The dissertation is a historic and psychological research of a set of mythological and religious perceptions and beliefs of the Crimean Tatars. The research covers issues of genesis of ethnical psychology and evolution of ethical consciousness of the Crimean Tatars by analyzing a myth as a specific tool of a human perception of the surrounding world. Structural and essential features of mythological and religious factors, and specifics of their impact on the ethnical consciousness of the Crimean Tatars are identified. The following definitions are clarified in essence and volume: "myth", "ethnical consciousness", "national consciousness", "national identity", "ethnogenesis". The research identifies features of interrelation between the essence and the specifics of mythological and religious factors, on one hand, and the character of representation of the mentioned impact on ethnic consciousness of the Crimeans. The research covers major trends, problems, and psychological factors of establishment of ethnic consciousness of the Crimean Tatars. Meanings and stages of the establishment of the ethnic consciousness of the Crimean Tatar people are elaborated and scientifically argued for. Psychological features of the impact of mythological and religious factors on the process of establishment of ethnic consciousness of the Crimean Tatars are identified. The research shows a tight link between mythology and religion, whose doctrinal grounds were laid by the same type of thinking, which generated myths. Namely, basic psychological experience has been formed and reflected in mythological categories by means of mythological thinking. Thus, the different driving forces of the ethnic development form the rules of ethnic process and formation of ethnic consciousness of the Crimeans. The paper argues that the basis of the ethnic genesis of the Crimean Tatar ethnos stem from the mix of autochthonous population of Crimea and Turkic tribes, which defined the essential specifics of the Crimean Tatar ethnic consciousness. By studying the process of socio-cultural changes triggered by social factors, the research identifies the means of conditional self-organization and self-structuring of the Crimean Tatar people, which centralizes the whole structure of the ethnicity at a critical situation. This creates a unique phenomenon of a memory of the ethnic society. The research provides that the culture of the Crimeans includes a set of certain value phenomena, which constitute the nucleus of cultural and psychological commands. These commands allow them not only to survive in a critical situation, but also not to lose their self-identity. The ethnic "us", having been transformed substantially under the historic conditions, manages to maintain its internal integrity and continuity. They almost uninterruptedly reflected their essence through traditions and historic memory, which were transmitted from generation to generation. The paper covers main stages of a lifecycle - birth, marriage, and death, which serve as hearths of extremely diverse ethno-marking elements of association of a personality to ethno-cultural values.
