What is Habze? The Circassian Code of Honor

Updated October 5, 2026 · 8 min read

Ask Circassians what holds their culture together and many will answer with one word: Habze. It is the set of principles that governs everything from how to greet a stranger to how to seat a table, and it has done so for centuries. It is not a religion and it is not a written law. It is the Circassian way of behaving.

What does Habze mean?

Хабзэ (also spelled Xabze or Khabze) means law, custom and tradition, and the Kabardian dictionary defines Адыгэ Хабзэ as the whole body of unwritten laws, customs and traditions kept for centuries. One explanation of the word reads it as “the language of society”. Habze covered three kinds of rules: everyday etiquette, the ceremonies of life (weddings, funerals, the birth of a child, feasts), and legal norms on land, inheritance and duties, which councils enforced.

Its starting point is that the individual is for the society: a person always acts as a representative of their family and lineage, and is judged by how well they keep Habze. It applied to everyone, princes included.

Hear the words in both dialects, from lesson 29 of the audio course:

The core principles of Adyghe Habze

Behind Habze stands Adyghaghe, roughly “Circassianity”: the moral ideal a person reaches by living by Habze. It rests on five pillars: humanity, dignity, reason, courage and honour. The Kabardian dictionary has the words for three of them: нэмыс (decency, respect, honour), акъыл (mind, reason) and напэ (face, and also conscience). A Circassian saying warns that if Adyghaghe disappears, the Circassians will disappear.

Нэмыс здэщымыIэм насыпи щыIэкъым.

Where there is no modesty, there is no happiness either. (Kabardian proverb) · more proverbs

In practice, Habze teaches:

• Respect for elders. A younger person stands when an elder enters, does not sit without permission, does not interrupt, and steps back rather than turn their back when leaving. Walking together, the elder is on the right. Every gathering has its thamate (Kabardian тхьэмадэ, Adyghe тхьаматэ), an elder chosen for knowledge and reputation. The Kabardian for “elder” is нэхъыжь.
• Respect for women. Men stand when a woman approaches and give her the right of way; a rider dismounts and stands aside until she has passed, and coarse language is forbidden in front of women. A woman could stop a fight by dropping her handkerchief between the two sides, and anyone pursued was safe in the company of women.
• Hospitality. A guest is “a messenger from God”, served the best before any questions and protected by the host: see Circassian hospitality.
• Kind words, no boasting. Speaking clearly and kindly is a sign of character; too much talk, sarcasm and boasting about one’s own bravery or success are frowned upon. People stand when a guest or an elder enters.
• Charity without reward. Псапэ, a good deed, must be done without expecting thanks or anything in return.
• Loyalty. Faithfulness to friends and to one’s given word, protection of the weak against the strong and defence of the homeland are among its teachings.

How Habze governed

Historically, Habze was the unwritten constitution of Circassia, covering legal disputes, conflict resolution, military affairs and government. Its rules were set and changed by the khase, the assembly, which gathered representatives from every region and decided by unanimous consensus. Princes were not supposed to rule as despots: they could not take decisions that bypassed Habze, and true authority lay in the decisions of the people and the elders they chose.

Habze was meant to be flexible. In the 18th century the thamate Jabagh Qazanoqo, credited with a major reform, defined Habze as “that which is appropriate”: he curbed the princes’ power over free peasants, argued for more rights for women, introduced a ritual of reconciliation to end blood feuds and brought Habze into line with Sunni Islam. In the diaspora the khase lived on as Circassian associations, founded in Jordan in 1932, Syria in 1948, the United States in 1952 and Turkey in 1961, which today run charity, culture and youth programmes.

Habze and nature

Habze set rules for the land as well. For every tree cut down, three new ones had to be planted, and whoever built a house had to plant trees. When fruit and nuts were gathered, at least a third was left on the branches for animals and birds, and rivers and streams, the arteries of the earth, had to be kept clean. Hunting was allowed only from October to February, never of females or young animals, and never more than the hunter needed.

Habze in daily life

Habze is not a museum piece. Modern life has simplified it, and Circassians speak of an Old Habze and a New Habze, but the spirit is kept. Today it is lived mainly through everyday etiquette, Habze gatherings, respect for elders and for the opposite sex, weddings, the seating order at gatherings and funeral customs. Education has become part of it too: it now counts toward a person’s standing alongside good manners.

Most Circassians still hold to it. In a five-year study of 2,500 people in Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Krasnodar Krai, Moscow, St Petersburg and Istanbul, 97% of those who identify as Circassian said they try to follow Habze at least to some extent; 20% said they follow it constantly, and only 3% said they are practically not guided by it. In some schools in the Caucasus, Habze is taught as a subject.

The hardest part is passing it on to children who grow up far from the Caucasus, often without the language. Families do most of that work: see how Circassian families keep the language alive and Circassian table etiquette.

Habze and Islam

Habze is not a religion. It is older than Christianity and Islam among the Circassians, with roots in the Nart sagas, and it lived alongside Christianity and now lives alongside Islam. Each faith reinforced it: following Habze became the duty of a good Christian, and later of a good Muslim, and the old Circassian word for God, Тхьэ, came to mean the God of the Abrahamic faiths. Traditional Hanafi Sunni Islam in Circassia left room for Habze to govern community life, and those who joined both were seen as the cultured, pious elite. A Circassian creed sums it up: “The Creator is in heaven, and the Adyghaghe granted by Him is on earth.”

Habze and Circassian dance

Habze reaches into music and dance as well. Young men and women met at dance parties, the djegu, where Habze set the rules of how they behaved toward each other. The singers and poets, the djeguako, were the guardians of Habze: a song could not falsely praise a hero or belittle the courage of an opponent, and doing so was a disgrace. Read more in Circassian dance, Wuj, Qafa, Islamey and Circassian music.

Habze in 16 units

The Habze course in the Circassian App shows how much ground Habze covers. It has 16 units of four lessons each, in English, Russian, Turkish or Arabic:

1. Core Values
2. Hospitality
3. Warrior Code
4. Respect & Family
5. Proverbs & Wisdom
6. Nart Mythology
7. Marriage & Wedding
8. Music & Dance
9. Traditional Dress
10. Cuisine & Table
11. Democratic Council
12. Horse Culture
13. Craftsmanship
14. Nature & Sacred Places
15. Circassian Tribes
16. Festivals & Traditions

Why Habze matters now

For the Circassian diaspora, Habze is not only history. It is a guide to living with dignity and staying connected to a community spread across many countries (the Circassian diaspora today).

Learning Habze goes hand in hand with learning the language: its key ideas, нэмыс, напэ, хабзэ itself, are words first. The Circassian App teaches Kabardian and Adyghe alongside its Habze course. Start with how to learn Circassian.

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Habze: questions