It feels like we are entering a time machine. At the gates, we are greeted by two warriors dressed in traditional costumes and headgear, with spears in their hands, sitting on their horses. “Horses were integral to a nomadic lifestyle. Most children would learn to ride a horse when they were as young as three years old,” says Viktoriya, our guide from Almaty, Kazakhstan. Two young women kitted out in colourful velvet costumes shower us with candies to welcome us. We bend down and pick them up. This tradition, called ‘shasu’, is supposed to bring visitors good luck.
Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country in Central Asia, is a place of varied landscapes from the towering Tien Shan mountains to limpid lakes, glacial streams and rivers, deep gorges and the vast steppes and desert. The Kazakhs were nomadic people in the past, living with their animals and moving from place to place in search of green pastures and food. They lived in their circular, portable homes called yurts, which they built out of flexible birch or willow wood and covered with felt to stay warm. With the advent of Soviet rule, they were forced to settle down in one place and gradually, the nomadic lifestyles disappeared. Today, yurts exist only in the remote mountains for the herders or those who want to camp. In 2014, traditional knowledge and skills in making Kyrgyz and Kazakh yurts were placed on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage list.
I am at the recreated Hun Ethno village in the Talgar Gorge, just 35km from Almaty, surrounded by mountains, evergreen forests and glacial streams—a great window into the nomadic past of the Kazakh people. Entering the village, we are led to a courtyard where we are served black tea in handleless cups, kumis (fermented mare’s milk) which is sour and pungent and supposed to be great for gut health, and freshly fried baursak that are like doughnuts. Akjanat, our guide from the village, explains that baursak can be eaten with anything, but goes best with jam or preserves.
Under a canopy, a grandmother in traditional robes and her young grandsons sing folk songs energetically while playing the traditional pear-shaped dombyra, a two-string instrument with a long, thin neck. Kazakh researchers have discovered petroglyphs depicting a dombyra and people dancing that go back as far as 4,000 years. The young boys show us how they beat the wool to clean it, and the grandmother makes yarn on a spindle, while Akjanat shows us traditional ways to grind grain and make flour using an old stone contraption.
From here, we are led into a spacious yurt furnished with handmade carpets in jewel tones, colourful ornaments, wooden furniture, dishes, pillows and blankets with ethnic motifs. Traditional robes and fox skins hang above us. The top of the yurt is open, with just one door which is both the entrance and the exit. Akjanat explains how a yurt would be built: the first step was to fix the door, which would always be south-facing so that its occupants could determine the time by the location of the sun. “Never step on the threshold as you enter as that’s where the angels sit, and enter the yurt with your right leg first,” she cautions.
“A yurt could be assembled or dismantled in a couple of hours and it was always teamwork,” explains Akjanat. They were usually built in a place that had close access to a water source. The Kazakhs built yurts with a willow kerege or latticework frame and then covered it with thick felt. The top of the yurt, known as “shanyrak”, is a skylight and a hole for smoke to leave. Cooking was always done in the open unless the weather was particularly bad. The shanyrak was a family heirloom and passed on from generation to generation. There was a lever to open the top, in case the weather was fine. “The Kazakhs say that a yurt is a model of the universe and the shanyrak is a symbol of the sun,” says Akjanat.
How did families share their space? “The left side was for women and the right side for men. Usually, the men hung their kills on their walls and women kept their vessels and belongings. All the clothes and valuables were stored in ornate steel chests with decorations”. Akjanat explains how small babies were carried on horse or camelback in special wooden cradles without falling off. With small pillows under their arms, they were tied up and covered with a red cloth emblazoned with motifs. No one was allowed to see a baby’s face till it was at least 40 days old.
We are treated to some traditional games and fun traditions: ‘Kyz Kuu’, which literally translates to ‘chase the girl’, involves a man pursuing a girl dressed in a bright national costume on horseback and attempting to kiss her. If the man fails, she gets to chase him to the start line and whip him. We see experienced riders who perform acrobatics on horseback—they ride backwards, fall off and ride a horse all while the horse is in motion. Wrestling on horseback, where rivals try to knock off the opponents through grabs and holds, is also an excellent training exercise as it develops their grip strength on the saddle.
I enjoy the traditional dance performance where the men stand on their horses and graceful women and agile children dance on the floor. The music is lively and the movements energetic, and we can’t help but shake a leg. Kazakh music is based on folklore and was orally passed on from generation to generation. Lunch is served inside a yurt with salads, local breads, vegetables, grilled meats and slices of watermelon. Post lunch, we try our hand at riding horses and archery. It gives us a feel of the nomadic lifestyle, which has sadly been relegated to the past. I’m glad that the Kazakh people work hard at preserving and showcasing their traditions and culture, which would otherwise be lost to the winds of time.
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