🐉 Tatars have a fascinating folklore tradition involving snakes. In their tales, all snakes are black, except for their prince, Aq Yılan or Yılan-patşa, who is white. Unlike the black snakes that are often depicted as adversaries to humans, Aq Yılan is a benevolent and protective entity, aiding and warning people. If you read the the Tatar tale "Aq Yılan", you would see that it is portrayed as a mystical being with supernatural abilities, including prophetic visions. The reverence for the color white, deep-rooted in ancient beliefs, contributes to the positive perception of Aq Yılan.
🐲 According to Tatar folklore, when a snake reaches the age of one hundred, it transforms into a dragon - ajdaha. Dragons, however, live for a thousand years and are not found in the Tatar region. Instead, they are carried away by clouds to a sea island. During this journey, it's said that the dragon can be seen in the clouds, beating its tail.
🧝🏼♀️ On the island, after a thousand years, the dragon transforms into a Yuxa-girl. Yuxa can take on various human forms, often appearing as a beautiful girl. When she marries a Tatar man, the husband loves his Yuxa wife passionately but loses more and more weight and becomes frail over time. To identify a Yuxa, Tatars look for specific signs: bad breath, a strong need for water, and the absence of a belly button.
The ultimate goal of a Yuxa-girl is to eat her Tatar husband if he succumbs to her deceit. However, there are ways Tatars can protect themselves from Yuxa.
🔥 In one story, a prince built an iron tower without windows or doors, lured Yuxa inside, sealed the entrance, and surrounded it with firewood to burn her. Yuxa, in her snake form, fiercely attacked the tower, shaking it with her tail. When Yuxa decayed in the tower, people began to take her ashes and make medicine from it, called “theriac”*.
🌊 In another tale, Yuxa is the youngest daughter of Su Anası. She lacks the ability to bear children, resulting in her harboring a deep affection for other people's offspring, often subjecting these children to torment that ultimately drives them to madness. She sustains herself solely on water, abstaining from food consumption. Remarkably, even prayers like "Bismillahi" fail to have any effect on her, ühich indicates her resistance to spiritual forces.
Legend has it that a man once found himself married to this entity, known as Yuxa. This occurred after he wed the most beautiful woman, who became his third wife. Initially, he observed peculiar changes in his first wife, who gradually fell ill and eventually passed away, leaving him in mourning and perplexed by her sudden ailment. Subsequently, his second wife fell ill as well, prompting him to investigate the mysterious affliction.
During the month of Ramadan, the man's youngest wife displayed bizarre behavior by voraciously drinking water at night while abstaining from eating. Troubled by these actions, he decided to conceal the water source to observe her reaction. To his astonishment, she left the house and ventured out during the night. He followed her to a nearby lake, where she drank water in a snake-like manner.
Confused and uncertain about what to do, the husband sought advice from a neighbor. The neighbor recommended a solution involving the entity's mother. Following her guidance, the man used a comb to summon the Su Anası, ultimately saving his second wife and children from the clutches of Yuxa.
______________
*Theriac is a medical concoction originally labeled by the Greeks in the 1st century AD and widely adopted in the ancient world as far away as Persia, China, and India via the trading links of the Silk Route. It was an antidote, considered a panacea, and contained 64 ingredients: different herbs, snake flesh, and opium.