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6ORNAMENTAL SYMBOL IN THE HANDICRAFT ETHNOCULTURE OF KABARDINO-BALKARIA
The relevance of the problem under study is due to the demand for studying the semantic foundations of traditional ornamental art, within the framework of value orientations and traditions of the folk craft culture of Kabardino-Balkaria. The purpose of the article is to determine the main ornamental complexes that are the artistic reflection of the symbolic image in the folk craft culture of Kabardino-Balkaria. The methodological basis of the research is cultural and art studies. This approach led to a comprehensive analysis of the artistic foundations of the symbolic image in the national handicraft art. The study resulted in typological ideas about the main ornamental complexes in the folk craft ethnic culture of Kabardino-Balkaria. The materials of the article can be useful for students and teachers in working out programs and training courses in cultural studies, ethnography, art criticism.
Keywords
ornamental symbol, ethnoculture, folk crafts, family tamgas, thick felt, mats
AUTHOR
Nailya V. Galimova,
Candidate of Cultural Studies, Associate Professor, North-Caucasian State Institute of Arts, Nalchik 1, Lenin Ave., Nalchik 360030, Russia hudshkolanal@mail.ru
1. Introduction
Ornamental symbolism has invariably played an important role in the social and cultural life of different civilizations as a way of displaying the peculiarities of the consciousness of the ancient world. The role of symbols in civilizational processes is rather significant. Symbolic images became the basis for the birth of writing, art, education, and they are a way of expressing modern ethnocultural processes in modern times. The first forms of graphic ornamentation appeared in the ancient Stone Age, and were developed in Ancient Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome as religious, cult and magical signs.
Today, despite the partial loss of their symbolic functions, the artistic foundations of ornamental systems that have developed in traditional culture are becoming the creative basis for the formation of the latest pictorial symbols in modern design.
A typological analysis of the main ornamental complexes of Kabardians and Balkars is put forward as an urgent research task, as well as the disclosure of the artistic features of ornamental symbols, their intercultural interaction in traditional forms of folk art of Kabardino-Balkaria (mats, thick felt, gold embroidery, tamgas). The analysis of the insufficiently studied problems of the spiritual and cognitive fund of the Kabardians and Balkars revealed the symbolic and ornamental features of the ethnic handicraft practices samples.
Semiotic expressiveness in ornamental art acts as an instrument of ethnic, religious, cultural identity of ethnic groups. In this regard, ethnic figurative and ornamental culture, in particular, the symbolic worldview of the Kabardins and Balkars, was practically not the subject of study.
2. Methods and Materials
The study of ethnic handicraft practice and historical and cultural ties of the Kabar-dins and Balkars demanded to turn to various literary sources. Ethnographic studies of graphic images multifunctionality in ornamental art are presented in the works of E. M. Shilling, S. V. Ivanov, M. N. Gubzhokov, A. S. Kishev, B. Kh. Malbakhov, N. G. Lovpache. The problems of ornament as an object of the artistic-semiotic system were considered in their works by L.M.Butkevich, Yu.M. Lotman, A. Ya. Kuznetsov, M. Ch. Kudaev, R. T. Khat-uev, T. V. Lazutin, E. V. Gilevich. The basis for the analysis of the historical and cultural heritage of the Kabardians and Balkars are the works of the following authors: O. L. Opryshko, V. K. Gardanov, G. D. Bazieva, G. Kh. Mambetov, Kh. Kh. Yakhtanigov.
The purpose of this study is to determine the main pictorial complexes of ornamental ethnic symbolism in the traditional craft culture of Kabardino-Balkaria.
To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:
- to systematize ideas and argue the artistic and graphic features of ornamental symbolism, which is a creative reflection of the complex of ethnic preferences in the traditional culture of Kabardino-Balkaria;
- to analyze the main types of ornamental symbols on the example of decorative and applied works samples of Kabardians and Balkars;
- to determine the importance of intercultural interactions of traditional ornamental-symbolic complexes of Kabardians and Balkars, to show their influence on modern types of creative activity in the field of fine arts.
The object of the research is the ornamental symbol in the traditional culture of Kabardino-Balkaria. The subject of the research is the features and specificity of the ornamental symbol in the traditional culture of Kabardino-Balkaria.
The scientific novelty of the research consists in the following: ideas are systematized and the features of ornamental symbolism are substantiated as a component of ethnic artistic preferences in the craft culture of Kabardino-Balkaria; the analysis of the main types of ornamental symbols was made on the example of decorative and applied works samples of Kabardians and Balkars; the value of intercultural interactions of traditional ornamental-symbolic complexes, their influence on modern types of creative activity is determined.
