YADA “RAIN-MAKING” CUSTOM AMONG UIGHUR PEOPLE OF CHINA

This paper introduces the Turkic water culture from the two Turkic words yada “praying for rain” and yer-su “earth-water”. We found the records of yada “praying for rain” in the historical documents in Turkic, Chinese and Semitic. The word yada tash “stone of praying-for-rain” exists in many modern Turkics and Mongolians, which concerns the meaning of praying for rain as well as the male power symbol, birth and supernatural charm. The Turkic word yer-su “earth-water” is often used in the Turkic Runic inscriptions and Uighur documents of the Middle Ages, it means “homeland”, “hometown”, “world” and so on. We can observe the water idea of Central Asian Turkic peoples from the two words.