About the Apswara and religion
A code of etiquette known as “Apswara” which includes traditions respecting age, hospitality, eloquence, bravery is instilled in the Abkhazians along with their mothers’ milk and handed down from parents to offspring generation by generation. The word Apswara means “to be Abkhazian”.
The etiquette and norms of behaviour reflected in the Nart epic have long become established and deeply ingrained. The Nart epic tales also tell of the etiquette of the table followed by the Narts: “The Narts would come into their house one by one following the order of seniority. Then, they would take their seats at the table and make a toast to their mother, praising her to the skies. Meanwhile, the younger brothers would serve the elder ones at table…”.
Although the Abkhazians are divided into Christians and Moslems, there is no religious antagonism among them. The culture of religious tolerance is traditional. Even after the adoption of Christianity or Islam, almost all the Abkhazians have also kept alive their old traditional (pagan) faith, which has been the most widely practised religion in the community since ancient times.
One of the Nart epic tales narrates how Satanay Gwasha, the Mother of the Narts, aided by her gift of foresight, found out that her sons had got into trouble. Having raised her hands to the sky, and turning to Shashyu, the Blacksmith’s patron, pleaded with him for protection: “Oh, Almighty Shashyu, let my sons come back home alive and unharmed! I am obligated before You to light a hundred candles in the Land of Heaven and raise hundreds of sheep for sacrifice”. On hearing Satanay Gwasha’s pleas, Shashyu drew the sides at war apart.
Legend of Satanay Gwasha’s spindle
In the mythology of many cultures of the world, the spindle is an attribute of the Great mother who spins the thread of fate inside the Stone mountain or at the foot of the World tree. The spindle and all actions connected with spinning and sewing are symbols of life and continuity of time. On the other hand, the whirling spindle can be identified with the axis of the universe. The spindle acts also as a handicraft attribute of Satanay Gwasha, the mother of the Abkhazian Nart epic family consisting of 99 sons and one daughter who lived in the Caucasus Mountains. One of the Nart legends tells of Satanay-Gwasha who after awaking up early one morning, decided to spin yarn from the wool of six thousand sheep, and from that yarn she was going to weave cloth and tailor warm clothes for her ninety nine sons and one daughter. Before being engaged in handiwork, Satanay went to the wood and chose among the trees a straight one without boughs. She uprooted the tree and turned it into a spindle shaft. Then she chose a big rock and turned that rock into a whorl. Satanay attached the whorl to the thin end of the spindle for stability and the spindle started rotating in her hands. Holding the distaff in her left hand and the spindle from the huge tree attached with the stone whorl in her right hand, Satanay spun the wool of six thousand sheep on the first day. On the second day, she weaved the cloth from the yarn that she had spun from the wool of six thousand sheep. On the third day, she tailored clothes for her hundred children from the cloth that she had weaved from the yarn that she had spun from the wool of six thousand sheep. Thus Satanay Guasha, a caring mother and a craftswoman, was working at spinning, weaving, tailoring within three days and nights. Her work at spinning and weaving caused mighty rumble in the mountain gorges and shuddering of her huge house built of stone.
Legend about Gunda the Beautiful
Gunda was the only sister of the 99 Nart brothers. She lived shining and glittering through night and day in a wonderful mirror like palace of a fortress. Gunda fed on only tender brains of high mountain-game.
Once when the Narts were absent on campaign, their jealous and cunning wives put a golden ring in Gunda’s food, hoping to get rid of her. Gunda, having swallowed the ring, fainted and was thrown into a dark cave. The cave began shining brilliantly, attracting the attention of a young prince who was hunting thereabouts.
On seeing a sleeping beauty with divine features in the cave, the prince fell in love with Gunda and soon married her. Over time, Gunda bore and raised a son, who very closely resembled her brothers. One day, Gunda’s son went to the water-spring with his golden pitcher to fetch some water and there he met the Narts who, noticing how like them the boy was, questioned him and before long realised who he must be. The Narts were happy to find their long-lost sister, whom they had sought throughout the entire world. Having learned all the truth about their wives’ wickedness, the Narts cruelly punished them. According to the legend, the wives were tied to wild horses’ tails, and their corpses were dragged along and torn to pieces.
How Sasryqwa the Nart hero captured earth’s fire for the Narts
Sasryqwa the Nart hero was born supernaturally, being carved out of stone and tempered in a smithy. He sets out on many adventures; he tames a wild horse, conquers a voracious dragon in the Underworld Kingdom, and rescues people from misfortune. To warm up his frozen brothers, Sasryqwa twice acquired fire: on one occasion, he obtained heaven’s fire from the sky by shooting down a flaming star and at another time, Sasryqwa headed for the World’s edge, where, after fierce combat with a monster, he captured the earth’s actual fire for the Narts. However, his brothers referred to him as an illegitimate brother, envying his strength and fame, and, in the end, they caused him to perish.
One of the legends says, one day, Sasryqwa the Nart hero, mounted his steed and rode out on his journey. He rode on and on for a good way till he came to a steep mountain and went up its top. Looking around he saw some smoke curls. So he started off again with the thought that where there was smoke, there might have been fire. But the Giant blocked the way to the fire. So Sasryqwa dispersed his horse Bzou and flew into the Giant’s right ear and flew out of his left ear. There in the Giant’s dwelling place he took some burning coals and tried to come back the same way, but unfortunately, dropped hot coals, and the Giant’s shaggy ear caught on fire. The creature woke up, and Sasryqwa together with his horse found himself in the palm of his hand.
“Hey, nasty Apswa (Abkhazian)! How did you get here? And what is your name?” the Giant roared out.
To this Sasryqwa replied:
“I am just the servant of Sasryqwa the Nart hero.” “Oh, well, nasty Apswa, tell me the truth whether there exists a real life Sasryqwa the hero performing wondrous exploits?” the Giant roared again.
Sasryqwa started assuring the Giant that there was no one in the world mightier than Sasryqwa the Nart hero and that no one in the world would be able to repeat his exploits. The Giant felt a wish, however, to prove that he was yet mightier than Sasryqwa and began inquiring of him what such exploits the Nart hero was capable that he, the giant, would not be able to perform. To trick the Giant, Sasryqwa began spinning the stories of feats, after attempting to perform of which, the Giant any time was defeated, and Sasryqwa had nothing to do but cut off the head of the neatly caught creature. And here the silly Giant guessed at last that there in front of him stood Sasryqwa the Nart hero.“Hey, Sasryqwa!” the Giant cried, “no, you won’t be able to cut off my head. But if you are such a brave fellow, I will reward you for your service before my death. Listen to me, your sword will be bent like a straw, so take better mine if only you manage to free it from its sheath. Pull my sword out and push it on a smooth surface of the ice covering my body up to my neck so that it might hit my neck and cut my large vein. This vein is miraculous. Make of it