SACRED TRIAD OF FIRE-MILK-TREE: RELIGIOUS AND MYTHOLOGICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE ALTAI-SAYAN TURKS

Abstract

In modern conditions of globalization, the processes of transformation of traditional culture constitute the main content of ethno-cultural changes, which represent, on the one hand, the unification of ethnic cultures, and on the other, the preservation of traditional values. The consequence becomes the strengthening of ethnic identity and the actualization of traditional culture. The interest here is the stability of the religious-mythological picture of the world of the Altaians, Tuvans and Khakas under the conditions of transformation of traditional culture. Consideration of the religious and ritual culture of the Altai-Sayan Turks, which is a reflection of the traditional worldview, reveals a complex of ritual, everyday life, behavioral, ethical, ideological aspects. Sacralization of fire, milk and dairy products, ritual «feeding», worship and presentation of them as a talisman shows the ethno-cultural community of the Sayan-Altai Turks, which is a synthesis of archaic beliefs and shamanism. The cult of the trees is also based on archaic animistic representations. Along with the usual simple trees, there were special, sacred ancestral trees, shamanic and burkhanistic. Apparently, the cult of trees took place in the era of the tribal system. Totemic vision, developing, transforming under the influence of changes in the religious beliefs of the population, have been preserved in modern times as sacred trees.