The article discusses the concept of «Umai Ana» of Turkic peoples. The image of a woman in mythology is analyzed by the functions of the image of the mother Umai. Its main role was studied and compared with the image of a woman in the worldview of the Turkic peoples, except for the Kazakhs. The study showed that Central Asia and South Siberia were the center of common features and the emergence of the material and spiritual culture of peoples. Analyzed and compared the folklore legends of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Umaya, the role of the mother of Umaya in the traditions of the Turkic people, the concept of domestic and foreign scientists.
Keywords: Umai Ana, Mother Earth, Humai, the Image of the Black Umaya, Turkic peoples, Faith, culture, myth, worldview.
Among the most ancient religious cults among the Turkic peoples is the cult of the mother Umai (Umai ene). Turning to the consideration of this cult, it should first of all be noted that it was one of the constituent parts of the complex system of religious ideas of the ancient Turks. Thus, there is every reason to assert that the ancient Türkic goddess Umai lived until very recently in the beliefs not only of the peoples of Sayano-Altai, but also of the peoples of Central Asia — Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks and Uzbeks. Bleach as one of the earlier deities associated with the fertility cult. This conclusion is confirmed by the semantics of some words in ancient and modern Turkic languages and in Mongolian. In Turkic peoples, umai ene, the keeper of the child and the woman, the legend is the keeper of the child in the womb, the caretaker of the woman in the house In addition, there is such a phrase “not my hand, but the hand of my soul” remains in a certain case. In the understanding of the Turkic peoples, the word “May” (oil, cattle, vegetable oil) and “buy” (wealth, family, man) in the Kazakh language comes from this word. [1, 3–4pp]
The study of traditional household culture of the Turkic peoples is of particular importance. Owing to their historical development, these peoples were at the turn of several major historical and ethnographic regions, as a result of which a complex process of the formation of culture took place. In this process, not only the peoples who live in their modern territories, but also a group of ethnos, connected by a common genesis, played a large role. Features in the religious view, synthesis and analysis of the parallels of the studied peoples have not actually become the subject of a special comprehensive study connected with the cult of Umai mother. However, certain aspects of the topic are reflected in scientific articles
Umai-ana — in the Turkic myths he worked not only as a mother, but also as a protector of the house. In the Orkhon inscriptions, the influence of Umaya ana was no less than Tengri can be seen as follows:
At ten I was in my mother-in-law's garden
My brother Kultegin was a man.
Tengri, Umai, the sacred land is water
It was a victory
(Tongikak inscription). [2, 115 pp].
Umai-ana was the third force that Turks worshiped after the Tengri, land and water. In our opinion, earth, water and fire in this image Umai ana. From the Book of Korkyt Ata, one of the oldest monuments written in ancient times, we are often exposed to mythical knowledge. In this literary heritage there are mythical lines, such as prayer, the request of the child from Tengri, the fight with the loners, the meeting with the feathers. The eighth part of the “Korkyt ata book” — “zhyr about Bisat Tobe's death” is a pure mythic motive. The father of Tubekoz is a man, and the mother is an evil girl. In addition, the story of a single vision — Cyclops is also found in Greek myths. [3.19 рр].
The Umai cult was spread among the Bashkirs, Khakass, Altaians, etc. For the first time in written sources, this name is found in the records devoted to Kul-tegin and Tonyuk. In both cases, she acts as a goddess, a defender of the Turks; stands along with Heavenly Tengri and the deity of Earth and Water (Yer-Sub). In a large recording devoted to Kul-tegin, it says: «To the joy of my queen mother, like Umai, my brother Kul-tegin began to be called a husband». The ancient Turks believed that the birth of people is responsible Umai, she is the personification of the feminine earthly origin. Tengri and Umai act as husband and wife. In the epics “Ural-Batyr” and “Akbuzat”, Humai helps the epic hero in every possible way, is his protector.
Outstanding scientists Barthold [4, 10 p.] and Melioransky [5, 226 p.] believe that Humai is a deity, which belongs to the category of the highest deities and it takes care of children in every possible way. This name also has the meaning of «the main mother of the race».
The images of Humai, Umai, Yam as well as the Sumerian images of Nammu, the Chinese Nuva, belong to the category of the Great Mother, primitive goddesses. In the folklore of the Ural-Altai, Middle Asian, Middle Eastern peoples, Humay is a widespread mythical image. It is also called the “bird of happiness.” According to ancient beliefs, a person who saw Humai flying like a flame from the sky will be surely happy. Bashkir Humai is the daughter of the Sun and the king of the birds of Samrau, she herself is the Deputy of the Sun on earth, with her flowing hair she illuminates the whole world. Humai is also the mistress of the happy land of birds, where all people, birds and animals live in peace and harmony.
