Andis

Former beliefs. These are reconstructed from folklore, local vocabulary and ethnographic records. What survives are separate layers, not a complete ancient canon. Tsʼob. Ethnographers describe it as the supreme deity of the former beliefs. The name was preserved in oaths and blessings, later reinterpreted in a Muslim context. Sky, luminaries and household spirits. Personifications of the sun and moon, ideas of the "Mother of the Wind" and the house snake have been recorded. These are data on the folklore of particular villages. Bakhargam and the sacred landscape. Mountains, materials and caves formed part of rain-petition and healing rites. Researchers trace the change in the meaning of these places after the adoption of Islam. Data on Christianity. Aglarov cites a local chronicle with an account of the former veneration of the cross. This is a written tradition that must be compared with other data; it does not establish a single Christian period for all communities. The spread of Islam. Seferbekov dates Islamization to the 13th–15th centuries; the academic survey singles out the 14th century. These frameworks describe a gradual process, not the simultaneous conversion of all villages. How the religion took hold. Mosques, madrasas, the work of qadis and instruction in Arabic book learning integrated Islam into public institutions. The transmission of knowledge also relied on the local speech. Scholarship of the 16th century. Aglarov cites a record of a book on Sufism copied at the madrasa of Molla Haji-Ali in 1562. This is evidence of developed religious education. The Sunni tradition. Current reference materials of the Russian Academy of Sciences characterize believing Andis as Sunni Muslims. Ethnic affiliation does not determine a person's personal convictions. The Muslim community of the 18th century. The letter of 1782 contains an appeal to an oath on the Quran. It documents the religious language of publicobligations in a particular era. Zikr and almsgiving. During the prayers at Bakhargan, zikr and the distribution of sadaka are described. Researchers regard the combination of these practices with the veneration of mountains as a local historical form of religious culture. The Soviet period. The restriction of religious institutions changed the education and public activity of communities. The family transmission of customs continued under the new conditions. The revival of the late 20th century. In Dagestan, religious education and the open activity of mosques expanded again. At the same time, disputes arose about the permissibility of local rites. Beliefs and modernity. Historical accounts of spirits and weather rites are not a common list of the beliefs of today's Andis. The degree to which traditions have been preserved varies.