Prayers and Blessing as a Ritual Genre in Folklore (Based on Zangezur folklore examples)

In the thinking of every nation, in the archaic way of thinking, various rituals related to old beliefs and beliefs live in a molded form. These rituals constitute an important part of the people's thinking, everyday life, and lifestyle. Since the creation of the world, almost all cultures have believed in the power and magic of words. In early times, people who did not understand natural phenomena used the power of words as the most effective means to protect themselves from them and to establish a certain sacred connection between themselves and nature. This connection between nature and man was initially established in the form of imitation of sounds in nature. However, over time, people did not stop at only imitating the sounds in nature, but also tried to tame various natural phenomena, forces of nature, and animals with the power of words. Thus, words performed the first intermediary function between man and nature. Over time, people began to establish mystical connections not only with what they saw with their eyes, but also with other beings they could not see with their eyes, thanks to the magic, harmony, and rhythm of words. This mystical connection has created the opportunity for the emergence of many archaic genres in folklore. Blessing, prayers, curses, and spells are such archaic genres. The article discusses the archaic genres used in folklore texts - blessing, and their ritual-semantic essence. The blessing texts recorded from the Zangezur region are analyzed in a comparative manner with the "Kitabi-Dede Gorgud". The issue of the connection of the blessing texts collected from the Zangezur region with the old Turkic belief system is investigated.