"Who did you leave me for?": the meaning of memorial crying in the culture of the peoples of the world

The article provides data on the similarities and differences between the memorial lamentations of the Kazakh people and those of different peoples of the world. A comparative analysis of who performs the crying and how, what exactly is given special importance in this ritual, is carried out. The substantiation of the significance of the memorial cry is given. It is written about the place of mourning in every historical epoch. It is investigated how important the reputation and dignity of any person is after the death of a brother or friend. A comparative analysis of the use of metaphors, comparisons, and epithets in memorial lamentations is given. The article presents a comparative analysis of women's cries among Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Kyrgyz, Bashkirs, Karakalpaks, Russians, Georgians, Lithuanians and Latin American Indians. The author gives examples of classical works of the past, including the 11th-century Turkic poet Mahmud Kashgari, the 12th-century Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli, the 18th-century Turkmen poet Maktumkuli, Kyrgyz poetry in the works of Shokan Ualikhanov. A special place is occupied by materials related to zhoktau (lamentations), from the works of Kazakh poets Abai Kunanbayev, Mashkhur Zhusup Kopeev, Orynbai Bertagyuly Oralkhan Bokey, Mukagali Makatayev, modern poet Kalkaman Sarin. In the course of studying the topic, comparative, textual, cultural-historical, mythopoetic and other methods of analyzing literary works were used