Lightning, Sacrifice, and Possession in the Traditional Religions of the Caucasus

In many communities of the West Caucasus, lightning-strike victims were regarded with particular awe, and a dance was performed around their bodies during which the name of one or another god is uttered, along with the mysterious vocable coppa. Data concerning this ritual will be framed in an analysis of the representations of possession, sacrifice, and, in general, the appropriation of people or animals by divine beings in traditional Caucasian religious thought. Certain features of the religious thought of the Pshavs and Khevsurs of the northeast Georgian highlands will be compared and contrasted with those of the peoples of the West Caucasus.