in the other - the development of the sanatorium-resort industry on the basis of sources.

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