Yalchuk is the moon goddess in

Turkic mythology Turkic mythology refers to myths and legends told by the Turkic people. It features Tengrism, Tengrist and Shamanism in Central Asia, Shamanist strata of belief along with many other social and cultural constructs related to the nomadic and wa ...

. In ancient Turkic folk religion and myth, Yalçuk is the

divine embodiment A divine embodiment or godform refers to the visualized appearance of the deity assumed in theurgical, Tantra, tantric, and other mystical practices. This process of ritual embodiment is aimed at transforming the practitioner, aligning them w ...

of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. She is often presented as the female complement of the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

( Koyash) conceived of as a god. Koyash and Yalchuk are categorized as among the visible gods. Yalchuk is said to have lived on a mountain top in a house with seven stories, from which she controlled the fate of the world. Yalchuk is often depicted driving a two-yoke

chariot A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid Propulsion, motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk O ...

, drawn by horses or oxen. Like her companion Koyash, the Sun, who drives his chariot across the sky each day, Yalchuk is also said to drive across the heavens. She has power horns on head. She is commonly depicted with a crescent moon, often accompanied by stars; sometimes, instead of a crescent, a lunar disc is used. Often a crescent moon rests on her brow, or the cusps of a crescent moon protrude, horn-like, from her head, or from behind her head or shoulders. The word Yalçuk means bright or shining. Another meaning of the word is envoy or delegateKÚNOS, Dr. Ignaz (1902). Şeyh Süleyman Efendi, Çağatayca-Osmanlıca Sözlük, Section Orientale de la Société Ethnographique Hongroise.

References

See also