The Religion of the Kyrgyz in Ancient Times
The foundation of marital and family relationships among the nomadic population of ancient Kyrgyzstan was patriarchal-clan customs. The main figure of the clan and family was the man — the husband, the father of the family. Polygamy was common. The traditions of levirate marriage, characteristic of patriarchal-clan ties, were also preserved.
The Usuns, Huns, and Kyrgyz worshipped the deity of the sky — Tengr. The origins of the word "tengr" trace back to the time of the Huns (there are records that the ancient Sumerians, who lived in the Mesopotamia in the fourth-third millennia BC, referred to the sky as "dingir"). The word "tengr" meant both the sky itself and the deity of the sky. According to the beliefs of the ancient ancestors of the Kyrgyz, the deity Tengr predetermined the fate not only of an individual but of the entire people and state; it could favor or send trials and punishments to a person according to their deeds. A remnant of this tradition is likely the custom of the Kyrgyz to ask for support from Tengr in difficult situations even today. The Kyrgyz also worshipped the Sun, Moon, stars, earth, and the spirits of their ancestors. At important general assemblies, where the rulers of clans and tribes gathered, rich sacrifices were made to the almighty deities.
Like all the peoples of Central Asia, the ancient Ferganans worshipped the forces of nature, the Sun. Some archaeological finds suggest that they deified fire. Additionally, numerous petroglyphs of the Dawan horsemen on the rocks of Ayyrmach-Töo near Osh give scholars reason to believe that people associated a certain magical significance with the horse (these religious-totemic beliefs have been preserved among the Kyrgyz in their later history: they often turn to the image of the patron of horses — Kambar-Ata). The Ferganans believed in the afterlife, honored the souls of deceased ancestors, and held ritual games before the beginning of spring fieldwork.
In those times, the ideology of a socially stratified society became the first world religion — Zoroastrianism or fire worship, which aligns well with the "Avesta" and the Saymaly-Tash monument in southern Kyrgyzstan. Archaeological, religious, mythological, and anthropological data indicate that the settled tribes of the Fergana Valley (which includes both Dawan and the Osh settlement) were at the origins of the formation of this religion. The content of Zoroastrian religious mythology in the "Avesta," along with conclusions from some historians and religious scholars, suggests that one of the centers of the emergence of the idea of Zoroastrianism was Osh, with its mysterious Suleiman Mountain and the Ak-Bura River. There is a myth that the main prophet of Zoroastrianism and the creator of the sacred book "Avesta," Zoroaster, lived and developed his teachings in a cave on Suleiman-Töo Mountain. This myth is confirmed by the Chinese traveler Zhang Qian (2nd century BC), who wrote about the existence of a fire-worshippers' temple on the mountain near the city of Osh.
