"Half-naked to the waist, the bottom is like tree roots, A middle-aged woman with serious eyes gives milk from her breasts.”

​Kubai is one of the most important figures in Turkish mythology. Kubai is the protector of children and childbirth in Turkic mythology. She was the daughter of Kayra and was depicted as a middle-aged woman. 

 Her duty was to protect and educate the children. When a baby starts to cry during a dream and sleeps restlessly, Kubai was said to have left them. When the child reached six months, a shaman was invited for a specific ceremony in the name of Mother Kubai. When all the attendances gathered together, the ceremony starts, and during that time, all attendances ask Kubai to protect the baby. 

Altai Turks believe that the "great mother" lived in a tree and gives milk to the heroes from her breast. The Yakut Turks agree that Kubai lived in a tree but they believe she was the birth goddess. Special water (or the water of life) flowed from the roots of her tree and grants immortality to those who drink it.

 The Er Sogotoh saga depicts this tree as follows:  "Half-naked to the waist, the bottom is like tree roots, A middle-aged woman with serious eyes gives milk from her breasts.” 

Often in Turkish myths, the tree is associated with the idea of light. In shaman prayers, Kubai’s tree is referred to as the Blessed Beech and has seventy golden leaves.

 According to Sakkaoglu, the black pine is as important as the beech tree in Altai and Yakut mythology. A tree motif is seen in the epic of Er Sogotoh of Yakuts. 

“If I came from one of the south, north, east or west directions, then I would have traces of trees and meadows, which would be blown away by the wind. If I had come from the deepest part of the earth, then, of course, I would be covered in mud and dust!”

"The first man thought about where he came from and started getting tired day by day. He always thought and asked himself ‘how was I born, how was I born?’. Now one day, he started to say to himself: ‘-If I fell from the sky, then I would be a man of ice and covered with snow and ice. If I came from one of the south, north, east or west directions, then I would have traces of trees and meadows, which would be blown away by the wind. If I had come from the deepest part of the earth, then, of course, I would be covered in mud and dust!”

 These were the thoughts of the first man. After pondering these ideas for a long time he came to the conclusion that the Great Mother Kubai (Kübey Hatun) might be his mother. Kubai could be the one who gave him life because of the life-giving milk that flows from her tree. 

 For this reason, the first man travelled to see the Tree of Life and said: 

 "You must be the mother who gave birth to me! You must be the one who made me!"

 The tree looked at the first man, and the first man looked at the tree, and finally the man realized that this tree was his mother and said: 

 "You raised me when I was an orphan child! When I was a little boy, you made me a big man!" [Sakaoglu, 1992]

 In my opinion, the story is interesting but untrue. One reason for the emergence of such myths could be the lack of scientific advancement in the ancient world. The story seems to be an alternate explanation for what we now have scientific evidence to prove. When people cannot reach to the true faith and real science, they make up legends. Kubai is the hero they are looking for. The ancient people were searching for a sense of protection and that made them need a God. 

Source

Saim Sakaoğlu, “Bir Efsane Motifi Üzerine”, Efsane Araştırmaları, Selçuk Üniversitesi Yay., Konya, 1992, s. 30-31.

Serif Aydin

Serif Aydin is a student at Algonquin College. He is an editor-in-chief of a Turkish literary magazine and an activist.

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