Yer Tanrı

Sources do not provide a single unified creation myth for Yer Tanrı. The deity is presented as the Earth or World and in some related Altaic fragments daughter-figures (e.g., Od iyesi / Umai in neighboring traditions) are said to be born at the beginning of the world when earth and sky separated; this is recorded as a regional attestation about related mother/earth figures rather than a universal origin story for Yer Tanrı itself.

There are few standard pictorial representations; sources state there are no canonical images. In some tales Yer Tanrı is perceived as a feminine being and is occasionally described in particular attestations as a white‑haired woman living in the trunk of a large beech tree whose branches reach to the sky. Otherwise the earth‑deity is treated more as an immanent, often unpictured presence.

Yer Tanrı nourishes and strengthens living beings, is invoked for fertility and conception, receives sacrificial offerings deposited into the soil, and functions through related household guardian manifestations (Yereh/Yereh Khan) that protect family well‑being and are associated with healing (notably appeals to cure skin diseases). In narrative motifs, frail children buried in the earth are reported to be fed by the Earth God and emerge transformed into strong heroes; fairy‑tale motifs describe Mother Earth breastfeeding heroes to confer strength. Sacrificial practices recorded include offerings of a white chicken and sometimes fish, sheep, or oxen, with heads buried in the ground as part of earth‑related rites. A brief attestation also notes that Yer Tanrı can be represented in some contexts as morally ambiguous or connected to base human/sensual formations, though sources do not elaborate this point.