Holy Places of Fergana

The monograph "Holy Places of Fergana" is dedicated to natural objects of worship that have survived to this day in the daily life of the population of the Fergana Valley (Central Asia). Holy places are an integral part of folk Islam, consisting of ethnic and regional customs, hidden under the guise of religion outside the official doctrine and practice. Ancient pre-Islamic cults of nature and ancestors, under the influence of Islam, transformed into the cult of Muslim saints. Together, the holy places represent a support network of traditional religious culture with a pronounced territorial hierarchy of shrines, possessing a number of life-saving functions: consolidating, mediating, communicative, protective, healing, and environmental conservation.
The first part, the informational part of the monograph, includes a summary of information obtained from various scientific sources and the author's field studies conducted in the 1970s to 1990s. The second part is a catalog of the natural places of worship in Fergana, including materials systematized for each cult object. The third part includes illustrations for the catalog, containing diagrams, photographs, and drawings of numerous petroglyphs.