Ulukayın

Ulukayın is described in Turkic tradition as a primordial tree that was "erected by Kayra" and "created with the world." Standing in the very center of the Earth, it was established at the origin of the created order and functions as the vertical axis that links subterranean waters, the earth and the heavens. In some accounts its nine branches are the origin of nine tribes or great human groupings, encoding a cosmological genealogy and social order.

Ulukayın is imagined as a very large central world-tree whose branches reach unknown heights and whose roots penetrate all layers of the earth into a subterranean ocean. Some sources describe it as pine-like; branches are said to extend toward the Sun on one side and the Moon on the other. One account states that "each branch is described as having seventy leaves of gold" and that its leaves can be as large as a horse's skin. The tree is associated with luminous imagery: both the Ulukayın tree and the figure Kubai are described as emitting light. The Öksökö bird is depicted spinning around and sometimes perching on its crown.

Functionally cosmic rather than anthropomorphic, Ulukayın holds up the sky and connects the three cosmic realms. From its roots flows the life-water Bengüsu, and the tree's resin (ilge) is said to give great power to those who eat it. Souls are described as flying between its branches like small birds, making the tree a conduit and station for souls. Divine and spirit figures use or inhabit it: Umay Ana is said to be the owner of the Tree of Life and uses it while descending to Earth, Kübey (Kübey Hanım) lives in it and is associated with a healing milk; the Öksökö bird circles it; Ülgen is associated with the hill on which the tree stands. The tree thus functions as source of life, a locus of divine habitation, and a structural axis of cosmology.