Not everyone can find this place even on google maps. It is necessary to long and persistently approach the site in the south-east of the Guba region, until the short word HAPUT appears in the middle of the folds depicting mountains.
Getting to the village of Haput is even more difficult than finding it on the map. A couple of hours by car from Baku to Guba, the apple capital of Azerbaijan, is an easy walk compared to what lies ahead. An incredibly beautiful road leads from Guba to the popular tourist village of Khinalyg along the canyon of the Gudialchay River and above, among alpine meadows. Beautiful is dangerous, especially in winter: 40 kilometers to the village of Alyg, and then only on an off-road vehicle with all-wheel drive.
Now another five kilometers along the rocky river bed – and here it is, the village of Haput, a lost world at an altitude of two thousand meters above sea level. This tiny place can be walked around in 20 minutes. Haput is a lost world at an altitude of two thousand meters above sea level. Here, winter begins in October and lasts until May, but this is not a problem for the locals – they are used to this lifestyle. Despite the fact that the climate here is very harsh, the houses are warm. Here, houses are heated with bricks made from sheep and cow dung (they are called “tezek”). Most of the families, and there are about a hundred of them in the village, in October come down from Haput to the plains and there they run a household, caring for cows and sheep. Women spin yarn from sheep’s wool and then knit hats, socks, vests, carpets – everything you need for warmth and comfort. With the arrival of summer, Khaput families return to the mountains, where old men and elderly women usually stay for the winter.
Khaput belongs to the Shahdag group of villages, named after the neighboring mountain peak. From the village to Shahdag about 20 kilometers.
Khaput is not only a toponym, but also an ethnonym: the name of the village serves as the name of a whole small people who have retained their identity and even language. Representatives of this ethnic group also live in two large villages of the Ismayilli region – Hajigatamli and Mollaisagli – and in several smaller villages. All these are the descendants of the Khaputs, who came down here from the mountains in the distant past.
With each other, the Khaputs speak the Khaput language – it is part of the North Caucasian language family and is related to the Lezgi languages. A textbook on the Khaputian language has recently been published. Soon the lessons of the native language will be introduced into the program of local schools.
Khaputs maintain good relations with neighbors. They are always happy to treat the guest with traditional dishes – choban’s pilaf, fatty puff pastry (feseli), dried lamb and beef, which are cooked in the tandoor in winter. And of course, mountain honey, which has no analogues in the whole world.
BAKU MAGAZIN N94