The Issue of Pandemic in Folklore and Mythology
Abstract
This paper is focused on the Caucasian people’s similar mythological perceptions about disease and epidemic. Ethnographic and folklore materials show the magic elements in the traditional treatment of infectious diseases. All of the diseases were personified and the rituals were addressed to each of them personally. People in the Caucasus believed that the disease bringers would siege the village like an enemy. So, they fought against an epidemic by performing special collective ritual: they would hold a prayer procession and make a furrow around the village, thus trying to keep the disease in containment and prevent its spread.