Traditions Of Tolerance In The Culture Of The Peoples Of The Caucasus

Abstract

The Caucasus is a complex region both in its language, ethnic groups and religion. Here, in a relatively small territory, peoples have long lived side by side, differing from each other in the peculiarities of economy and life. The paper studies traditions, customs, and the customary law of the peoples of the North Caucasus revealing the potential for tolerance (toleration) characteristic of the traditional and everyday culture of these peoples. In the conditions of multi-ethnicity, multilingualism, multiculturalism, the formation of tolerance was a multifaceted process. In modern understanding the category of “tolerance” is differently treated and interpreted, and includes respect and recognition of equality of others, refusal of domination or violence; this is the moral quality characterizing the relation to interests, views, beliefs, faith, habits and behavior of other people, representatives of various ethnic and social groups. Tolerance is expressed in the desire to achieve mutual understanding, to agree on different points of view and different interests, without resorting to violence, acting by means of persuasion and clarification. The paper addresses the following issues: ideas about “friend” and “foe” in traditional culture, attitudes towards non-believers and representatives of other peoples; traditions and customs aimed at establishing contacts between villages, communities and ethnic groups; social institutions. The mechanisms of interethnic interaction recorded in literary and archival sources, preserved in the memory of the people, serve a reflection of stable value orientations towards a certain degree of tolerance characteristic of all ethnic groups of the Caucasus.