Return of Tengriism?

Originally posted by Forgotten    i support the kyrgiz to return to tengrism and i wish that all the turkic people return to thier original way of life and relegion

I just wish that people explored things a little deeper and didn't accept the defaults of the society they were born into.  But I'd say I wouldn't mind seeing Istanbul's skyline added to with a couple of temples hehe.

I am secular 100% though, so I don't believe it should 'return' as a force, just as an open, free and private alternative.  It should not be looked down upon at all as it tends to be atm (Kafir...) but should be embraced as another rich aspect of the Turks history and revived in a sort of way.

My opinion.

Originally posted by OSMANLI   On the whole you have added to the point that i initially made which is that the only thing that is keeping this cult alive is the historic element. Virtually no one in Turk that claims to be of this doctrine trully believes in it.

Why not? It's a religion as any other, different, yes, but not less worthy. There are pagan and more or less "ethnic" religions that are still alive around the world (pagan by Abrahamic faiths' standards) such as Hinduism, Shinto, etc. So why not Tengrism? I would think there'd be real believers in it. Every philosophy has something to offer.

Bulldog, although pagan automatically makes us think polytheist, in the (Christian) Roman Empire it was used for anyone who wasn't Jewish or Christian. And from what I know, even though Tengri is the highest god, he is not actually the only god. If I'm not mistaken there is also an Earth Mother (Yer) and an underworld god (Erlik?) as well as others. The deities seem to be mostly personifications of natural powers (fire, sun, moon, etc.) I think this would make Tengriism not a monotheistic religion by any means, but an Animistic one. It also has Shamanistic aspects. Ancestor worship is another important element.

It has common features with other ethnic traditions such as the Tibetan Bon and Japanese Shinto.

Actually, here's a link I just found: http://www.ethnikoi.org/tengrianism.htm

we should drink horse milk, and instead of using car, We should use horse. These are also our cultural tradition.

It would save alot of pollution and petrol is running out so we may back to horses quicker than we think

Nevermind most Turks, most HUMANS don't follow their religions properly therefore don't really believe in them as they ought to be..

Btw you're wrong about a shamanist reffering to a Muslim as an unbeliver because only the 3 Abrahamic religions (Islam, Judaism and Christianity) have that attitude.  Shamanism etc has a live and let live attitude and doesn't care about other faiths nor does it employ any missionary tactics.

Originally posted by OSMANLI Virtually no one in Turk that claims to be of this doctrine trully believes in it.

Originally posted by OSMANLI Sorry i was refering to Turks in Turkey. Sirona, most of these so called Tengriist in Turkey are not true believers though. Most are from nationalistic groups using this old religion to feel like "true Turks". Most of them do not trully believe in its doctrines.

We have been discussing about this quite long without knowing what tengrism is. Can some one summerizes very briefly the dogmas of Tenrism?

Thanks for the link, Raapi.

What I learnt from there is that Tenriism is actually a very primitive form of religion related to nature worship. Sky, earth, water, fire, sun, moon, stars etc are all deities. The rituals are also in very primitive form, and any female were not allowed. Another obvious fact is that Turkic leaders use Tengri for justification of their rule. I only can say that it is just a cultural phenomenum rather than a systematic religious notion.