Ritual of Selling a Child

The Child-Selling Ritual is a symbolic rite performed to protect a newborn or expected child from evil spirits, the threat of death, or misfortune. The core logic of the ritual lies in concealing the child’s true parental identity from evil spirits or presenting the child as belonging to someone else, thereby deceiving the forces believed to cause death, misfortune, or possession. In Turkish folk narratives, this practice is called “child-selling,” while in Slavic beliefs, a ritual serving the same function is known as obman (deception or trickery).

In Turkish culture, the ritual typically appears as a protective practice employed by families who have previously lost children, aimed at safeguarding their newborn. Central to the ritual is the idea of misleading evil spirits about the child’s true parentage. The newborn is temporarily taken by another person and then symbolically “sold” back to the biological family in exchange for a nominal payment.

The Child-Selling Ritual (Generated by Artificial Intelligence)

Ritualistic Background

The child-selling ritual has been shaped by the perception of childbirth as a sacred, risky, and vulnerable event across human cultures. In archaic societies, pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period were not viewed merely as biological processes but as critical phases vulnerable to intervention by benevolent and malevolent spirits. Within this framework, the ritual’s primary function is to shield the child from entities associated with death and to place the community securely within its mythological worldview.

In archaic thought, humans understood the universe as a battleground of opposing forces and explained death and illness as the work of evil spirits. In this context, the death of a newborn was often interpreted as a manifestation of the spirits’ hostility toward the parents. In Turkish and Slavic beliefs, female demonic entities believed to cause infant mortality—Albastı/Alkarısı in Turkish culture and Boginka and Veštitsa in Slavic culture—are identified as threats targeting both pregnant women and newborns. These beings aim to kill or harm the fetus or newborn, and their perceived threat plays a central role in the ritual’s origin.

Attributing the risks of childbirth to such malevolent forces defined the ritual’s function. The underlying logic of the child-selling ritual is to neutralize the hostility that evil spirits are believed to harbor toward the family due to previous child deaths, by means of a symbolic “parental substitution.” Practitioners believed that evil spirits recognized the true parents and therefore posed a lethal threat to both mother and child after birth. To deceive these spirits, temporarily giving the child to another person and then symbolically repurchasing it became a protective strategy.

In Turkish folk culture, naming the child with names carrying protective meaning also served this purpose. Names such as Satı or Satılmış functioned as complementary elements of the ritual. Such names both marked the symbolic sale and conveyed protective qualities against evil spirits. The same applies to Slavic practices: names like Prodan, Kraden, and Nayden were given after the ritual, reflecting its meaning and function.

The Child-Selling Ritual in Turkish Culture

In Turkish folk beliefs, the child-selling ritual is a traditional protective practice primarily observed by families who have previously lost children, aimed at safeguarding their newborn. This ritual is widespread among many Turkish ethnic groups.

In the commonly practiced Turkish version of the ritual, the infant is separated from its parents immediately after birth. In many regions, this separation takes the form of leaving the child outside the house, on the street, or near a mosque. A neighbor, relative, or acquaintance then takes the baby and keeps it for a short time. Subsequently, the biological family repurchases the child in exchange for a symbolic payment. This “sell–repurchase” structure aims to protect the newborn from evil spirits. As a result of the ritual, children are often given names reflecting its nature: Satı for girls and Satılmış for boys are the most common examples.

The strongest mythological foundation of the ritual in Turkish culture is the belief in Albastı/Alkarısı. It is believed that Albastı haunts postpartum women, infants in their forties, and in some accounts, pregnant women. This entity is commonly depicted as a woman with yellow hair, sometimes taking the form of a goat or fox. It is believed that Albastı removes the postpartum woman’s liver and throws it into water, making the postnatal period dangerous and necessitating protective measures. Iron objects, red ribbons, items associated with the hearth, knives, or scissors are traditional elements used to ward off evil spirits.

Various Ritual Examples Among Turkish Peoples

Kyrgyz

In Kyrgyz tradition, the ritual is exemplified through two distinct practices:

• Leg-Through Ritual: Three or five elderly women pass the child between their legs, transferring it from one to another. This act aims to deceive the spirit of death.

