Games and rituals are the most important means of social interaction in human society
Authors:   M.O. Auezov Institute of Literature and Art, Almaty, Kazakhstan, Matyzhanov Kenzhekhan 
Published: September 2021

The article comprehensively investigates the phenomenon of play and its relationship with cultural and social categories such as ritual, ritual, customs, and traditions based on folklore and ethnographic materials of the Kazakh and Turkic peoples. Game culture as the most active means of cultural and social interaction in society, deeply rooted in all spheres of human life, is an integral element of the development of modern society. Folk customs and traditions are reflected in religion, arts, crafts, politics, science, military sports games, education, upbringing, economics, and entrepreneurship. The game, reflected in public life, affects socio-cultural activity, diversity in diversity, the transformation of concepts, and the future development of society. The article defines the ontological meaning and archetypal basis of the interaction of games and socio-cultural processes of our time, identifies the general attributes and originality of games. The manifestation of ancient beliefs in the games of a shaman is illustrated, their role in a specific ritual is revealed, the integration of play elements in the ritual complex, the versatility of the shaman's personality, the relationship between play elements and rituals are traced. The origins of the gaming culture go back to ancient beliefs, magic, cults, family rituals. For example, the youth games "Shivering Baba Baba", "White Storm" and "Hand Trap" recreate the opposition of winter and summer, old and new, young, the relationship between a girl and a boy. Mostly "summer", "new" and "young", "guy" win and win. These game elements, which were once an integral part of the ritual complex, were later combined and separated into a separate game. Each subsequent time they deviate from the original ritual. This tendency can be traced in many national games, the origin of which dates to the period of ritual folklore. The game "Kokpar", extremely popular among the Turkic peoples, is a national equestrian game. The name of the game comes from the "blue wolf" totem. The author of the article conclusively states that during a long hunt, a young man kidnapped a killed (wounded) wolf, the other participants in the game tried to catch him. As a result of the study, it is important to conclude that ritual and play are multifunctional, multilingual, differ not only in their symbolism, but also in how beliefs, religious motives and everyday life are reflected in them. Their ontological, epistemological, and axiological significance and ambivalence are great. The game has always been and remains a universal way of interacting with reality. Traditional ceremonies, games and holidays reflect the cultural component of the people, reveal the nature of the world. The game promotes cultural and moral priorities in the social environment, stereotypes related to age, gender, profession. Today, the game goes beyond the strictly limited framework of traditional ethnocultural phenomena, reflecting the socio-cultural situation, the system of relations and values, changes in human consciousness in the postmodern era. The game is cosmopolitan, sometimes artificial. The game culture, thus, is undergoing radical changes and is experiencing a crisis, which actualizes the need to increase moral values, moral foundations, preservation of the historical roots, and socio-communicative potential of the game culture. This, in turn, contributes to the stability and vitality of human and social life. The article was prepared within the framework of the grant project of the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan AP08856460 "Great steppe games (game folklore): the role of national games in the revival of public consciousness as a special cultural phenomenon".