Animals
The Wolf symbolizes honour and is also considered the mother of most Turkic peoples. Asena(Ashina Tuwu) is the wolf mother of Tumen Il-Qağan, the first Khan of the Göktürks.
The Horse is also one of the main figures of Turkic mythology. Türks consider the horse an extension of the human, one creature.
The Dragon, also expressed as a Snake or Lizard, is the symbol of might and power. It is believed, especially in mountainous Central Asia, that dragons still live in the mountains of Tian-Shan (Tangri Tagh) and Altay. Dragons also symbolize the god Tengri (Tanrı) in ancient Turkic tradition, although dragons themselves aren't worshipped as gods.
Personalities
Geser (Ges'r, Kesar) is a Tibetan/Mongolian religious epic about 'Geser' (also known as 'Bukhe Beligte') a Turkic prophet who taught Türks the new monotheistic religion Tengriism. It is unknown when he lived, and there are not many historical documents that mention him. Tengriism isn't approved by most Muslim scholars, but sura 108 of the Quran has the name Al-Kawthar,in which the wordkawthar could potentially be read as 'Käusar', which may be an Arabisation of the Turkic name 'Geser'. The name of this sura is conventionally interpreted as "all goods" or "abundance", but this is not certain and many scholars have different opinions on this sura.
The legend of Timur (Temir) is the most ancient and well-known. Timur found a strange stone that fell from the sky, an iron ore meteorite. He was a smith and decided to make a sword of it. Few knew about iron in Asia before then. He tried to make a sword from it by using the usual bronze sword making process. He mentioned that this material, iron, was very easy to change and manipulate, though it was even stronger than bronze. Today, the word "temir" or "timur" means "iron". The melting process was known before in Egypt and India, but it wasn't used that widely in other parts of Asia, because of the very high iron price (much higher than gold) in the Mediterranian and Europe at that time.
Religion
A shaman doctor of Kyzyl.
A diagram of the Tengriist World view on a Shaman's Drum. The World-tree is growing in the centre and connecting the three WorldsUnderworld, Middleworld andUpperworld
Mosque in Kazakhstan.
Various pre-Islamic Turkic civilizations of the 6th century adhered to shamanistand Tengriist traditions which are reflected in the state symbols ofKazakhstan. The Shamanist religion is based on spiritual and natural elements of earth. Tengriism involves belief inTengri as the god who ruled over the skies. Turkish: Tanrı and Azerbaijani:Tanrı remain in use by speakers of those languages as a term for God regardless of their religions.
Some Turkic peoples (particularly in the Russian autonomous regions and republics of Altay, Khakassia and Tuva) are largely Tengriists. Tengriism was the predominant religion of the different Turkic branches prior to the 14th century, when the majority accepted Islam. In the Siberian region, the Altay, some Tuvan and Hakas are Tengriist, having kept the original religion of Turkic peoples.[citation needed]
Traditional Inner Asian cults, commonly referred to as shamanism, survive in many places, often submerged in other religions. In post-Soviet Siberia, 300 years after their forced conversion, some Yakuts(Sakha) and others have completely rejected Eastern Orthodox Christianity in favor of a revived shamanism.[60]
Tengri Bögü Khan made the now extinct Manichaeism the state religion of Uyghur Khaganate in 763 and it was also popular in Karluks. It was gradually replaced by the Mahayana Buddhism.[61] It existed in the Buddhist Uyghur Gaochang up to the 12th century.[62]
Tibetan Buddhism, or Vajrayana was the main religion after Manichaeism.[63][64][65] They worshippedTäŋri Täŋrisi Burxan,[66] Quanšï Im Pusar[67] and Maitri Burxan.[68] Turkic Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent and west Xinjiang attributed with a rapid and almost total disappearance of it and other religions in North India and Central Asia. The Sari Uygurs "Yellow Yughurs" of Western China, as well as the Tuvans of Russia are the only remaining Buddhist Turkic peoples.
Many Karaims and Krymchaks of Eastern Europe (Especially Crimea) are Jewish, and there are Turks of Jewish backgrounds who live in major cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Baku. The Khazars, who existed long before Islam appeared, widely practiced Judaism.The Yakuts of Yakutia in northeastern Siberia are traditionally Shamanists, yet many have converted to Christianity. In addition, there are small scattered populations of Turks belonging to other religions such as the Bahá'í Faith and Zoroastrianism. Nowruz is still celebrated by many non-Zoroastrian Turkic peoples.
Even though many Turkic peoples became Muslims under the influence of Sufis, often of Shī‘ah persuasion, most Turkic people today are Sunni Muslims, although a significant number in Turkey areAlevis. Alevi Turks, who were once primarily dwelling in eastern Anatolia, are today concentrated in major urban centers in western Turkey with the increased urbanism.
The major Christian-Turkic peoples are the Chuvash of Chuvashia and the Gagauz (Gökoğuz) ofMoldova. The traditional religion of the Chuvash of Russia, while containing many ancient Turkic concepts, also shares some elements with Zoroastrianism, Khazar Judaism, and Islam. The Chuvash religious calendar cycle and the agrarian cult that it was based on combined ancestor worship and worship of earth, water and vegetation. The Chuvash converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity for the most part in the second half of the 19th century. As a result, festivals and rites were made to coincide with Orthodox feasts, and Christian rites replaced their traditional counterparts. A minority of the Chuvash still profess their traditional faith.[69] Church of the East was popular among Turks such as the Naimans.[70] It even revived in Gaochang and expanded in Xinjiang in the Yuan dynastyperiod.[71][72][73] It disappeared after its collapse.[74][75]