Ak Ana (Ağ Ana or Ak Ene), the "Holy Mother", is the primordial creator-goddess of
Turkic people and the
Khanty and
Mansi peoples of
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
. She is also known as the goddess of the water. She was the consort and daughter of
Kayra Han.
Water had been created earlier than Earth. Therefore, she was believed to be the elder sister of Earth. The beginning of the Earth emanated from Water. In ancient Turkic beliefs,
Tengri
Tengri (; Old Uyghur: ; Middle Turkic: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Proto-Turkic: / ; Mongolian script: , ; , ; , ) is the all-encompassing God of Heaven in the traditional Turkic, Yeniseian, Mongolic, and various other nomadic religious beliefs. So ...
(God)
Kaira Khan is a pure, white goose that flies constantly over an endless expanse of water (time). But before Ak-Ana appears to urge Kaira Khan to create, he experiences a disturbance of his calm. From the bottom of the Water a "sacred duck" Lura lifted the sand, clay and silt, from which the Earth was created. Water was the initial state of everything in existence. Water evenly gave rise to both foreign and hostile elements. It was the possessor of spirits and the entrance into the other realm. The life, fertility and productivity of land depended on the Ak Ana.
Similar deities
# Aka is an Anatolian river goddess / female deity.
[Anatolian Goddess (Aka]
# Aha is a river god (or male deity) of the Sakha (Yakut) mythology.
References
External links
Ak Ene
Legend of Ak Ana (Ak Ana Efsanesi)
Siberian deities
İye
Creator goddesses
Turkic goddesses
Water goddesses
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