MAGICAL MEANS TO PROTECT DOMESTIC ANIMALS IN THE BASHKIRS

Despite leveling many ethnic characteristics in the modern era, the Bashkirs retain a number of religious and magical methods of protection, prohibitions, and signs associated with domestic animals. The purpose of the research is to study and analyze magical means of protecting domestic animals among the Bashkirs in the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan in the middle of the XX – beginning of the XXI century. Materials and methods. The article uses general scientific methods: scientific description, analysis and systematization of the empirical material, as well as the comparative historical method. When conducting field research, traditional ethnographic methods were used: in-depth interviews, observation, and photo fixation. The article is based on historical and ethnographic studies on ethnography of the Bashkirs and peoples of the Ural-Volga region, the collections kept in the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Institute of Ethnological Studies of Ufa Federal Research Center under the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as field materials collected by the author in 2017, 2019, 2023 in southern, southeastern, western, southwestern, northeastern regions of the Republic of Bashkortostan. Research results. In the article, the author examines various types of magical means to protect domestic animals in the Bashkirs living in the Republic of Bashkortostan. At the beginning of the XXI century, the Bashkirs continue to preserve traditional methods of magical livestock protection – the use of amulets of animal and vegetable origin, fumigating them with herbs and the use of salt (over which the mullah said a prayer). In many Bashkir villages, metal horseshoes, scythes, pitchforks found on the road, continue to be used as amulets which are hung on the walls of sheds with the tip up in the direction of Mecca, amulets – “бетеү”, which are records of ayats in Arabic, placed in leather bags, etc. Rituals, incantations and amulets, etc. are also widespread, the sources of which are newspapers, magazines and the Internet. Amulets and charms are readily purchased in online stores, from people who consider themselves “magicians”, “healers”. There is a belief that various amulets, “charged” for the safety and increase in the number of domestic animals, really bring well-being and prosperity to the house. Conclusions. Magical objects and amulets that arose in the deep past are revealed to be firmly rooted in the ritual practice of the Bashkirs and not to lose their significance until today. As the author’s field materials collected from different Bashkir territorial groups have shown, they currently continue to preserve traditional methods of magical livestock protection. In recent decades, the Bashkirs have begun to use various tools and amulets borrowed from the Internet.