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22 May 2007 Tue 07:26 pm |
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Quoting SunFlowerSeed:
Do you know the myth(not the real fact) about Turkish flag ? How the crescent and the star became the flag of Turks.
I don't remember the full story but, it is said that;
There was a big war between Turks and an enemy(I don't know who the enemy is, maybe Byzantines maybe not, I actually don't think that such war happened in the history).
The battle lasted for all day long. When it is night time the battle has come to an end. But it was a bloody war. Well, Turks have won it, otherwise the flag would not be that one, right ? 
Anyway, when the war is over, it was impossible to see the earth because of the blood shed on earth or battlefield. It was like a blood-lake something. Then everybody saw that the crescent and the star are shining on that blood-lake. So they decided to have this shape(or scene) as a national symbol to remember that day and to sanctify people who shed their blood on that war and to show our respects to their souls.
Well, it is not a happy story. But sanctifying soldiers and showing respect to their souls, who had died for their country, is an important thing. |
Actually it is really a myth. This scene may be happenned through a war, and i also saw some paintings depicting this scene. But i think the figure crescent and star is a symbol of ancient Turanian religion Altaic Shamanism. I’ll quote here some parts of an article which i have read(it is too long) to clarify.
“The star used in the 'crescent and star' motif represented the Sun and hence the sun-god most of the times. In other times it represented the planet Venus and hence the goddess 'Inanna' of Sumerians also known by the name 'Ishtar' to Babylonians. Particularly when the planet Venus makes conjunction with the moon in its crescent phase, it makes an unusual celestial crescent and star appearance that must have awed the earliest believers of astral objectes as their gods, believing that their gods were sending a message for them to understand.
In the modern literature, the crescent alone or 'the crescent and star' symbols have been associated with the Ottoman empire and after its collapse, with the successor states and the islamic world in general.
On the other hand, there are some evidences supporting the view that the roots of 'crescent', 'star' and the 'crescent and star' symbols that Turks have used on their flags and standards for more than a thousand years in the recent past go back to Central Asia and seems to be associated with the religious and shamanistic beliefs of the ancestors of Turks.
Traditionally Turks' ancestors were nature believers and nature worshippers in their homelands in Central Asia and Siberia. Through their Shamanistic and other cult beliefs, they revered astral entities and the natural forces on earth that were important for them in their daily life. In the ancient Turkish world as it is now, the word for god is 'Tengri'. This word has variations in the form of 'tengir', 'tengere', 'tangara', 'tangri' and 'tanri'. In their religious beliefs, the sky is identified with 'Tengri' and therefore the sky-god is called 'Kok Tengri'. Tengri is considered to be the 'Only God' who created every thing in the sky (universe) and on earth. In addition to this sky god, they also had other secondary gods such as the moon god 'Ay Tengri', and the sun god 'Kun Tengri' as their most sacred gods as part of the pantheon of Altaic shamanism.
Ancient Turkic peoples had strong beliefs in their shamanic gods and cosmic beliefs. The qaghans of Turkish peoples believed that their qaghanship (kingship) was given to them by their gods, [IK, p.37-46]. Even some Turkish qaghans deified themselves as the representative of the Gok Tengri and other subsidiary gods on earth and used the names of these gods as part of their official titles. This belief was a tradition which had its roots in the Altaic shamanism and cosmic beliefs that lasted thousands of years in the past.
For example, we have the Tangriquts of the Huns such as: 'Tumen Tangriqut' (240-210 BC), 'Batur Tangriqut (210-174 BC), Kokkhan (174-161 BC), Kunkhan (161-126 BC), [TA, p. 180-185].
Among the kings of the Uigur, we have: Etimish Bilge with title of 'Tengride Bolmish El, Qutluq Bilge Qaghan, (742-747 Ad); Bayanchur with the title of 'Ay Tengride Qut Bolmish, Tutmish Bilge Qaghan', (747-759 AD); another one (name unknown) with the title of 'Kun Tengride Ulugh Bolmish, Kuch Kuchluk Bilge Qaghan', (821-824 AD), [TA].
About the Altaic Shamanism, M. A. Czaplicka [1, MAC, p. 30] writes the following: 'The religion of the Turks who were responsible for the inscriptions found in the Yenisei and Orkhon valleys, seems to have been the same Shamanism which is still to be found in a comparatively vital state among many Turanians, especially the Altai 'Tatars' and the 'Yakuts'. If we take Shamanism as a form of animistic religion which originated in Asia, and which differs from the animistic religions of other parts of the world in its conception of the gods and in the nature of its propitiatory ceremonies, then we shall not find in any other part of Central and Northern Asia a more typical and more highly developed form of it than among these people. At the same time it must be remembered that Shamanistic conceptions underlie many of the high religious systems of the Asiatic continent.'
