Hi all,
Once upon a time, when the Eurasian steppe was governed by Turkic and Mongolic nomadic tribes and people lived according to the rhythm of nature, they worshipped Tengri, the god of the sky. Genghis Khan and the rulers of the Turkic khaganates adhered to this belief system, known as Tengrism, before Islam began to spread across the region beginning in the 8th century.
However, Tengrism was never fully eradicated. Its practices survived among Central Asian communities in everyday rituals, customs, and beliefs. While the Soviet Union sought to suppress it through systemic atheism, Tengrism — like Islam — persisted underground.
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In the late 1980s, with perestroika, the ancient belief system gained new traction among people in the region who were longing for purpose and a renewed sense of belonging. Yet in the ensuing years, through the collapse of the Soviet Union and the nation-building processes across newly independent Central Asia, Tengrism never became the dominant faith.
Why is that? What is Tengrism in the first place? And why did Kazakhstan refuse to register it as an official religion?
To explore these questions and more, I have invited Abigail Scripka, a doctoral candidate at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam, Germany, who studies Tengrism in Kazakhstan with a particular focus on the period of perestroika.
I hope you will enjoy this one!
Have a great end of the week.
— Agnieszka
