THE EFFECTS OF SHAMANİSM İN EPİCS OF SİBERİAN TURKS
SİBİRYA TÜRK DESTANLARINDA ŞAMANİZM ETKİLERİ

Author : Seher KARADAĞ
Number of pages : 449-464

Abstract

Today we call the region outside of Idil-Ural, Turkistan and Caucasia “Sibiria” and the Turks living there “Siberian Turks” as a general name. Yakut (Saha), Tuva, Hakas and Altay Turks live in Siberia. There are 21 republics in the Russian Federation, nine of them (Altay, Bashkir, Chuvash, Hakas, Kabarda Balkar, Karachay-Circassian, Saha, Tatar, Tuva) are turkish republics. The fact that tribal relations are fixed, the formation of ethnic communities in the late period, the weakness of Islamic influence, the lack of relations with other Turkic peoples, and other factors have led to the preservation of archaic features in the tongues of Siberian Turks, as well as the protection of the old Shamanist traditions. We can see the influence of these shamanic traditions most clearly in oral literary works. Researchers like Eliade have revealed that there exists there a belief system that can be seen almost everywhere in the world up to North and South America. Accordingly, Eliade defines "shamanism" as a primitive escape technique, an ecstasy. Shamanism is not only a religion but also a religious character when it comes to Altai shamanism because Southern Siberian Turks have synthesizes Shamanism and the paradise religion of God originating from the Köktürk. According to Shaman belief, the layers of the sky and the upstairs Ulgen are God. While there are souls called Earth-Water on the earth, the master of evil spirits Erlik lives in the underground . Those who have shamanic beliefs envision these spirits as human beings. There are limited written sources that can help research the ancient beliefs of the Turks. So epics, which are oral literary products, provide us with the greatest help. When comparing Turkish epics with other Turkish epics, it is seen that the hero made more frequent trips to the sky and underground realms. The subjects are almost similar. As the hero is in Shamanist belief, the adventure of the underworld, where the terrible creatures lived, the evil world is thrown away. In all Turkish epics, women have an important place. In Turkish epics woman has become a divine entity. According to Shamanists, the whole world is full of souls. Mountains, lakes, rivers ("ground - water") are always living things. This is an animistic influence from the ancient primitive periods.

Keywords

Shamanism, Shaman, epic, Siberia, Turks

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