She has unusual features, can turn into a swan; she is immortal, Akbuzat heavenly horse is subject to her, she has a powerful diamond sword. In the epic, she appears as the supreme deity — the mistress of the heavenly world and the mistress of birds and animals. Being the beloved of Ural-Batyr, a cultural hero and deity, she is perceived as the patroness of life, energy, fertility and well-being. The cult of the goddess Umai was held by the Turkic peoples with great reverence and zeal.
In the Yakut people, which identifies the same bird, also called «Aysit». P. A. Sleptsov, exploring the Yakut wedding ceremonies and rituals associated with the birth of a child, which is associated with the cult of the mother Umai or the Yakut Aiyysyt, notes analogies from other Turkic-Mongolian peoples, including Kazakhs [6, 53р.].
The birthing ritual of both nations is a relatively harmonious system of various magical actions aimed at the birth of a healthy child and the preservation of the life of the mother and baby during and after childbirth. The commonality of the Kazakhs and Yakuts, Bashkirs manifests itself in the following elements of the birthing tradition: the passage of childbirth in the yurt, in the female half, the use of cola during childbirth and its further storage, the same afterbirth (placenta, baby seat), the use of identical objects (knife, scissors and others), scaring evil spirits, when putting a child in a cradle, the name of the child depending on the place, time and circumstances of his birth, the custom of the «imaginary» theft of the baby, the identity of amulets. The pectoral and dorsal decorations of Bashkir women, as well as hats, were decorated with coins imitating the feather cover of birds. Here we see a close relationship with the Humay at the Bashkir cult. The Turkic peoples are affectionately called their children “balpanym” (“my baby bird”); the names of birds are given to children: Karlygash, Kyran, Bulbul. A significant part of the Turkic-Bashkir monuments contains a number of artistically rich female images. The image of Humai had a definite influence on the formation of the female image in the spiritual culture and fiction of the Bashkirs. The image of a woman in different periods of development of literature has undergone changes under the influence of beliefs, customs and such cults as the worship of the deity Umai. It should be noted that the functions of the goddess Umai of the Turks, as well as Humai from the Bashkir epic monuments are very close. Both of them are intermediaries between the supreme deity of Heaven and the world of people, animals. The main difference between the “Bashkir” Humai and the East-Turkic is that it does not have the obvious functions of protecting the procreation of children and children, and also has no connection with shamanism and rituals [7]. The Goddess of Fertility, Umai, as a universal female deity, occupies one of the central places in the Turkic pantheon and is one of the oldest. Female characters in Turkic folk-literary monuments played an important role. The image of a woman in epic texts is depicted in close connection with the image of Umai. Thus, the Orkhon-Yenisei Turks had three deities: Tengri — the sky deity, Umai — the fertility deity, Yer-Su — the cult of Earth and Water. The pantheon of these deities embodies the steps of the religious-mythical system of the ancient Turks. The beloved of Uralbatyr Humay and the deity Umai are the same goddess patronizing the people.
In addition to the Orkhon records, the name Khuy is found in the M. Kashgari dictionary “Divan-lugat al-Turk” (XI century): “Umai — (placenta). Proverb «Umaiga Tabyns ogul bulyr». “The one who honors her (Umai), everything will come true (or there will be a child). Women see in her a good omen ” [8, 152 p.]. In the time of M. Kashgari, the Umai cult was preserved among the Turks who converted to Islam. In today's Turkic shamanists, Umai is considered a peculiar spirit of children. In the mountains, located on the right bank of the Abakan River, inscriptions were found on the stones, which read: “Butimyz Umai Beyimiz”, which means, “This our father is Bey Umai”. The ancient Turks thus gave their children the name Umai, and in this is hidden sacral meaning. In the worldview of the ancient Türks, besides Umai Ma, there are five concepts of Umai Ana «Bes Ene» [9, 54р.]
