Сведения за огнеходство в мюсюлмански култури
Data about Fire Walking in Muslim Cultures

Summary/Abstract: Bojidar Alexiev The article uses the information about practicing fire walking in Muslim mystical orders in the traveler’s account of Ibn Battuta (14th century), in the heterodox Ottoman hagiography (14th and 15th centuries), and in ethnographic observations (of B. N. Basilov) about fire walking in the small Turkmen ata community in Turkmenistan. The three groups of sources reveal the existence of a connection between the fire walking in Muslim milieu with the one practiced by mystical brotherhoods and with their rituals. This practice is widespread among communities united around a doctrine and including a specific ritual communion. Among the Turkmen ata community the ritual represents a synthesis of the simplest musical and dance elements: rhythmic speech and bodily movement. The ritual proceeds as an interaction between a limited circle of “ritual virtuosos” – fire walkers, and a small group of participants that do not remain only passive spectators. As among the Nestinari in Strandja in the past, the fire walking performance does not depend on the personal choice. Rather, it is expressed (or is at least interpreted in such a way) as an ability that appeared spontaneously and that is accompanied with characteristic physical and psychic states, with foretelling and curing skills.

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