Publication Details
Abstract
Among Turkic, Uzbek and other societies, beliefs about wind and rain and the role of the Yada stone as a magical object, have been very important in their myths and folklore. Specific Background: The research examines the role that fetishism, totemism and animism played in shaping the cult of the wind and influencing the use of the Yada stone in rituals, oral traditions, Turkic epics, Uzbek folk songs and historical chronicles. Previous work has addressed the Yada stone only partially, failing to explore in detail the theory of the stone’s symbolic value and migration from legend to fiction. The research seeks to understand how ideas about the Yada stone and related wind deities have changed and persisted in the cultural traditions, literature and rituals of Uzbek and Turkic people. Through exploring literature, records and ethnographic sources, the study concludes that the Yada stone started out as part of ritual and ended up being an important image in writings related to human connections with the environment, worries within society and cultural identity. Through placing together mythological, historical and literary texts, the article offers an unusual perspective that points out links between past and present ideas about the natural world. The findings increase our knowledge of how myth affects culture, literature and memory of nature and have significance for folklore experts, literary critics and anthropologists.