Gulyás Katalin et al. (szerk.): Tisicum. A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok megyei Múzeumok évkönyve 26. (Szolnok, 2018)
Kultúrtörténet - Szabó Géza: Kutatóúton az oszéteknél - a szénakaszálás ünnepe és a Zadaleszki Nana barlangja
TISICUM XXVI. SZÁDECZKY-KARDOSS Lajos 2000. Zichy-expedíció Kaukázus, Közép-Ázsia, 1895. Szádeczky- Kardoss Lajos útinaplója. (Gyorsírásból megfejtette: SCHELKEN Pálma). Budapest. ТУАЕВА, Темина Давидовна 2016. Обычаи осетин. Владикавказ. ZICHY Jenő 1897. Kaukázusi és középázsiai utazása l-ll. Budapest. Géza Szabó On a research trip at the Ossetes - the festival of hay reaping and the cave of Zadaleszki Nana The Caucasus is the place of original several myths that determined European prehistory. The motifs of the Nart epics of the Ossetes mirroring Indo-lranian prehistoric religion and society can also be found in the legends of King Arthur and his knights as well as in Germanic and Scandinavian sagas, in the Kalevala of the Finns or in Etruscan traditions. Tribes fleeing from the waves of invasions of nomadic people of the steppe sought refuge in the northern narrow valleys of the mountain range separating Europe and Asia from the end of the Stone Age; and in the lowlands waves of invaders took turns to settle down. In the territory of today’s North Ossetia-Alania, for example, the descendants of Sarmatian and Alanian tribes have preserved their thousand-year-old traditions and language almost in their original forms. What is living and speaking practice there can only be identified as dead objects unearthed during archaeological excavations in our country. Flowever, it is not only about the interpretation of archaeological findings, the mentality of our Jász population can become more easily understood in that context. The rituals of Indo-lranian origin preserved by the Ossetes for thousands of years might also lead to a better understanding of the pagan traditions that lie behind our Christianity. The ancient motherland of the Jász belonging to the group of Indolranian people has been visited by several Hungarian researchers, an early forerunner of them was the first Zichy expedition in 1895. As a late offspring, the author of the paper managed to explore the two sides of the Caucasus in the territory of Georgia and North Ossetia between 12th July and 16th August, 2016 in quest of archaeological and ethnographic parallels. The research trip resulted in approximately 18,000 photographs, several video and sound records, a bulk of notes, and the author could take part in the feast of hay reaping and visit one of the cultic sites of the Ossetes, the cave of Zadaleszki Nana. 476