3. Methodological framework
The theoretical and methodological basis of the research was the cultural-historical and historical-typological approaches to the study of the traditional ornamental symbolism of Kabardino-Balkaria: the definition of the artistic specific features of ornamental symbols in the folk craft culture, their ethnocultural interaction.
In the works of historians and theorists of decorative and applied arts, there are slightly different identifications of the ornament nature. Taking into account that some scholars study ornament as a sign culture carrying a deep symbolic meaning, while others consider it as a decorative ornament, the absence of uniform generally accepted definitions of the ornament concept in science does not seem exceptional. Having traced the stages of the emergence and the development history of ornamental art, one can directly or indirectly interpret the first forms of abstract graphic signs that had the conditioned features of ornamental symbolism.
Some researchers interpret the concept of ornamental art very broadly, leveling the boundaries between it and decorative and applied art. At the same time, ornamental symbolism is one of the components of design practice, which has the most important element of ornamental style in its creative arsenal - the repetition of its constituent patterns, namely, the "art of rhythm" (Filippov, 1937). In this regard, the main issue of this
work is the examination of the symbolic forms of folk handicraft and, in particular, the ornamental art of Kabardians and Balkars.
To understand the formation process of the symbolic images in the traditional ornamental systems of Kabardians and Balkars that developed back in the days of ancient civilizations, it is necessary to understand the semantic and graphic component of this art. Ornamental images in folk craft traditions were endowed with a sensual, visual-figurative perception of the world, or a "specific cultural code" where the value orientations of decorative and applied art were most vividly displayed (Lazutina, 2015).
4. Results
Having traced the emergence and development of different ornamental symbols, complexes and compositions of different time periods by means of comparative analysis, one can directly or indirectly explain the history of the people, their external intercultural relations. One way or another, but even the first abstract signs of ancient creativity contained certain features of ornamental symbolism, necessary for a human "to adapt to the natural environment" (Kirilenko, 2004). As a result, reflecting the semantic basis of traditional ornamental art, the researchers did not limit themselves to just one decorative side, but considered the figurative and semantic depth and the pictorial stylistics characteristic of ornamental symbolism. According to K.M. Korolev, "abstractness" as a form of creative thinking in "symbolic quality" is inseparable from the figurative and semantic component of ornamental art (Korolev, 2005).
The cultural and historical traditions of folk craftwork in Kabardino-Balkaria give the opportunity to preserve the originality of aesthetic tastes, artistic preferences and the invariability of the semantic foundations of the national ornamental fund. There is an opinion in the historical literature that the most ancient ornamental images were abstract sacred signs in the form of simple geometric figures: a circle, square, triangle, cross, swastika, etc. In the process of evolution, these graphic signs often lost their sacred qualities associated with the ancient pagan beliefs and acquired new ones, in the form of a decorative ornamental pattern. If you try to trace the characteristic features of ornamental patterns in the craft culture of Kabardians and Balkars, then it is most expedient to highlight the graphic laconicism and compositional expressiveness of abstract symbols, zoomorphic and vegetable motifs. In accordance with the definition of G.D. Baziyeva, they "can be divided into two main types: vegetable arabesques and geometric ornament" (Bazieva, 2004).
Considering the artistic and typological aspects of the decorative and applied arts of the peoples of the North Caucasus, N. G. Lovpache points to the "parsimony of graphic means, rigor and laconicism" inherent in ornamental motifs applied to objects of the Ady-ghe material culture (Lovpache, 1997).
Analyzing the compositional stylistics and graphic basis of the ornaments of Kabardians and Balkars, we can identify a number of common pictorial components inherent in the samples of ancient Greek patterns (spiral, trefoil, lotus, palmette). Most likely, the manifestation of these common ornamental symbols hypothetically testifies to the antiquity of their origin and intercultural ties with distant civilizations. This closeness cannot be regarded as an accidental coincidence, since it is found in a large number of graphic details, the independent emergence of which could hardly have occurred.
Examining the traditional ornamental complexes of Kabardians and Balkars, one can find the presence of one of the most common graphic signs, which have long had symbolic meaning, such as a rhombus, a square, wavy lines, a circle "which is a symbol of the sun" (Gardanov, 1974). These sacred graphic signs keep traditional ethnocultural values in their ideological basis and contribute to the comprehension of creative practices of different
ethnic cultures. M. Ch. Kudaev's work "Karachay-Balkarian ethnochoreography and symbolism" describes ornamental patterns and symbols in traditional folk crafts: "Ornament depicting ..."solar signs" was often used ... in Balkar wedding clothes for men and women. According to Kudaev, sacred graphic symbols bear the diversity of ethnographic features inherent in ornamental art: "the warrior's men's clothing was ornamented with military signs" (Kudaev, 2003).
