Songs of the Rain Calling Ceremony «H'enceguashche» and the Ritual Drowning of the Rain Doll «Psyhadze»: To the Matter of the Music and Myth Unity

Main Article Content

Andzhela V. Gucheva

Abstract

The article made an attempt to trace the features of mythological thinking through the prism of archaic music of Circassians (Adygs) in the rite of the rain-calling “Hʼenceguashche” and the drowning ritual of the rain doll “Psyhadze”. The archaic music of these acts is considered at the semiotic, informational and communicative levels, that allows us to identify the ontological and universal semantic roots of songs through the actualization of both the verbal language and the socio-cultural code of the tradition.


It was revealed that the occasional rite of summoning rain and the ritual of drowning a rain doll included several mandatory elements that could be repeated, and in some cases they could change places. It means making a fetish doll, singing songs, marching, addressing the deity, a public meal, drowning a rain doll, giving thanks for the accepted sacrifice and so on.


The musical material of the rain-calling ritual “Hʼenceguashche” and the drowning ritual of the rain doll “Psyhadze” is represented by archaic samples: the Kabardian rain-calling song “H’enceguashche zydoshere!” (We drive a Hʼenceguashche!) and the shapsug «Ele, Yole…Ela, Yola… Psygoshchahʼ ored” ((an appeal song to the water patroness when calling rain). The compositional structure of these songs is similar to other songs-appeals to deities and has several sections: an appeal to the deity, voicing a request and an appeal again. Musical texts are analyzed from the point of view of the figurative structure, but in some cases, of the phonetic sound of the poetic text.


Keywords: Hyentseguashche, rain calling songs, rain fetish doll, rain calling ritual “Hyentseguashche”, drowning ritual of the rain doll “Psykhaze”, Circassians (Adygs).

Article Details

How to Cite
Gucheva А. В. (2021). Songs of the Rain Calling Ceremony «H’enceguashche» and the Ritual Drowning of the Rain Doll «Psyhadze»: To the Matter of the Music and Myth Unity. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 44(3), 128–137. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/1293
Section
Musical Cultures of Russia
Author Biography

Andzhela V. Gucheva, The Institute of Humanitarian Studies is a branch of the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nalchik, Russia

Andzhela V. Gucheva, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Senior Researcher of the Ethnology and Ethnography Sector of the Humanitarian Researches Institute, branch of the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences