Gun Ana (
Old Turkic
Old Turkic (also East Old Turkic, Orkhon Turkic language, Old Uyghur) is the earliest attested form of the Turkic languages, found in Göktürks, Göktürk and Uyghur Khaganate inscriptions dating from about the eighth to the 13th century. It ...
: ''𐰚𐰇𐰤:𐰣𐰀'',
Turkish: ''Gün Ana'',
Azerbaijani : ''Gün Ana'',
Kyrgyz: ''Күн Эне'',
Kazakh: ''Күн Ана'',
Hungarian: ''Nap Anya'',
Sakha
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...
: ''Күн Ий̃э'',
Balkar: ''Кюн Ана'', sometimes called ''Yaşık Ana'') is the common
Turkic solar deity, treated as a goddess in the
Kazakh and
Kyrgyz mythologies. ''Gün Ana'' or ''Kün Ana'' means "Sun Mother" in
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic languag ...
.
Background
Gün Ana is one of the most powerful deities, the goddess of life and fertility, warmth and health. She is patroness of the unfortunate, especially orphans. She lives on the seventh floor of the sky.
Tengri
Tengri ( zh, 騰格里; otk, 𐰚𐰇𐰚:𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, Kök Teŋri/Teŋiri, lit=Blue Heaven; Old Uyghur: ''tängri''; Middle Turkic: تآنغرِ; ky, теңир; tr, Tanrı; az, Tanrı; bg, Тангра; Proto-Turkic *''teŋri / * ...
created the Earth with rays of sun light, thus, Gün Ana took part in the creation of Earth. Solar rays are also considered to be "strings" between the Sun and the spirits of plants, animals and humans. Turks who worship Gün Ana turn towards the sunrise when praying.
References in literature
Gün Ana is mentioned in one of the earliest written sources on
Turkic mythology
Turkic mythology refers to myths and legends told by the Turkic people. It features Tengrist and Shamanist strata of belief along with many other social and cultural constructs related to the nomadic and warrior way of life of Turkic and Mongol ...
. According to Turkic traditions, the powerful god
Kayra
Kayra or Kaira (Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰖𐰺𐰀) is creator god in Turkic mythology. He is the god who planted the tree of life called ''Ulukayın''. He is the supreme god of the Tatars and the Son of the sky deity (Gök Tengri). This son, Kara Han ( ...
made the Sun and threw it into the sky. Gün Ana and
Ay Ata
Ay Ata (Old Turkic: 𐰖:𐱃𐰀) is one of the mythological creature, mythological entities in Turkic mythology and Tengrism. In English language, English, the meanings are: Ay Ata: ''Father Moon'', Ay Dede: ''Grandfather Moon'' and Ay Tanrı: ' ...
(the Moon) were wife and husband.
According to Turkic Mythology, Khagan and his wife are supposed to be the children of the sky and the
Yer
A yer is either of two letters in Cyrillic alphabets, ъ (ѥръ, ''jerŭ'') and ь (ѥрь, ''jerĭ''). The Glagolitic alphabet used, as respective counterparts, the letters (Ⱏ) and (Ⱐ). They originally represented phonemically the "ult ...
(Land).
Ay Ata
Ay Ata (Old Turkic: 𐰖:𐱃𐰀) is one of the mythological creature, mythological entities in Turkic mythology and Tengrism. In English language, English, the meanings are: Ay Ata: ''Father Moon'', Ay Dede: ''Grandfather Moon'' and Ay Tanrı: ' ...
(living in the sixth floor) and Gün Ana (living in the seventh floor) are their representatives in the sky.
[Got from Turkish wikipedia; Ziya Gökalp şöyle demektedir: "Eski Türk telakkisine göre, hakanla hatun gök ile yerin evlatlarıydı. Günes ana ile Ay ata onların gök yüzündeki temsilcileri idi. Hakanın mümessili olan ay ata, gök yüzünün altıncı katında, hatunun mümessili olan gün ana ise daha üstte, gökyüzünün yedinci katında idi."]
The feast for Gün Ana is celebrated during the summer solstice in
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
on each 21 June.
See also
*
List of solar deities
A solar deity is a deity who represents the Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this ene ...
References
Bibliography
* Türk Mitolojisi, Murat Uraz, 2001, (1994)
* Turkish Myths and Legends Dictionary (Türk Söylence Sözlüğü), Deniz Karakurt
(OTRS: CC BY-SA 3.0)
* Ziya Gökalp, Türk Medeniyeti Tarihi II, İstanbul, 1974, s. 211.
External links
*
Halk Meteorolojisi Ekseninde Bir Melheme Örneği, Yusuf Ziya SÜMBÜLLÜ*
Mitoloji
{{Turkic Deities
Solar goddesses
Turkic deities
Tengriism
Fertility goddesses
Health goddesses