Reflecting national creativity and aesthetic preferences, ornamental handicraft art becomes an essential component of the spiritual and cognitive activity of the North Caucasian ethnic groups. This information is confirmed by M.N. Gubzhokov: "the most ancient of the folk crafts that existed in the North-West Caucasus ... is artistic weaving." Gubzhokov states: "If the conditions of military life allowed, then so much virtuoso skill and artistic taste were often invested even in the creation of the most laborious wicker fence that these products could sometimes compete with the works of the Adyghe gold seamstresses" (Gubzhokov, 1997).
In everyday life, Kabardians widely used graceful patterned ardgena mats woven from swamp reeds as a decoration for beds, walls, as well as traditional prayer rugs. These ardgenas had "a variety of geometric patterns - rhombuses, zigzags, stripes, triangles, etc." (Aslanova, 1993).
Delving deeper into the study of the semantic side of decorative mats ornamentation, it is necessary to note their direct influence on the figurative foundations of other types of folk craft culture - in particular, on the works of gold seamstresses.
The most popular ornamental pattern used in gold embroidery is the symbolic pattern of ram's horns, which plays the role of amulet and abundance. There was a cult of the ram among Kabardians and Balkars, therefore, in the ornament that adorned the accessories of the women's clothing, ram's horns often become a compositional basis, "where ram's horns sprout with vegetal elements" (Aslanova, 1993).
The classification of ornamental motifs existing in the folk art of Balkars available in the literature proves their relationship with magical symbolism, which suggests a semantic and philosophical interpretation of solar images. These symbolic components are most clearly traced in the ornamental complexes of thick felt carpet weaving - kiyiz. One of the most ancient and widespread in Balkar carpet weaving is a circular ornament - a circle. As a rule, this sign symbolizing the sun was located in the center of diamond-shaped compounds or in the central part of the main composition, attracting attention to its magical meaning. All kinds of solar images of spiral shapes, petal patterns, crosses, swastikas and circles "are found not only on felts but also on tombstones (Kuznetsova, 1982). Of course, there is another assortment of ornamental motifs that are geometric in nature: zigzag, triangle, rhombus, square and their combinations.
Analyzing individual ornamental complexes of the North Caucasian peoples, ethnographer-Caucasian scholar E. M. Shilling suggested their relationship with tamga-like signs: "It is possible that traces of ancient cult images can be seen in the described composition of the pattern" (Schilling, 1940).
Analysis of the symbolic code in the historical and cultural aspect makes it possible to clarify the spiritual experience of human development, to reveal the nature of the relationship between different cultures through symbolic graphic images, to actualize the need for generalization and systematization of the currently existing research works on this issue. It should be noted that all the North Caucasian peoples have retained their addiction to the symbols of family affiliation - tamga. Therefore, the new study of the graphic essence of tamgas is determined by the long overdue need to re-draw the attention of scientists to this abstract cultural phenomenon of social ideas that exists on a subconscious level.
There are different versions of tamga-like signs appearance in the historical literature. Among the North Caucasian peoples, tamga means - a generic mark, a hereditary sign. Presumably, these graphic signs, having a class-hierarchical meaning, acted as religious and magical symbols, the semantic meaning of which is not limited to the present time with the usual judgments about the system of the universe. Ornamental tamga-like signs, including a semantic-graphic image at their core, reflected the concept of traditional artistic values of ethnic groups and their creative abilities. Due to this, the ornamentation of tamga signs often took on a complex configuration, where all sorts of graphic symbols were present: pentagonal stars, triangles, crosses, swastikas, crescents, etc. Simultaneously, images of mostly canon signs could be used at the same time in several geographically remote and chronologically unrelated civilizations. Due to this, tamgas as a phenomenon of sociocultural activity, "begin to play an important role" in the everyday life of the North Caucasian peoples (Yakhtanigov, 1993).
According to archaeologists, tamgas, as a sign of clan affiliation, have been known in the North Caucasus since the Sarmatian period (III century BC - III century AD), and by the beginning of the 19th century they are spread among different peoples of the Black Sea - Caspian region. According to Kh. Kh. Yakhtanigov, "tamgas began to play an important role" in the everyday life of the peoples of the North Caucasus in the 16th - early 20th centuries. (Yakhtanigov, 1993).
At this time, there were no large blacksmith centers in the region, and all needs were satisfied by a small number of artisans who worked in each settlement. Russian scholars E. Maksimov, G. Vertepov scrutinized various forms of folk crafts and handicrafts of the North Caucasus in their work "The Natives of the North Caucasus". They noted that "there are few good blacksmiths in Kabarda, and therefore the manufacture of weapons, stirrups, buckles, bits, etc. is not cheap here" (Maksimov, 1892).
