UMAI - GODDESS OF FERTILITY
The ancient Kyrgyz worshipped four natural elements: Sky, Earth, Fire, Water. The Sky was considered the masculine principle and was personified in the image of a mighty Bull, while the Earth represented the feminine. The Cult of the Sky arose from the cult of the Sun.
The ancient Sumerians called the sun god Dingir, the Mongols - Tengri, and the blue Turks and Kyrgyz - Temp.
Kok Tenir (Geshri) meant Blue, Eternal Sky. It encompassed all astral representations and was equivalent to the concept of "Universe," "Cosmos."
Umai is a mythical being. It is widely reflected in the folklore, legends, and traditions of many peoples. For several thousand years, the spirit of the goddess Umai has hovered over Asia. The Great Ancestress Mother Umai was the second most significant deity after Kok Tenir. She was a female deity, considered the protector of pregnant women, offspring, the hearth, and the goddess of fertility. Umai, symbolizing female fecundity, was regarded as the wife of Tengri.
Sometimes Umai is identified with Eve, the biblical progenitor of humankind.
Umai is the sister of the ancient Iranian Anahita, Babylonian Ishtar, Greek Cybele, and Syrian Derikite.
An ancient artist depicted the Great Goddess Umai on the famous kudyrgy stone. The stone has disappeared, but the graphic representation of the goddess has been preserved.
The ancient nomads of the Sayan-Altai mountains worshipped Umai as the protector of warriors, the goddess of Fire - Ot Ene.
The name Umai was mentioned in runic inscriptions of the 6th - 7th centuries.
In the ancient Turkic language, the word umai means the afterbirth, the place of the child, the womb of the mother. The Tibetan word shla means mother. In the Mongolian language, umai signifies "womb." Among the Tatars of the Volga region, "uma" also means "belly." All these concepts are also associated with the birth of a child and the reproductive power of women.
In the Kyrgyz language, "umai" refers to a mythical bird that nests in the air. This word is borrowed from Persian - humа, where it means a bird that inhabits the world tree. Apparently, the concept of the deity Umai was once linked to the ancient universal motif of a soaring bird - a solar deity (often represented by an eagle), creator of all living things, symbolizing fertility and abundance.
Among the Kyrgyz, the goddess is called "Umai Ene." Our people have revered her since ancient times. As early as the 6th century, the Kyrgyz erected a stone monument to Umai Ene, depicting a kind, charming woman with a headdress. The image of the ancient deity and even her name were associated by Kyrgyz Muslims with the images and names of revered Muslim women: Fatima (daughter of Muhammad) and Zuhra, often pronounced together (Batma Zuura or Suura). Intelligent, strong-willed, and strong-spirited women were compared to Umai Ene by the Kyrgyz. Through poetry and songs about Umai Ene, prayers and blessings were performed during the holiday of Nowruz - the New Year. They worshipped water sources, considering them sacred places (mazar) of Umai. The Kyrgyz do not allow children to throw stones at starlings that arrive in early spring, believing them to be messengers from Umai.
The cult of Umai Ene as the protector of infants and the guardian of the family hearth has deeply entered the consciousness of the shamanic peoples of Sayan-Altai and the Muslim peoples of Central Asia.
According to belief, from the day of conception, the embryo in the mother's womb and its mother are under the protection of Umai Ene. For example, experienced elderly women, midwives, observing pregnant young women, adjust the position of the child in the womb if necessary, saying: "These are not my hands, these are the hands of Umai. May Umai Ene help you."
These same words are spoken when a newborn is taken in their arms, swaddled, placed in a beshik (cradle), and in further care for the child. The miraculous power and protection of Umai Ene are associated by the Kyrgyz with the moment of the child's birth. When the time for the child to be born approaches, it is believed that Umai Ene pushes it out of the mother's womb, patting it on the buttocks. The presence of blue spots on the child's buttocks and back is explained as the marks of Umai Ene's hands. Thus the legend goes.
This legend is vividly illustrated in the great poetic monument "Manas": when Manas was born, his mother Chiyrdy could not give birth and suffered from contractions for nine days. Then Umai Ene compelled the child to come out of the mother's womb into the light.
The angel Umai Ene appeared
And pushed the child.
She said: "Listen to me,
And fulfill the will of the Almighty."
Unable to withstand her blows,
He was born.
According to legend, whether the embryo in the mother's womb is a boy or a girl depends on the will of Umai Ene. Midwives and healers would address her, reciting during childbirth and when treating children the incantation: "Not my hand, but the hand of Umai Ene has touched." It is believed that Umai Ene could talk to newborn children. If a child babbles, smiles, or laughs in their sleep, it was thought that Umai Ene was speaking with them. When a mother left her infant alone at home, she would say: "I leave you with Umai Ene" and felt at ease about the child. When sending children, even adults, somewhere, elderly women would bless them with the words "I entrust you to Mother Umai." It is also noteworthy that Umai Ene was remembered in the most happy and fruitful years. During a bountiful harvest and increase in livestock, people would say: "Milk flows from the breast of Mother Umai."
The ancient Turks depicted Umai as a woman in a three-horned headdress and a mantle - a cape. They perceived rock carvings as "traces of Umai Ene when she descended to the earth."
Not far from the capital of the republic, Bishkek, in the Arashan gorge, where the resort "Issyk-Ata" is located, there is a rock near a spring with an image of Buddha called "Umai Ana." To this day, residents of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan come to venerate this image and the mazar. This monument of ancient culture is protected by the state.
The image of Umai has found expression in folk applied art. Among the Kyrgyz, there is an ornamental motif called "Umai." This element of the ornament in embroidered woven carpets and felt products takes the form of a soaring bird and is recognized as its representation.
A stylized depiction of "Umai" is also distinctly traced in jewelry art. In particular, characteristic of the wedding women's headdress "shekule" are silver plaques with motifs of the female figure - the goddess of fertility, sometimes arranged in several tiers (to enhance magical power).
The name of the goddess is invoked during the ritual actions of the bride when she first enters the home of the groom's parents. In one of the wishes to the newlyweds during the wedding, it is said: "May the happiness of the mother be under the golden wing of the goddess Umai." It is possible that she was once depicted as winged. In some beliefs, Umai is represented as a goddess who transforms into a white bird to descend from the sky to the earth.
In the ethnic consciousness of our ancestors, the key symbol of holiness is a woman - a divine creation.
And so, with bowed heads, the Kyrgyz revered the woman-mother, calling her Umai Ene.
Women of Kyrgyzstan