• Handing Over to a Mother of Many Children and Repurchasing: The child is taken to a woman who has many surviving children and nursed by her for three, seven, or forty days. During this period, the child does not see its biological parents. At the end of this time, the father repurchases the child for money. The child is given names such as Satıbaldı (Purchased) or Satılgan (Sold).

Uzbeks

In Uzbek tradition, the ritual centers on the cradle. Two elderly women stand on either side of the cradle and perform incantations. After the symbolic sale, the infant is returned to the cradle. In this practice, the cradle functions as a sacred space that determines the child’s fate and ensures its survival.

Karapapaks

Among the Karapapaks, a different “sacrifice–exchange” symbolism is observed. Mothers who have repeatedly lost children go beneath a fruit tree and say, “I give you my entire being; give me yours in return.” They then blow three times toward the base of the tree, uttering “tu tu tu.” This practice is not a direct form of selling but is grounded in the same protective logic of “reciprocal exchange” and substitution.

Tatars

In Tatar culture, the ritual is known as “bala satu.” Immediately after birth, the newborn is given to neighbors. After a period of time, the family repurchases the child for money. Children subjected to this ritual are given names such as satıp aldım (I bought and sold) or satıy (Sold).

Bashkirs

In Bashkir tradition, the ritual involves a highly systematic sell–repurchase process conducted by the midwife. Immediately after birth, the midwife takes the child outside. After visiting several homes, she returns the child to the father’s house. At the window, she calls out, “I have brought a child from a foreign land. Is there anyone who will buy it?” A negotiation follows, and the child is sold to the father in exchange for iron weighing the same as the child’s body. The child is given names such as Demir (Iron), Satıpaldı (Purchased), or Satılmış (Sold).

Various Ritual Examples Among Mongols and Uryanhais

Among the Mongols and Uryanhais, the child-selling ritual is based on the principle of “hiding the child under the stove.” The purpose of this practice is to conceal the child from evil spirits or the angel of death, thereby ensuring its survival.

The Child-Selling Ritual Among Slavic Peoples (Obman)

In Slavic folk beliefs, the child-selling ritual is known as “obman,” meaning deception or trickery. In Slavic traditions, infant death is often attributed to demonic entities or a malevolent fate. Therefore, the ritual’s purpose is to deceive the evil fate into believing the child will not die. It is believed that evil spirits recognize the true parents and thus intend to kill the infant; hence, parenthood must be symbolically “changed.”

In Slavic practices, the first stage of the ritual involves leaving a cloth-wrapped object shaped like a ball in place of the infant beside the postpartum woman. This object serves as a decoy to mislead evil spirits or death itself. It remains beside the mother for seven days.

One of the most characteristic steps of the obman ritual is leaving the newborn in public spaces outside the home. The midwife or mother takes the infant to a road, crossroads, bridge, or churchyard, leaves it there, and then hides nearby, waiting for someone to find the child. This scene is the most symbolic part of the ritual, as it visibly severs the child’s connection to its family. Evil spirits can no longer recognize the child’s true parents. The child’s fate is symbolically reassigned by an outsider. The person who finds the child—or pretends to—is called the kum in the ritual: the term signifies a protective, godparent-like figure. The finder becomes the symbolic parent of the child.

To complete the ritual, the biological parents repurchase the child from the finder. The mother or midwife approaches the person who found the child and buys it back for a symbolic payment. Thus, the ritual is completed through the stages of “finding” and “repurchasing.” It is believed that this process breaks the child’s evil fate.

Changing the child’s name after repurchase is also an important protective measure. The name given at birth is not used. Instead, a new name is chosen to deceive evil spirits. In some cases, a name opposite to the child’s gender is assigned. In Christian families, a Muslim name may be given to the child; in Muslim families, a Christian name may be used. This is part of the ritual. If the child suffers from a serious illness, its name is changed and it is rebaptized, continuing the same belief system.