#umay

The earliest documents that mention Umay, whom we can consider as a goddess or a female spirit, are the Orkhon Inscriptions. In line 38 of the Tonyukuk inscription, Umay is mentioned as part of the answer Tonyukuk gave to those who sought to retreat in the face of the enemy’s overwhelming numbers.

"Those who came (this far) said '(the journey) was difficult', (but) they did not feel (much difficulty). Perhaps, the Goddess Umay, the Sacred Earth and Water (spirits) have just come to our aid. Why are we fleeing?"

After Tonyukuk's persuasive speech, the Göktürks became the winning side in the war.

Umay is also mentioned in line 31 of the east face of the Kul Tigin inscription:

"Thanks to the divine favor (kut) of my mother the Hatun, who is like Umay, my younger brother Kul Tigin obtained his manhood name. At the age of sixteen, he achieved such successes for my uncle the Khagan's state..."

In this cited passage, it is understood that the wife of the ruler, who represents the Sky God, also represents Umay. The Hatun, who actually received her divine favor from Umay, gave birth to Kul Tigin with her help, and thanks to this divine favor, Kul Tigin attained his manhood name when the time came. Here, we see an older form of the tradition—also found in Dede Korkut—of giving a man his name later on after he performs a deed requiring usefulness or heroism; because here, the manhood name is obtained not through a shaman or bard, but through Umay. From these expressions, it is clearly evident that Umay is a goddess or spirit associated with women (mothers) and children.

In the Ulaanbaatar tile inscription belonging to the Göktürk period, first published by Samoilovich, Umay Hatun is listed fourth in the sequence of Kögmen, Sacred Earth-Water, and Han Tengri (God). A subtle hierarchy can be vaguely perceived here.

While Umay is referred to as a female spirit in the Orkhon inscriptions, her name appears as Bey (beg) in the Altyn Köl I inscription: "This is our name, Umay beg." However, this situation can also be considered normal; because the goddess or female spirit in question is concerned with the birth of human beings. For this reason, the name of this supreme being can be given to people, whether male or female. Indeed, in traditions related to naming in Turkic culture, a name can sometimes be given to both men and women due to its meaning.

Various ideas have been put forward regarding the etymology of the word Umay. According to H. N. Orkun, the origin of this word, which denotes a goddess or female spirit, must be Sanskrit. As a matter of fact, there was a goddess named Uma in ancient Indian mythology.The word Uma means light and is specifically mentioned as the name of the wife of the ancient Indian god Shiva. Light is connected to the goddess Umay due to its origin as the sun and its subsequent association with light.

These are the spirits that provide fertility and prosperity. According to belief, this spirit, which the Yakuts call Ogo Imıta, or the 'child's ımı', sings in the form of a bird over the child's head, thereby signaling that the child's lineage will be fruitful. Interestingly, various beliefs regarding Huma, which appears in Turkic-Islamic culture and is mostly perceived as a bird of luck/fortune, correspond more or less to what is said for this spirit or spirits. The Huma bird has connections with other flying animals of a similar nature.

Uno Harva writes in detail about the spirit called Ayısıt or Ayisit. Ayisit is actually a female deity; the Yakuts refer to her as Kotun (Katun/Hatun). Reportedly, she is the wife of the sky god in ancient legends. During the Christian era, she was also considered the mother of God (she must have been associated with Mary). The Yakuts believed that Ayisit, who leaves the puerperant (postpartum mother) after three days, was tasked with protecting and caring for the child.

In another legend, it is stated that when labor pains begin, the woman prays to the sky, and two ayisits come from the sky to help her while giving birth to a male child. Harva also mentions a single goddess of birth who can sometimes pour a white fluid of life (milk?) during birth. A prayer illustrates this:

"O Creator, grant me your grace; you who, on the first day while in the middle realm (i.e., on earth), pour your fluid of life upon me and say: You will attain continuous breath and immortal life, and this will come to you from the milked cow; thanks to this, your newborn children will multiply."

According to Harva's account again, the Altai Turks similarly believed that the child's spirit (i.e., its kut) was located in the sky. Anokhin says that the Teleuts believed Enem Yayuçi (Mother Yayuçi), who dwells on the fourth level of the sky, gave a soul to the child:

"The goddess of birth determines the length of the life of the child to be born at that moment by recording it in a special book. According to what the Teleuts tell, when the recorded moment arrives, the soul (sür) is obliged to leave the body forever. If a swaddled infant dies, the Teleut mother milks her breasts and scatters the milk around for Enem Yayuçi. Furthermore, the Teleuts also believe that the souls (kut) of animals are a gift from the sky. According to Anokhin, Erman-Kan, who gives the souls of animals, resides on the third level of the sky. Radloff, who studied the religious conceptions of the Altaians, explains that the highest creator Kuday Yayuçi resides on the fifth level of the sky, and likewise, Verbitsky says that the powerful angel Yayuçi, the creator of children, resides on the fifth level of the sky. In the shaman songs examined by Verbitsky, Yayuçi is seen as a female deity, Enem Yayuçi, Mother Yayuçi. When the shaman reaches the fifth level of the sky with a ceremony, he greets the goddess by this name."

Occasionally, he also names this deity Khan Mother Yayuçi. But the most interesting thing that follows this is the following song sung by the shaman: "Mother Yayuçi at the milk-white lake that purifies the impure on the fifth level of the sky / O Tapkay! You untie the umbilical cord / I beg and beseech you, O Yayuçi Khan."

The milk-white lake or milk-white lake is one of the regions of paradise. Many believed expressions indicate that the child's soul comes to earth from the celestial paradise.

Hanging small cloth swing-cradles on the branches of a tree by a grave or a spring to ask God for a child can be evaluated as traces of the pre-Islamic Umay cult.

If this determination is correct, it is once again emphasized that the Umay cult is related to earth, water, tree, and death cults.

It has been suggested that certain statues and rock paintings falling within the scope of Turkish art history depict Umay. Some statues from the Göktürk period, a Göktürk-era rock painting housed in the regional museum in Taraz (Jambul), Kazakhstan, and the large-scale female figure among the female depictions in the Kudirge rock paintings—which is also an example of Göktürk art—have been accepted and revered as Umay. In the handicrafts of present-day Central Asia, one can also encounter various weavings depicting Umay used as evil eye amulets.🪬 🧿

Source: Yaşar Çoruhlu, Türk Mitolojisinin Ana Hatları