The Role of the Religious Component in the History of the Formation of Crimean Karaim Ethnoculture

Abstract

The article provides historiographic information that allows us to consider various approaches to the problem of the emergence of Crimean Karaites, to reveal the main ethnoculturological and religious features of this now small people due to a combination of factors such as the specificity of the territory of their stay, neighborhood with various peoples, many of which are very close to each other in terms of the features of religion, language and individual traditions. The main content of the article is devoted to the study of religion (Karaism), religious worship, confession of faith, traditions of Crimean Karaites as an integral part of their ethnoculture. In addition, the conducted historical and cultural analysis allows us to refer to the question of the multinational nature of Crimea, currently the Republic of Crimea, a territorial subject of the Russian Federation, where many indigenous and non-indigenous peoples lived and live, distinguished by their ethnicity, culture and religion. Their coexistence could not but leave its mark in the process of forming the ethnoculture of Crimean Karaites, their identity. It is noted that modern conditions are associated with the strengthening of the processes of "ethnic revival" and, at the same time, with the activation of assimilation processes that erode ethnoculturological boundaries.