In Khakas and Shors, the word Umai / Umai is called the umbilical cord of the child and his soul until the moment when the child begins to be relatively independent, i.e. he stops sucking mother's milk and begins to walk and talk freely, then his soul turns into Kut. It was believed that during this period Umai was constantly near the child, and if she left him, this led to illness and death. There was a belief among the Khakas that Kara-Umai settled in those families where the children did not survive, which should be expelled with the help of a shaman. Image Kara-Umai no one should have seen. It was made in the form of a doll made of the dirtiest rags and was hidden under the threshold, while a wrist guard in the form of a bow with an arrow was attached to the ceiling's mother. The ideas about the two Umai were also recorded among the Shors, and they connected Kara-Umai with the illness and death of children in infancy and attributed it to the category of evil Aiz spirits, a kind of “angels of death”.
The Kumandy revered Umai-ene as the patroness of children and adults and a deity who helps during childbirth, is benevolent to man, and also as the daughter of Ulgen, the deities of the upper world. The Teleuts presented Mai-Ene as the patroness of childbearing in the image of a young beautiful woman (maiden) with wavy silver hair, descended from the sky in a rainbow and protecting children with the help of a golden bow. Uzbeks believe that Sary-Ene helps to give birth by dismissing her long blond hair and covering them with the woman in labor. In Kirghiz, Umai-ene administers birth and protects children, designates a female genital organ, and the worship of Umai is intertwined, and in places completely merges with the cult of fire. Calling on fire, the shamans of the Teleuts and the Khakas turned to Umai or to the “mother-fire”. This connection is probably connected with the veneration of the hearth as a symbol of House and Family. [10]
Analyzing the image of Umai in Turkic culture, А. М. Sagalaev comes to the following conclusion: “the image of the mother bird could hardly be borrowed — its distribution is so wide among the Altai peoples. It is included in the fabric of shamanic poetry, in the picture of the universe ", and there is a functional and figurative similarity of the mother goddess in the Altai and Ural traditions [11, p. 28, 32]. This forces us to turn to the South Ural mythology, represented in the Bashkir epic heritage. Currently, Mongolians worship Umay ana in Mongolia on the Orkhon River at Karakorym, 35 km from the Turkic stones. Because the mountain, which was considered the terrestrial environment, is the main pivot of the world structure in a broad sense.
The following definition of «Umai Ana» is reflected in the works of M.Orynbekov «Worldview of the ancient Kazakh people». The activity of Umai Ana, as a higher God, refers to the contact between a man and a woman between the sacrament and the land and water, as it was a product of the grown, fertility of grain and large growth of sedentary cattle. Some sources say that Umai is not a god. But, M. Orynbekov Umaya explained at the level of God. In my opinion, the activity of washing «God» or «not God» does not matter. On the contrary, Umai matters the product of the growth of the name of Mother Earth, the abundance of livestock and their reproduction. Here the «service of education» in Umai is of great importance.
А. Н. Alekseev “in his work the Shamanism of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia” wrote that there are legends and historical facts that Umai-mother has equated the moon in the heavenly world. In the Turkic peoples, Umai can be compared with the wives of Zeus in ancient myths — Hera, Demeter, and so on.
The formation of the gods in an anthropomorphic image has developed in accordance with classical mythology. The woman is the god of archaic mythology, the product of the earth, so this is the god of the product, that these are people, and that he serves his classical god.
The study revealed two functions Umai. Umai was the patron of the house and the newborn child.
He was divided into a man and a woman, then he was divided into a man. Goddess of God (S). The path to the moon is the path to the moon, [12, 10р]. As a native of Umai, milk and dairy products were preserved in Kyrgyz folklore. Kyrgyz believe that Umai will provide crop and livestock yields. When the product was collected, they understood that “milk from the breast” is milk.
G. Potanin said in his work “Oriental motifs in the Western European epic” said: “I wrote the following phrase among the Mongols of Ordos: Sumbert is great from the mountains, Sumdalay is great (the sea of milk) from lakes” In his work “Az and Me,” he argued that “Sumber is the meaning of Jer-Su (Earth and Water)”. Western researchers want to present Umai ana as Tengri and mislead the descendants of the Turkic peoples. However, Umai Ana, there is no order of binding with theology and cosmogy. In our opinion, Umai ana-name of the angel supports the mother. The study found that the center of the origin and the general characteristics of the material and spiritual culture of the peoples of Central Asia and South Siberia. A single economic and cultural type influenced the general spiritual culture of the studied peoples: folklore, religious rites and worldviews.
Thus, despite the absence of the geneological connections of the Saka tribes with the ancient Turks, there is a geographical connection. In the ancient Turkic system of patriarchal government, despite the fact that their worldview showed respect for women. The Turks not only understood the woman as the parent of a man who in his daily life raises happiness, but also rated her female thing as the source of the holy “Umai Ana”.
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