MYTHOLOGICAL AND SOCIO-CULTURAL SEMANTICS OF NOVRUZ HOLIDAY

Abstract

In the article the mythological essence of the Novruz holiday is associated, first of all, with the belief of Creation. It is noted that in Novruz some traditions such as to paint eggs, to make “semeni”, to go to fortune-telling, to throw bags to houses, to collect alms, to go to the cemetery and remember the dead relatives, to put various dishes on the table, to consider the elements of water, fire, wind, earth sacred and others symbolize precisely the belief of Creation.
In the article the special attention is paid to the issue of false Tuesday. It is believed that the custom of false Tuesday is inextricably connected with such binary oppositions as true God – false God, true ruler – false ruler, true ceremony – false ceremony, which occupies a wide place in mythological thinking. In these oppositions, the second (“false”) side has the function of deceiving the evil spirits and protecting the second (“true”) side from the evil.
The system of masking and hiding the true essence and protecting oneself from evil in this way is also clearly manifested in the festive performances such as “Godu-Godu” and “Kosa-kosa”.
Godu, decorated as a doll in the performance “Godu-Godu”, is a symbol of the Sun, it is a false Sun. Godu, carried door-to-door and finally broken, serves the purpose of giving magical power to the Sun and increasing its light and heat through imitation. The main characters of the play “Kosa- kosa” such as Kechel (Bald), Kosa and Akhta Teke (Goat) are symbols of fertility, but they hide their true essence under the masks of baldness (external ugliness), “kosalig” (sexual weakness) and “akhtalig” (erotic impotence).
In the mythological-ritual system of Novruz holiday the belief of death and resurrection becomes the leading line. According to the mythological imagination creation of cosmos from chaos, resurrection of dead nature ensures the establishment of social harmony.