118 chapter two
Besides the sacred mountain which was considered a sacred cen-
ter of the territory, the Turks had other markers for their own land,
namely a tree, a river, the hearth that used to mark the center and
delineate vertical and horizontal dimensions of the own space.^127 This
sacred space was perceived as closed since it was guarded from dif-
ferent evil powers, winds, bad weather^128 and, as a rule, from bad,
i.e. foreign people (we are reminded here of the ritual purification of
Zemarchos and his men when they were at the ‘threshold’ of the Tur-
kic lands!).
In these societies very often the other was considered foreign
and, following the religious-mythological notions, he/she was color-
marked, namely in black. For the Turks black marks the North and
chaos!^129 Echos of this practice are still preserved in the modern Tuvin
language, in which the phrase “khara kizhi” means “foreign person”,
literally “black person”, while “khara cher” means “foreign land”, liter-
ally “black land”.^130 In this context, we can not omit the important and
insightful conclusion reached by R. Meserve that the main levels of
classification (and from this statement—of recognition and decoding
so that all phenomena be be-own-ed) for the Central Eurasia region
can be found in folklore. They are grouped mostly according to color,
season, direction, and shape. It is important to stress the fact that the
colors were used not only in their literal meaning but also in the whole
spectrum of their imaginative meanings as well as nuances^131 for in
this way, they perform their main functions—to unite-oppose and to
classify, stratify, and build hierarchies.
In a sharp contradiction with the black color and its negative
connotations was the white one, the most sacred for the peoples in
the steppe region of Eurasia and particularly for Turkic and Mon-
gol-speaking tribes. White was considered as “mother-color” and it
embodied happiness, prosperity, purity and nobility, honesty and
good, and the upper position in society as well. That is why the white-
skinned animals and the milk were adored. According to Al. Fedotov,
(^127) Traditsionnoe mirovozzrenie 1988, 32–33.
(^128) Traditsionnoe mirovozzrenie, 38–39.
(^129) In contrast to other color markers for the world directions: white (‘aq’)—for
West; sky blue (‘kök’)—for East; yellow (‘sarï’)—for the middle, or red (‘qïzïl’)—for
South. On color-coding system in Turkic, see Pritsak 1955b, 239–263.
(^130) Sagalaev and Oktiabr’skaia 1990, 18.
(^131) Meserve 1996, 54. Especially for the colors and their symbolic meanings/values
in the region of Central Asia see, Laude-Cirtautas 1961; Poppe 1977, 118–134.