Islam in Kyrgyzstan - Tribal Influence

Tribal Influence

Alongside Islam, some Kyrgyz practice Tengriism, the recognition of spiritual kinship with a particular type of animal and reverence for the Spirits of nature, ancestors, the earth and sky. Under this belief system, which predates their contact with Islam, Kyrgyz tribes traditionally adopted reindeer, camels, snakes, owls, and bears as objects of worship. The sky, earth, sun, moon, and stars also play an important religious role. The strong dependence of the nomads on the forces of nature reinforced such connections and fostered belief in shamanism. Traces of such beliefs remain in the religious practice of many of today's Kyrgyz residing in the north.

Knowledge of and interest in Islam is said to be much stronger in the south, especially around Osh, than further north. Religious practice in the north is more mixed with animism and shamanist practices, giving worship there a resemblance to Siberian religious practice.

Read more about this topic:  Islam In Kyrgyzstan

Famous quotes containing the words tribal and/or influence:

    What is this conversation, now secular,
    A speech not mine yet speaking for me in
    The heaving jelly of my tribal air?
    It rises in the throat, it climbs the tongue,
    It perches there for secret tutelage....
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)

    My administration is pledged to follow the policies of Mr. Roosevelt in this regard, and while that pledge does not involve me in any obligation to carry them out unless I have Congressional authority to do so, it does require that I take every step and exert every legislative influence upon Congress to enact the legislation which shall best subserve the purposes indicated.
    William Howard Taft (1857–1930)