Obviously, along with weapons and equipment for the rider, manufacturing of special metal products, such as "tamga", was widespread. With a variety of ingenious compositional finds, in which the masters of blacksmithing competed among themselves, tamgas were created in the form of encoded graphic symbols, still amazing researchers with their metaphorical interpretation.
Academician P.S. Pallas, who visited the Caucasus for a scientific purpose, "sketched 56 mainly Kabardian tamgas" (Pallas, 1877).
Researchers D. Kantemir, P. S. Pallas, F. A. Kolenati, E. T. Solovyov, E. D. Felitsin, trying to decipher the graphic image of tamga signs, focused mainly on the religious-to-temic or religious-magical side, noting that "it is impossible to determine the meaning of the symbol in most tamgas" (Lavrov, 1982).
The Russian military leader general A. P. Gramotin published in 1877 in the printed edition of the "Hunting Journal" graphic sketches of 113 North Caucasian tamgas (together with the names of their owners) collected during the Caucasus campaigns. "There were 68 tamgas from Kabarda, 18 from Balkaria and Digoria, and 7 from Karachai among them". (Gramotin, 1877).
In 1909, R. N. Kostaniants published 342 North Caucasian tamgas in the magazine "South-Eastern Master": "including 193 Kabardian, 54 Karachai, 33 Kuban-Circassian, 20 Abaza, 20 Nogai, 12 Balkar and 10 Digor" (Kostaniants, 1909).
The creation of a tamga by a person was based, as a rule, on intuitive thinking as an essential component of any creative process. In view of the fact that the traditions and laws of the steppe and mountain peoples forbade "to change the form of the paternal tamga" but only allowed "to modify it somewhat," the craftsman required undoubtedly handicraft skills, creative intuition and knowledge of certain functional canons to make a family nameplate (Butanaev, 2004).
A circle or a circumference is considered to be the most harmonious and oldest graphic signs. No wonder the philosophers of antiquity attached special importance to them. Tamgas in the form of a circle and its derivatives ("a circle with a tail", the image of the letter "W, "a circle with a two-prong", "a circle with a trident", etc.) carried the sacred meaning of cosmogonic forces and assumed a direct connection with the cult of the sun. Similar signs were used by the khans of the Golden Horde, and were later found in the North Caucasus. "Among the Kabardians -"O" (Nyrovs, Dudarovs),"^" (Anzorovs, Zakhokhovs); among the Karachai-Balkarians - "O" (Daduevs, Khairovs) "; among the Osse-tians - the image of the letter "W (Zrumovs), "O" with three tails (Abisalovs); Abkhaz - "W with two serifs (Agan ipa) (Galimova, 2020).
The tradition of using symbolic images in our time is the most important component in intercultural interaction, becoming a code catalyst for ethnic value orientations. Symbolic forms of ornamental art penetrate into different sociocultural spheres, forming a semantic component of human creative activity. One way or another, it was the symbolic images of ornamental art that had a huge impact on the professional artistic culture of the 19th-20th centuries.
4. Conclusion
Since ancient times, ornamental symbolic images, being a testament of the spiritual and material culture of peoples, have existed as genuine carriers of historical information about traditional forms of creativity. These symbolic images determine the cultural significance of symbolism in folk art depending on the semantic generalization. Being the key meanings of the culture existence, the symbols convey not only the main features of past eras, but also the historical understanding of the ideals and spiritual values of national ethnocultures. Traditional symbolic images still play a significant role in intercultural interaction, being a code catalyst for the value orientations of world culture. Ornamental symbolic forms as a way of organizing creative activity penetrate into different spheres of socio-cultural practices of peoples, influencing the figurative and semantic component of the artistic image. Symbolic images used by ornamental art are diverse and exist at all levels of traditional ornamental systems as an ethnic ethnocultural view.
Today, defining the socio-cultural significance of ornamental symbols, it is necessary to note that art theorists reasonably see in these signs a specific carrier, keeper and translator of a creative idea associated with a code interpretation of creative concepts hidden in our minds. Ornamental symbolism penetrates from one creative system to another, exerting direct influence on the artistic and aesthetic content and cultural significance of the new image being created. These figurative and semantic components connected the expressive foundations of ornamental motives with the associative perception of modern symbolic art.
The article does not claim to be exhaustive. The aspects of ornamental symbolic complexes influence on other pictorial practices, on their creative tendencies when creating a new image remained outside the scope of the study. The material presented in the article confirms that it was the ornamental symbol that became the figurative-associative translator of the artistic features of the national worldview which actualize the ideas concerning the ethnic and cultural identity of peoples.
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