Musicology Annotation << Back Circassian (Adyghe) Rites de Passage.«Psyhjeg"je» (the Order of Searchingfor the Soul of the Drowned Person) Andzhela V. Gucheva, Murat A. Hokonov, Leyla H. Zhappueva, Madina K. Midova The article is devoted to the main concepts of the special rite «Psyhjeg"je» (Lamentation over water), connected with the search for the soul of the drowned person. It is the most typical and representative for the Circassian (Adyghe) tradition, the main and connecting function in it is performed by an ancient musical instrument – Kamyl’he musical instrument was endowed with a sacral force of divine origin and connected the human ancestor with the deities. This is triad is singled out in the rite: «subject» (instrumental gig) – «recipient» (patron, deity) – «object» (the person with whom the accident happened). The interaction of all these components determined the structure of the rite as a kind of system where three levels are distinguished in it: A (Kamyliapsha performing a ritual call), B (the patron of the rite is the goddess of the waters of Psyho-Guasha+ the god of Psatha soul), C (the person for whom they appeal to the patroness). The ritual play «Psyhjeg"je» has a number of archaic features associated with the composition structure and manner of performance, and is also based on moving intonation stereotypes with support for sacred and imaginative mono-programming. Keywords: «Psyhjeg"je», deity, chthonic and cosmogonic deities, Psyho-Guasha, Psatharitual search for the soul of the drowned person, «Crying over the water», kamyl, instrumental gig. Contacts: E-mail: anggucheva@mail.ru, E-mail: mhokonov@gmail.com, E-mail: lilazh@mail.ru, E-mail: lilazh@mail.ru Pp. 31-40.