Ayhylu

Bashkir · deity · Bashkir traditional religion; continuing · deity

Ayhylu, whose name means 'moon-beauty', is the daughter of the sky-king Samrau by his wife the Moon, and the younger sister of the solar Humay. Where Humay is bound to Ural, Ayhylu is joined to the darker brother Shulgen, so that the two celestial sisters mirror the moral division of the two mortal-born heroes. As a lunar maiden she embodies the Moon's light within Samrau's heavenly household.