To this view, in the opinion of this author, one can also add the view that the Sumerians were one group of Central Asiatic peoples who helped to spread the Central Asiatic cosmic beliefs and Shamanistic conceptions as the underlying foundation of the religious systems developed in Mesopotamia and the Middle East.
It is also important to mention that in the Central Asiatic culture (Turkish Turfan Textes, regarding the structure of the cosmic system), concepts of four, five, eight and ten directions were known [EE, p. 76-108]. Additionally, four colors were associated with four directions. Namely, 'gok = blue' with the 'East', 'ak = white' with the 'west', 'kizil = red' with the 'south' and 'kara = black' with the north [EE, p. 79]. The five directions represented the four cardinal directions and the direction towards the 'zenith' where the Gok Tenri resided. The number of directions and the colors associated with celestial directions were important concepts that were represented in various flags of Turkish peoples throughout the Central Asia. Such colors have been used as background colors in different flags and the number of cosmic directions have been used in defining the number of points of the star motifs that were used in the crescent and star representations.
Flags of Some Turkish Empires And Other Artifacts of the Recent Past.
a) The flag of the Turkic White Hun Empire (420-552 AD) had three five-pointed gold stars on a white background, [NE];
b) The flag of the Turkic Khazar Empire (602-1016 AD ) had five five-pointed white stars on a blue background, [NE];
Not a flag but an archeological artifact found in Vorobyevo in Rusia and attributed to Khazars has a sun disk with 10 triangular rays emanating from it. On the face of this sun disk, there is a crescent with light rays to its right.', [BO, p. 235].
c) The flag of the Turkish Gazneli Empire (962-1183 AD) had a crescent and a peacock on a green background, [NE];
d) Many monuments of the The Great Seljuk Empire (1040-1157 AD) and the Seljuks of Rum (1077-1308 AD) [TTR] had 'crescent and star' on them, [TTR, plates: 5, 40, 55, 79].
A selection of Seljuk coins had five, six and eight-pointed stars on them, [TTR, plate 79 and p. 271].
Additionally, a crescent embracing a sun disk with eight rays emanating from the disk is shown on the top right hand corner of an arch door used in an Seljuk hospital (about 1217 D) in Sivas belonging to the Seljuks of Rum period, [FK, p. 47-47].
e) The flag of the Golden Horde Empire (1224-1502 AD) had a red crescent together with a 'white balance figure on a black disk' all of which on a white background, [NE];
f) The flag of the Ottoman Empire (1299-1922 AD) had a 'crescent with an eight-pointed star' on a red background, [NE]. Initially the crescent symbol alone has been used on the Ottoman flags, standards, on the very tops of mosques and many other monuments throughout the Ottoman Empire. We have the following from Tamara Talbot Rice which states: '.... It was with real pleasure, therefore, that the young sovereign watched Osman, son of Tugrul, who had succeeded to the chieftainship of the Osmanli tribe, harass the Byzantines, in 1281 extending his fief at their expense. Keyhusrev marked the occasion by investing him with the title of Uc Beg, meaning Protector of the Border, giving him the drum and the horse-hair standard consisting of a red pennant with a white crescent upon it which accompanied the title; ....', [TTR, p. 80];
In the case of the Ottoman flag, as seen in this description, the origine of the Ottoman flag's red colour and the crescent on it probably starts with this event where Giyaseddin Keyhusrev III son of Kilicarslan IV, the Ruler of the Seljuks of Rum grants an emblem to the new Turkish Uc Beg Osman in appreciation of his services; and,
g) Finally the flag of the Turkish Republic of Turkiye has the white 'crescent and a five-pointed star' on a red background. It should also be mentioned that presently all the other Turkish Republics have variations of crescent, star and crescent and star configurations on their flags.
h) In addition to all these given above, five, six and particularly the eight-pointed stars and its many variations have been used by the Turkish peoples as decorating motifs on carpets throughout the Turkish world.
i) One should also note that there are many cemetaries in Central Asia where the tombs are made in the style of Turkish yurts at the top of which an amblem in the form of a crescent or a crescent and star shape is attached to the very top of the yurt-shaped tomb [ND, Figures 10 to 17]. Nejat Diyarbekirli indicates in his article that this was a custom followed by Turks over a long period of time.â€
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