Dargin people
Encyclopedia
The Dargwa or Dargin people (дарганти in Dargwa
Dargwa language
The Dargwa or Dargin language is spoken by the Dargin people of Dagestan. It is the literary and main dialect of the dialect continuum constituting the Dargin languages. The four other languages in this dialect continuum are often considered variants of Dargwa...

, даргинцы in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

) are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

 who live mainly in the Russian republic of Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...

. They speak the Dargwa language
Dargwa language
The Dargwa or Dargin language is spoken by the Dargin people of Dagestan. It is the literary and main dialect of the dialect continuum constituting the Dargin languages. The four other languages in this dialect continuum are often considered variants of Dargwa...

. The ethnic group comprises, however, all speakers of the Dargin languages
Dargin languages
The Dargin languages consist of a dialect continuum of Northeast Caucasian languages spoken in southcentral Dagestan. Kajtak, Kubachi, Itsari, and Chirag are often considered dialects of the same Dargin/Dargwa language. The Ethnologue lists these under a common Dargin language, but also states that...

, Dargwa is simply the Standard dialect.

According to the 2002 Census, Dargins make up 16.5% of the population of Dagestan, with 425,526 people.

The Dargins have lived in their present day location for a long time. They formed the state of Kaitag in the Middle Ages and Renaissance until Russian conquest. Today, the Dargins are the third most powerful group in Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...

 (an amalgamation of many of the historical peoples in the region), and the second most populous.

Culture

Architecture was extremely well developed among the Dargins. The folk masters of this art displayed a very high level of achievement in building and ornamenting towers, fortresses, ensembles of buildings, mosques, bridges, constructions at springs and wells. The artistry of the Dargins is clearly shown in their decorative and applied art: in the world-renowned creations of the Kubachi silversmiths; in the work of stonecutters, toolmakers, woodworkers, and ceramic and tile workers; in weaving, leatherwork, and furwork; and in spirited folk dance and vocal music.

Dargins are known for their Kaitag textiles
Kaitag textiles
Kaitag textiles are an unusual embroidered textile art form from the Kaitag district of southwest Daghestan, Russia, inhabited mainly by Dargins. Kaitag textiles are of simple construction, being laid and couched silk-floss embroidery on a cotton ground. The designs are generally in the style of...

.
Prior to Russia's annexation of Dargi regions, Dargi medicine was a combination of folk and Eastern medicine. Folk healers ( khakim ) achieved considerable success in the treatment of wounds, bruises, broken bones, and dislocations and even in trephination; they were also skilled in phytotherapy and treatment of various internal diseases. The best-known healers were Murtuzali Haji of Butri, who studied medicine in Cairo for five years, worked with the Russian surgeon N. I. Pirogov, and was given a set of surgical instruments by him; Taimaz of Urakhi; Mohammed Haji of Khajalmakhi; Davud Haji of Akusha'; Alisultan Haji of Urkarakh; and others. Medical service was instituted only in 1894, with nine doctors and twelve nurses for all of Daghestan, a ratio of one medical practitioner to 60,000 persons. Now there is a paramedical station in every settled place, or a regional doctor, or a regional, district, or interdistrict hospital and a first-aid service with its own transport, including air transport.

Religion

The main religion is Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

, which first reached the area in the 8th century. However, general acceptance of Islam did not reach the area until the 15th century..
The Islam of the Dargins has a strongly syncretic nature, with a substantial heritage of pre-Islamic pagan beliefs given Muslim form. The agricultural calendar and ceremonies and household and family rites have retained many elements of paganism: practices for warding off evil and initial, imitative, and other forms of magic. They are reflected in the rite of the first furrow, the most important and ceremonially richest Dargi rite; in the spring New Year holiday, with its personification of winter and summer and their dispute in dialogue; in the rites for making and stopping rain, calling out the sun, completing the harvest, beginning springtime work in the vineyards, and pasturing cattle; and in the holiday of flowers, the thanksgiving for plowing, the sacred trees and groves, and so on.

The Dargins see death as predetermined by faith. They believe in an afterlife, a judgment day, the bridge Sirat, heaven and hell, etc. Funerals follow the Muslim rite, with prayers for the deceased, generous funeral feasts, and memorials on the fortieth or fifty-second day.
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