The Abazins in the XXI century: ethnographic aspects of religious practices

The article describes modern religious processes and related cultural and everyday practices of the Abazin people, who in their spiritual development went through three stages - pagan, Christian and Muslim. Each period brought its own cultural code to the spiritual culture of the Abazin, which remains in society throughout the period, and even the monotheistic religions that replaced it were not completely able to oust it from the life of the people.A reference to the history of traditional beliefs and statements of world religions among the Abazins preceded the presentation of the material characterizing modern religious and everyday practicesSuch information allows us to assess the dynamics of the relevant transformations and better understand the modern processes taking place in Abazin society, where ancient beliefs and Muslim norms coexist in a syncretic form. All this, taken together, causes tension in society, since the older generation, accustomed to living in this paradigm, is not ready to agree with the new, orthodox Islamic movements that have arisen in recent decades in Abazin society. This confrontation gradually leads to disunity in society and slowly but steadily continues the destruction process of national traditions that do not correspond to the norms of orthodox Islam. These are the disappointing predictions that the author comes to as a result of the study.