FORMULAS OF CURSES CONTAINING DEMONOLOGICAL, HOUSEHOLD AND CULTURAL-HISTORICAL CONTENT IN THE LIFE OF THE POPULATION OF AJARA

Abstract

Curses are verbal formulas that contain the desire to harm an unwanted person. It belongs to the genre of oral language and is used to show an opponent, an enemy, an evil person. Certain curse formulas are related to animistic beliefs, and some are based on household or contain cultural-historical content.

       Cursing also had a prophylactic-preventive character. One of its goals was to prevent harmful actions, destroy and destroy evil, protect against demonic forces, evil spirits, witches.

       Cursing and swearing are evidenced in the existence of many people of the world. Naturally, it was not a stranger to the Georgian reality either. Cursing formulas were and are widespread in South-West Georgia, especially in Ajara.

      Ajara is a very interesting historical-ethnographic region in Georgia, in which both the general ethnic nature of existence and local peculiarities are clearly visible. This specificity is manifested in the formulas based on the belief in the magical power of the word, in the forms of attitude towards the person and the event. It is significant that no one has made this issue a subject of research. Accordingly, there are almost no data on this issue in the scientific literature (if we do not take folklore into account). Therefore, we mainly rely on the field materials we have collected in the villages of Ajara mountains  as well as Imerkhevi.

      The field data proves that people have preserved the magic formulas of relief from positive and negative emotions, "throwing out the whip", "heart thresher", which have widely gained a place in modern life and have become one of the necessary attributes of people's self-determination.

Key words: Curse; Curling; swearing; tradition; being; culture;