Shamil Sadig talked about our similar traditions with Korea: We have been separated from each other for thousands of years and we have lived unknowingly.
As is known, this year Altai-Turan Folklore Festival has been held in the capital of South Korea, Seoul, from September 18 to 21. Delegations from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, as well as representatives of Karachay, Nogay, and other Turkic peoples attended the festival organized by the Eurasia Cultural and Economic Institute which was supported by Seoul municipality.
At the conference on the history and common values of the Altai-Turan people on the 21st September, Ph.D. in philology Shamil Sadig from Azerbaijan, delivered lectures on similarities and values in culture, belief, folklore and life of the Azerbaijani and Korean peoples.
Strateq.az presents Shamil Sadig’s speech:
We usually try to look at our world from the ground, and the Earth looks so great that we cannot see it. But when we watch it with a bird’s eye, it’s easy to see that it’s not so big and we can easily come to the conclusion that all of the people living on the ground have a unique homeland…
When we look at Azerbaijan from Korea, we see it as the place where the Sun rises. The Sun is of the great importance in all the Oriental nations – it symbolizes light, warmth, creation, and life.
The identity of every people lives in its memory. It does not forget its moral and culture, even though thousands of years have passed, it simply displays its way of life. At first glance it may be difficult to find common ground in the mythological thinking between the peoples of Turkey and Korea, our fathers should have lived together a long time ago, and it should not seem so miraculous. It is difficult to find historical facts that prove them, and we have very little information. But if we pay a little attention to the structure of the Turks and Koreans of the Ural-Altay language group- our way of life and belief system- we can see that today many traditions are the same or very similar. The similarity is the sign of the tie in our national roots. This tie can be because of the first belief or being from the same root … But there is a very deep relationship. Being one of the first nations who believed in Tengri in the sky is the main sign of being from the same generation of Turkic peoples.
Based on a popular theory, I am one of those who believes that the mankind is from the same source. But since the time between the first man and the man of today is too far to be imagined, nations today have difficulty in believing in one another’s relationship. If we Turks, namely Asians, were separated from Hindus living in America 13 thousand years ago, and from the Fin-Ugars 3-4 thousand years ago, the history of our lives with the Koreans is 1500-2000 years old. This corresponds to the period of Kutluk Khagan, the Khagan of the East Turkic khanate. It’s just a little historical fact, but there is still Shamanism, that is to say, theism … That is what unites us – the religion of believing in nature and the universe… It is true that religion in Korea is very complicated, even new religions can be seen such as the mixture of Christianity and Buddhism, Shamanism and Christianity.
We can answer the question of “What is Tengrism?” like ” Tengrism is a form of belief and thought of belonging to the Turks. Tengrism does not have a holy book. The most sacred book is the nature itself. In tengrism, individuals are responsible for what everyone does. A mistake of a person is also a fault of society. The truth of a human being is also the truth of society. For this reason, individuals must be responsible for one another and direct one another. In Tengrism, there is no individualism, but societism. According to tengrism, the shadow of the dead is blended with nature and becomes part of the universe.
The most basic belief that unites the Koreans and Azerbaijanis is Tengrism. What tengrism was – faith in nature, respect to the universe … Today, these are lived in the Korean people`s subconsciousness and their houses. None of them is a religious tradition, but our common tradition.
Today, all nations have sacrificed their traditions to their religion or covered them religiously. If we just take off this cover from our thoughts then we can see more clearly the identity of our traditions and faith. With a population of 50 million, Korea`s 40 percent is an atheist (in fact, atheism does not mean exactly the today`s Koreans. Because the atheism in Korea is not a production of Nietzsche’s thought, in my opinion, it is simply a production of falling out of totemism and beliefs, not a production of rebelling to a religion or its God), 30 percent is Christian (Protestantism and Catholicism are nearly identical), 24 percent is Buddhists, and a very few are Shamanists or other beliefs. In our country Azerbaijan, 95 percent is Muslim. To have several common things with a people who own mixed religions can never be fictitious or coincidental.
Sometimes it seems to us or we are introduced so that as if there was not any lifestyle or tradition before any nation got to know the religions (By saying religion I mean the Bible, the prophet, the four religious places). I am convinced that this is the case in Korea. Religions created in Arabia-whether Christianity, Islam, or Musuicism-certainly formed a culture, but this culture is a collection of traditions and customs of different peoples. In order to emphasize that religion is not an unknown thing, missionaries and all who wanted to live their life covered religious traditions differently. Thus, national traditions grew, strengthened and sustained religions. No one can object that today, the Turks played a major role in the forming of Islam. Today, Turkic peoples live Islam better than the Arabians, but this perfection is not Islam, and this is a Turkish tradition that is called Islam. For evidence, it is not necessary to look at the Arabs’ 1500 years ago`s morals and cultures, it is enough to look at their today`s circumstance.
From this point of view, the Greeks and Romans in the Far East and a Korean can not be the same in terms of living Christianity. They are satisfied with taking a couple of formal rituals of Christianity, Buddhism, and other religions, but in the background, they live their traditions. Because there is no expression of “religious morality”, a religion defines prohibitions not traditions and tradition does not consist of prohibitions.
In conversation with Nuralgiya Egerova, a researcher from Yakutia, a Tengrism believer, she said: “It’s a mindset that we call tradition. In fact, when we look at the entire Turkic world, they seem like they are in search. We need to know, learn, and live our tradition. They ask, “What is a tradition?”, they say, “We need to return to ourselves”, but I want to draw your attention to one point: After visiting the whole Turkish countries I saw a people who lived the Turkish tradition but did not understand it. Some consider it as Islam and some think that it is Christianity. In fact, they live in the same culture. This means that Turks live themselves, but they interpret it differently in their minds. This tradition is in them. The tradition exists in this person`s subconsciousness. However, they think that they live religion in their consciousness. Wherever I go, I see the same mentality – the same hospitality, the same openness. We are very open people, positive people, this is the Turkish tradition! There is no need to search, we live the Turkish tradition, and you just have to understand it. Sometimes disputes arise since we obey different religions. When I was in Anatolia, I asked them such a question “Do you spit the water?”
