About what is blood feud

If in most countries a quarrel is a common occurrence, and often it does not end with terrible things, in the Caucasus things are a bit different. There abusers can expect a blood feud for the death of a close relative, for his scolded honor, humiliation, etc. That's it about this interesting, but very terrible rite and will be told in this article.

What it is?

First of all, it is necessary to determine the concepts. So, what is blood feud? According to the dictionary, this is a special custom that has developed even under the tribal system of society as a way of protecting dignity, honor and even property of a kind through the murder of the offender. It should be said that, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, blood feud is in most cases classified as an aggravating circumstance.

A bit of history

Another interesting fact is that even before the emergence of the laws of Moses, the blood vengeance was protected by law and was not punished. In the Bible there is even such a term as "goeel", which means "redeemer". This means that the person who inherited the property could redeem his enslaved relative from slavery, as well as his redemption of land. And for the death of a man from his family, he had to take revenge, shedding the murderer's blood. It would also be interesting that for those who committed an unintentional murder and were afraid of blood feuds, at that time shelter cities were created where they could hide. If a person came out of him and he was overtaken by blood feud, the person who killed him was not considered a criminal and did not carry any punishment, according to the letter of the law.

Near past

Over time, revenge for the death or resentment of loved ones in such a way banned laws. All cases of misunderstanding were considered by the elders, not giving final verdict sometimes for years. However, in spite of this, in the time of the recent war in Chechnya , the number of attacks of blood feud extended quite widely. Everything is simple, the laws of society did not work, the first were the laws of war. Find an offender and take revenge on him was much easier, and often the punishment was not all. At that time, people forgot that to forgive a person is as worthy and important as a vengeful revenge.

About the rite itself

Very interesting, although inherently terrible, is the custom of blood vengeance. If in some quarrel a person was killed and the culprit is known, people were sent to him from a neutral environment. It was necessary for them to inform that the murderer was declared blood feud. If formerly those who committed the crime took revenge, then during the reign of Imam Shamil this was somewhat changed. They could take revenge not only on the one who committed the crime, but also on his paternal relative, and they chose to trust the family themselves. And if the person who was killed was not very respected, they could execute his brother, who in the village had a stronger weight from the public point of view. Everything was done in order to bring more pain to the killer's relatives (however, it was rather not a rule, but an exception).

Important facts

So, there are several rules of blood revenge. What do you need to know?

1. Blood workers can not live in the same locality, for example, a village. If this happened, those who were announced to be avenged should leave the village in a matter of hours. Often in this case, for almost nothing, houses with all the property were sold, and families ran so far that the rite could not overtake them.
2. As in criminal practice, the blood feud has no statute of limitations. However, several years ago it was withdrawn, and the hostile families reconciled themselves with the efforts of the elders.
3. Even a woman can avenge a relative, but only if there are no men left in the family. It can be both mother and sister.
4. The motive of blood revenge can be different. So, they executed not only for the murder of their family member, but also for insult, humiliation, encroachment on property, etc.

Recently, there have been cases when as a result of blood feud, not one person died, but several. It happened because the offenders did not agree with their guilt, and the avengers proved their own. Often such conflicts became uncontrollable and ended very badly.

Reconciliation

It is worth mentioning that blood feuds may not be committed, for this there is a special process of reconciliation. In this case, the guilty party - all relatives, neighbors and people who are suffering for them - can dress in dark outfits, cover their heads and go to the place where the ritual is being performed. So, you can not ask for pardon or look in the eyes of those who want revenge. Reconciliation can happen after reading the special prayers and after the offender shaves his head and shaves his beard (this is done by the defendant). Only after this the offender can be considered forgiven. However, often at the time of this action, the person who was offered blood feud died. The shaving man simply could not restrain himself and cut his throat to the enemy.

Redemption

There is also a ransom, saving from blood feud. The beginning of reconciliation was that the relatives of the murderer agreed to accept the bride. As for the magnitude, it was different. Varies according to how many relatives the deceased had left - the less, the less insignificant and the ransom they had to pay.

conclusions

It should be said that even if today the blood feud in the Caucasus is prohibited by the laws of the Russian Federation, it still exists and is often committed. However, today more and more people agree to pardon the murderer. So, there are cases when the offenders were said goodbye due to a certain amount of money, sometimes - by the decision of the elders.