Zhanna Skryabina

Every year the Sakha people celebrate the festival of summer - Ysekh. This ethnic holiday celebrates the Aiyy deities and the revival of nature; it embraces ritual prayers, plenty of rich food and koumiss, dancing, folk games, and horse races. Jehegey Aiyy is a serene deity worshiped by people. Jehegey gave horses to humans, and now is the heavenly patron of horse raising. In the majority of recorded songs and legends Jehegey is a male creature, but in some of them it has feminine gender and is called sylgy aiyhyta. According to legends it sometimes appears to people as a loudly neighing light-colored stallion.