And they said “No, it is a sin”, “Do you spit the fire?” And they said, “No, it’s a sin.” These are not in Islam, they are in the Turkish tradition. They know them and live them, but they comprehend them as demand of Islam. ”
I would like to add one point to Nuralgiya Egerova`s opinion: in Korea, people do not cut nails at night, even if they cut, they never throw them. This is exactly the same in Azerbaijan. It means all these are our common traditions. Therefore, after cutting nails, we do not throw them away because a piece of our soul is there; it is a part of a human body.
” There is a notion as “Kut” in the Turkish language and “Tin” as well. For example, the Sakha culture (the Sakha Turks believe in Tengrism) has remained the unchanged Turkish tradition. The “Kut” notion is interpreted in three ways: the first “bar kut – soil kut”, the second “air kut – rife kut”, the third “main kut – iyye kut”. They name body as soil kut. Why did they name it soil? Because when the mother’s egg is combined with the father`s sperm, the human being is created. And where do these come from? From the soil. Then the child is born and fed with the things that come from the soil. Whether it is an animal or a plant – all come from the soil. Everything comes from the soil, so our body grows up and the soil reforms. “(N.Egerova).
Let me draw your attention to the common way of life between the Azeri Turks and the Korean Turks. The Koreans look up to the elderly, they talk to their family, their fathers, mothers, and elders when deciding on a matter and the family decides. On ordinary days, holidays, on special occasions, we visit one another. If they enter the house, they take their shoes off and wear their slippers. If I call Koreans a hospitable, smiling, friendly nation, I would not be mistaken.
For example, in Korea, the belief in the light and the fire is the same as that of the Muslim Turks, the Christian Turks, and the attitude of the Gagauz Turks. We consider fire sacred and we say “May your fire not dim”. Today we still believe the fire cleans us from evil, and only fire can burn all the evils. Also in Korea, people think that such a break in the lamp in the house and the dimming of the light are unfortunate. In Europe, in Arabia, and in many nations, fire means hell, however, our antecedents worshiped it and believed in its holiness. One of the most interesting moments is that fire worship exists not only in Korea, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Yakutia but also in the Gagauz Turks, who have been living in the heart of Europe and fell apart from us and became Christian two thousand years ago. Like us every year in March, they make a fire and jump over it, and they say “Protect and clean us from the evil, Oh fire!”
The Turks living in Yakutia have a holiday celebrated by all Turks, including Turkey, whose name is Novruz. Novruz is celebrated starting from the first week of March. It is a nature holiday. On this holiday, which is related to the arrival of spring and the farewell of winter, people express Novruz in all areas of their lives. Everyone cleans his/her house and says that we should be very clean. Everyone prepares a new costume for himself/herself and each of them puts at least 7 blessing things on the table, indicating the arrival of the spring so let the new year be blessing and abundant. All the offended are reconciled, entertaining festivals take place in the villages and towns. Novruz means “a New Day”. In my opinion, this holiday is in another form today in Korea. It is the nature festival, at that time neither we were Muslim nor were the Koreans idolator, Christian etc. It was created at that time when the belief in nature existed (philosophy of shamanism and Tengrism.)
The spring festival of Samjianal in Korea is very similar to that of the spring holiday of the Turks. Both nations celebrate this holiday in March, at that time both nations cook traditional dishes and national dresses are preferred. During those festive days, we burn a fire in our cities and set up a fire. It is celebrated as a name of Wednesday. Fire is a symbol of the life of the human being and from ancient times the Turks have had respect to fire. When the fire is put out the family elders distribute it to 7 places and say that spring comes not only for us but also for the animals. Therefore, they do it as if they give it to 7 animals – it’s the serpent`s share, it’s the worm`s share, it`s the bird’s share, and so on. There is respect to animals in the Samjinnal holiday in Korea.
On the other hand, the dish called Sumyeon which is made of flowers in Samyeinnali holiday in Korea serves the same purpose and belief as Samani halva which is made of green grass – that is made of wheat – in Azerbaijan.
While doing this research, an apple was the biggest finding for me …
Although not in the majority of Turkic peoples, but in Nakhchivan, one of the historical regions of Azerbaijan, people take red apples in their hands when they meet with people whom they respect at Novruz. In order to greet people it does not matter to have an apple, but meeting people with an apple means a sign of respect, besides, if somebody is estranged from someone apple means an offer of reconciliation. And in Korea today, when people want to apologize to each other, they take an apple, and the word “apple” means to apologize.
I cannot consider this event as casualty which happens in peoples` lives who live in at this beginning of the East and at that beginning of the East. Some researchers are trying to prove that Novruz is a religious (Islamic) holiday. If it were a celebration of Islam, then it would not have been the same in a Korean who knew Islam in the past 50 years.
Though we live the same tradition in our lives and we belong to the same language group, we have been separated from each other for thousands of years and we have lived unknowingly. I hope that we will protect our tradition and we will sustain it. I am sure that if we search it, can find hundreds of common traits in our mythological thin3-king.
I would like to conclude my opinion with the line of Hussein Javid, “My God is beauty and love” and I wish all humanity love and beauty…
Long live, peace lover HUMANITY, with no offense, blood, terror, trick and free of religious ideologies!
