SOIL IN THE BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF THE UYGHUR TURKS

Uyghurs are founded on the cultural heritage of Hun and K？ktürks that were founded before themselves. However, they adopted completely a sedentary life before these and left documents written on paper instead of the documents written on stone. This situation has produced very important consequences for the old Turkish culture and life. Uyhurs have been living their culture for a very long time in terms of the Turkish History of Central Asia. It is possible to see the rich diversity in the beliefs and practices of the Uyghur Turks that they have a long cultural background. In this context, soil which is an important element of nature, have became cult among Uyghurs as in the other Turkish tribes. Soil was involved in the origins and etymology myths of Uyghurs; literary genres such as epic, legend, folk story, proverb; in healing practices, such as folk medicine. This situation necessary to determine the functions and the location of the soil in the life of the Uighurs. The cult of soil in the Uyghur Turks have been examinated in this work. This examination have been done within the framework of “the structural and functional approach”. In this context, firstly, we have focused on soil in the Uyghur Turks’ origin, cosmogony and etymology myths; then, cult of soil in Uyghur Turks’ belief and practices have been assessed in this notice. Also, we have determined their reflection on oral cultural products. Thus, beliefs related to soil in Uyghurs and functions of soil in social and cultural life of Uyghurs have been revealed