“My great-grandfather was a Muslim, and my great-grandmother a Christian” - about religions in Abkhazia
Muslims and Christians in Abkhazia
My great grandfather, Selyku Khashig, was a Muslim. A girl caught his eye at someone’s wedding in the 1880s. He invited her to dance, and afterwards he gave her a gold coin.
A telling gesture. Creating a family was a simple matter in those days – relatively no fuss. The Abkhaz didn’t woo and beat around the bush, spend years ‘getting to know each other better’ only to end up breaking up because ‘oh, we were too different’.
One dance, or even a look, might be all it took to seal the deal and even, in some happy cases, to live happily ever after.
Selyku had made up his mind. That same evening, through a common acquaintance who willingly took upon herself the mission of being his messenger and matchmaker, he made his intentions known to the girl.
Yesma Papba, my great-grandmother, was not one to marry a guy she’d just met without a second thought. She had a mind of her own in addition to beauty.
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She knew her suitor, though not personally. And she was well aware that he was a Muslim. Yesma herself was a Christian, and quite a pious, churchgoing type at that.
“I will marry him if he allows me to keep my faith,” was the message she relayed to him via their common acquaintance.
“No problem,” Selyku replied, and several weeks later Yesma became his wife.
If what our family legend says is true (and I prefer to believe it is), theirs was a long and happy marriage. They had eight children together – four sons and four daughters. Selyku kept his word, meaning his wife kept her faith. Moreover, he allowed for some of their children to be baptized.
The house my ancestor built for his family – a huge thing with walls one meter thick – still stands strong in the village of Khuap. For us, his descendants, it is The Big House.
For over a hundred years, Khuap has been a rallying point for the Khashig clan, a place we unfailingly converge on to celebrate Easter and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. None of those who became the ‘keepers of the hearth’ of the Big House after Selyko was a Christian.
However, the feasts we hold in Selyku’s house to honor the memory of our Christian great-grandmother has become a tradition as strong as concrete.
In the same manner, our family celebrates Islamic holidays and Abkhaz pagan festivals. It is not uncommon for an Abkhaz family to feature several faiths getting along peacefully. This is how most of us have always lived.
This is how I hope we will continue to live. So far, the official calendar of state holidays of Abkhazia is considerate towards all – Christians, Muslims and pagans alike.
There are many things we may lack or feel lacking in our lives – property, water, education, a place in the sun. But God, surely there is enough of God for everyone.
Muslims and Christians in Abkhazia
