One of the ethnic groups belonging to the Shahdag ethnic group is the Budug people. Their main residence is Budug village in Guba region. The Budug people have a special place and place in the ethnic history of Azerbaijan. In the early Middle Ages, they settled in the difficult mountainous areas of Caucasian Albania to protect themselves from Sassanid invasions.This is confirmed by both ethnographic materials and toponymic information given in ancient sources.Historical and ethnographic information suggests that the Budug people are one of the heirs of the ancient Albanian tribes, and that their ancestors came from the Bed district. The first official document on the territory of Budug village is a decree issued in 1607 by the Safavid ruler Shah Abbas I. According to this decree, the king entrusted the administration of Budug district to Malik David. Sources of the 18th century, including Abbasgulu aga Bakikhanov’s “Gulustani-Iram”, state that Budug was a district within the Guba khanate. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Budag district was mentioned in the decrees of Huseynali khan, Fatali khan and Sheykhali khan from Guba khans. From the 18th century to the 1930s, Budug was considered one of the ten districts of Guba province. In the architectural and tomb monuments of Budug village, the astral beliefs and motives related to the forces of nature, which are characteristic of Albanian culture, are preserved to this day. The ethnic history, ethnography, household traditions, ancient religious and mythical worldviews of the Budug people are a monument of the rich traditions of the spiritual heritage of Azerbaijan as a whole. These traditions once again confirm the deep roots of the heritage of Azerbaijani culture and history, creating a bridge between the past and present of the Azerbaijani people.
