ABSTRACT
The ancestors of the Vainakh developed, adopted and adapted many religious beliefs throughout their turbulent history. In order to reconstruct primeval beliefs, universal constructs of animism, totemism and paganism, including rough dating, are used as frameworks to assemble the bits and pieces gleaned here and there, and form connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena. Traces of the rituals and rites of the past are still preserved in legends, folklore, ancient monuments and archaeological finds. Religious traditions tend to linger most in the culture of a nation, some even surviving conversion to other faiths. Study of ancient Chechen religions, beliefs and myths would shed more light on connections with other cultures of the ancient world.
