ANCIENT BELIEFS AS THE SOURCE OF DESIGN CHARACTERISTICS IN AZERBAIJANI CARPETS

Azerbaijani carpets have the enriched ornamentation. These patterns, which have evolved over the centuries, are distinguished by a variety of content and structure. There is no doubt that beliefs playd a signifi- cant role in shaping the semantic meanings of carpet patterns. Even during the formation of artistic criteria that attract interest to the Azerbaijani carpet, the popular attitude to the creative world and the coding of stylized pat- terns related to nature and everyday life did not do without beliefs. Today our ancient beliefs serve as the main criterion in the study of the artistic content of the encoded patterns of Azerbaijani carpets. However, although the process of the formation of the artistic thinking of the people is to some extent known to the world of science, it is nevertheless not clear how many features of its artistic image are found in folk art. In this regard, the article analyzes the influence of the formation of corresponding ideas on the fine arts, as well as on the concept of the environment in the belief and thinking system of the ancient Azerbaijanis. At the same time, the peculiarities of cosmogonic patterns, which are symbolic in the artistic structure of carpets, are over- viewed