Traditions and customs of the Kazakh people

Kazakhs determined chronology and their own age according to the 12-year calendar of the nomads of Central Asia, which later became known to the world as the Oriental calendar.

According to this calendar each year has a specific name of the animal, and the whole cycle called by the Kazakhs mushel, is the total circulation of Jupiter around the Sun. The complete cycle consists of 5 mushels – 60 years which was considered as the average age of a person.

Mushel is headed by a mouse and is followed by a cow, a snow leopard, a rabbit, a snail, a snake, a horse, a sheep, a monkey, a chicken, a dog and a wild boar. The first mushel corresponds to the age of 1-12 and means childhood, the second – to 12-24 and means youth, the third – to 24-36 and means growing-up, the fourth – to 36-48 and means maturity, the fifth – to 48-60 and means the beginning of aging and then old age. Every person every 12 years came to mushel zhas – the age of mushel which was considered hazardous. Therefore Kazakhs were wary of being 13,25, 37, 49, 61 or 73 years old.

According to the custom, when a person reached mushel zhas he/she gave his/her worn but of good-quality clothes to younger people. The clothes were given with a wish to be rich and pass his/her current age successfully. Some people also sacrificed an animal from their herd.

Kazakhs have the following saying: “A house with children is like a bazaar; a house without children is like a cemetery.” In fact, there is nothing sadder when a family does not have a child for many years.

In old times those families that had lots of children helped childless families by giving them one of theirs. Mostly close relatives did this, but sometimes even strangers did so because it was considered pleasing to God. If a childless woman was promised a child when the child was in the womb, she delivered the newborn into her hem with the placenta.

New parents themselves gave the name to the baby and put asyk zhilik – a certain bone with meat on it – into the baby’s hand. If later the birth parents stated that the child was theirs, the adopter said, “On kolyna asyk zhilik ustatkanmin!” which means, “I put asyk zhilik into the child’s hand!” These words were the critical reason in the argument. Steppe law supported the adopter in this case.

If a childless woman having adopted a child gave birth to her own baby, she began to love the adopted child more because he or she had brought luck to her family.

The Kazakhs always tried to indulge their daughters. Parents never raised their voices to them, dressed them in beautiful garments and tried to fulfill all their wishes. Keeping in mind that the girls would live in a foreign land, they were seated in the honored place – tor.

Kazakh girls always wore bright single-color head scarves, mainly red, though also white and black. When the girls were small, their hair was done up in seven or nine plaits, but when they came of age their hair was braided into one plait.

When a girl was about nine, or sometimes even younger, the ceremony “ear piercing” was held. It was made by an awl or two grains of millet.

In the latter case, two grains of millet were put on both sides of the lobe of an ear at the same distance and strongly pressed. A thread made of red dog’s wool was passed through the newly made hole. It was considered that dog’s wool prevented inflammation and accelerated healing.

Inside the yurta the matchmakers were met by women who threw themselves upon them, sprinkled them with flour, and soiled their faces with soot mixed with sour milk or mud.

Having made much fun of them, the women helped them tidy up, led them to the honored place and sat around them in groups. The guests were treated to a meal and then asked various tricky questions, riddles, asked to repeat a tongue-twister or continue a song.

Trying to muddle the matchmakers, the hosts disconcerted them by trifles, and when the matchmaker was taken aback, he was led out and showered with cold water. If the matchmaker turned out to be obstinate, they could push him in a water reservoir, and then give him a long time to get to dry land. Young women and girls could tie ropes around the matchmakers’ necks and walk them around the village.

They could also tie a headscarf around the guest’s neck or, having been put on the bride’s saukele (national head-dress) the guest was sat backwards on the ox and driven out to the steppe. Then, seeing him shake in his saddle and, after galloping some distance, roll down helplessly on the ground, the women laughed heartily.

According to Kazakh traditions, a special yurt – ak otau – was part of the bride’s dowry. According to the tradition the wooden parts of the yurta called suyekteri – bones, were made by the bride’s relatives and the felt cover – zhabuy, were prepared by the groom’s side.

The ceremony of ak otau setting was performed by women, who had many children. The women who had no children would do some other preparation for the wedding. The ceremony was started by a respected woman, who mounted a white mare and took the long pole – bakan – supported the shanyrak (the top of the yurt, which constituted its central frame while others attached long poles – uyk – to it.

The latter were tied to kerege – the so called yurt’s wings. When the frame of ak otau was ready and covered by special felts the women began to decorate it outside and inside. The groom gave a gift – bakan ustar – to the woman who supported the shanyrak. Other women were given gifts – otau zhabar and silver ware – irghe teber.

There were also gifts for show – korimdik, and others like kerege koterer, shanyrak koterer, uyk shanshar, tuirlik zhabar, tundik zhabar, uzik zhab and bau-shu baylar.

Kazakh women were giving birth to a baby standing up and hanging on a lasso or bau, a strong and beautifully woven ribbon There was often used a kogen, a special long leash for livestock offspring, which was a sacred significance for the nomads.

