Ak Ana (Ağ Ana or Ak Ene), the "Holy Mother", is the primordial creator-goddess of
Turkic people and the
Khanty
The Khanty (Khanty: ханти, ''hanti''), also known in older literature as Ostyaks (russian: остяки) are a Ugric indigenous people, living in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as "Yugra" in Russia, together ...
and
Mansi
Mansi may refer to:
People
* Mansi people, an indigenous people living in Tyumen Oblast, Russia
** Mansi language
* Giovanni Domenico Mansi (1692–1769), Italian theologian, scholar, historian and archbishop
* Kate Mansi, American actress born in ...
peoples of
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
. 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 ( 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 / * ...
(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 deities
{{Asia-myth-stub