ABSTRACT
This chapter is focused on traditional models of power, including the power of Manas and other ancestors that manifest in diverse sacred sites (mazars). As with any living tradition, sacred site pilgrimage is accompanied by the creation of new forms and meanings. The author suggests that there is a direct connection between the renewal of sacred site pilgrimage in Perestroika and the early post-Soviet period and the process of state building in Kyrgyzstan. The author argues that the building of a sacred geography was on the one hand, a folk and grassroots approach of marking and structuring the state territory, and on the other hand, engaging with well-known sacred sites was a way for newly emerging political powers to legitimize and strengthen their position. Preserving special meanings and carrying specific social functions, sacred sites thus help construct a heterotopy in Kyrgyzstan.
