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Kyrgyzstan
Tribal Religion
Alongside Islam the Kyrgyz tribes also practiced totemism, the
recognition of spiritual kinship with a particular type of animal.
Under this belief system, which predated their contact with Islam,
Kyrgyz tribes adopted reindeer, camels, snakes, owls, and bears
as objects of worship. The sun, moon, and stars also played an
important religious role. The strong dependence of the nomads
on the forces of nature reinforced such connections and fostered
belief in shamanism (the power of tribal healers and magicians
with mystical connections to the spirit world) and black magic
as well. Traces of such beliefs remain in the religious practice
of many of today's Kyrgyz.
Knowledge of and interest in Islam are said to be much stronger
in the south, especially around Osh, than farther north. Religious
practice in the north is more heavily mixed with animism (belief
that every animate and inanimate object contains a spirit) and
shamanist practices, giving worship there a resemblance to Siberian
religious practice.
Data as of March 1996
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