Vainakh Mythology

Vainakh Mythology

The Vainakh people of the North Caucasus includes the modern Chechens and Ingush, who today predominantly practice Islam. Nevertheless, their folklore has preserved a substantial amount of information about their pre-Islamic pagan beliefs. The Vainakh practiced a unique pagan religion, which was a mixture of different cults, including animism and polytheism, familial-ancestral and agrarian and funereal cults. Nakh peoples worshiped trees and believed that they were the abodes of invisible spirits. Vainakhs developed many rituals to serve particular trees. The pear tree held a special place in the faith of Vainakhs.