Kogen, for good luck, was stretched inside the yurt from right to left. When the contractions became more frequent, to help a pregnant woman go through labor more easily and have a quicker delivery, one of the close female relatives began to prepare one of the quicker-cooking dishes, such as kuyrdak – braised pieces of lamb’s liver, heart, lungs and meat.

She would take a knife and sharpen it by grinding it on the edge of the pot while repeating the words, “Kara kazan buryn pisse me, kara katyn buryn tua ma?”, which literally means “Will that woman deliver first or will the pot boil up first?”, making the metal-grinding noise louder while frying the food more intensively.

After the successful delivery everybody had to eat the prepared dish. For the baby’s neck to get strong soon so that he/she could hold his/her neck, the bare neck portion of a sheep’s spine was hung on some high place. A boy’s umbilical cord was tied to a horse’s mane, while a girl’s one was kept in a trunk.

After birth, the child was not shown to strangers until a forty-day period had passed, because the first forty days were considered to be critical in the life of a baby. The ceremony took place on the fortieth day after the birth of the child. For the occasion, dastarkhan was prepared, and female relatives and neighbors from the village were invited.

The ceremony started with forty stones and silver rings being placed into a bathing bowl. Then every woman would pour forty spoons of water into the bowl expressing her wishes to the baby. The most respected female relative was honored to use this water for bathing, who would say, “Oryz omirtkan bekisin, kyryk kabyrgan zhyldam katsyn!” (“Let your 30 vertebrae and 40 ribs strengthen fast”).

The ritual to cut the baby’s first hair and nails was entrusted to the same woman. The first cut hair was rolled up on a palm in the form of a ball and put in a piece of fabric which was either sewn up to the child’s clothes on the right shoulder or stored in the trunk while the first cut nails were buried in a clean place in the ground.

The water in which the baby had been bathed was poured in the cattle shed by one of the daughters-in-law. It was believed that this would make the baby wealthy. Valuable items, which were on the bottom of the bowl, were taken by the women who took part in the baby’s bathing.

A daughter-in-law would never call her husband’s relatives by their real names. She also had to think of nicknames for his brothers and sisters.

The daughter-in-law was closely scrutinized by the relatives from her first day in her husband’s village and was tested by at tergeu. Here, quick wit, ability to compare, humor, and the appropriateness and harmlessness of her jokes were all critically evaluated, because the invention of nicknames that appropriately reflect the character traits of each person is an art that not everyone can master.

Courteous daughters-in-law did not use the names of things or concepts related to the names of the father-in-law or other members of the family, but would replace them by indirect words that conveyed the meaning in another form. Thus, if there was a word “falcon” in a person’s name it was replaced by the word “hawk.” The word “barrow” could be replaced by the word “hill”.

The husband’s brothers were usually given humorous nicknames: a lazy man was called “a hard worker” and so on.

Often the birth of a baby coincided with the birth of domestic animals. If so, the newborn horse or camel colt was given to the child and considered the child’s property.

According to an old belief, the future of the baby was closely connected with this animal. It was called bassire and was given special attention marking it out of the rest of the livestock. The animal was carefully looked after and was neither ridden, nor slaughtered, nor sold, nor used as a draught animal.

It was looked after as well as the child. It was thought that the child growing up together with his horse or camel colt would get attached to his own bassire from an early age and become more responsible. He learned from his childhood to value and take care of livestock – the main wealth of the Kazakhs.

Although this practice was more concerned with the education of boys, there were cases when the parents gave bassire to their newborn girls.

The Kazakhs have always regarded childlessness as a great grief. Though it was characteristic for the Kazakhs to indulge their children, they paid great attention to their upbringing/education.

Five- to six-year-old girls learnt from their mothers and grandmothers how to sew, embroider, make carpets and other housework. Boys’ duties included tethering the lambs and sheep-herding. Alongside the children’s participation in housekeeping, the parents cared about the development of their talents.

When a guest visited an aul, all the kids gathered after supper near the yurt and, according to the tradition, asked the guest to demonstrate his abilities: play the dombra, sing a song, play tricks, ask riddles, etc. If the guest was not able to do anything he was forced to crow or moo.

Thanks to this tradition, children learnt a lesson; such cases warned them from being in the place of such an ill-starred guest.

Major part of Kazakhs used to be nomads and lived on cattle-breeding, but there were groups of people who made their living by agriculture and fishing. In each of these groups there were certain customs of mutual assistance and display of charity to the poor.

This was expressed by the custom when a part of the family’s income was given to those families which lost their breadwinner. Help could be given to lonely elderly people, disabled, widows or orphans. The custom held by cattle breeders was called kogendik, that by farmers – keusen, by fishermen – oli sybaga.

These customs were strictly kept and did not cause any objection. Apart from these rituals there was one more called shulen taratu. It was held by some special people from wealthy part of the community: sultans, bais, warriors and judges. Shulen taratu was usually held in autumn when people were getting ready for winter.

Those who intended to hold this ritual informed all poor people in the community beforehand and gathered them to distribute cattle, money, clothing and other things. Shulen taratu was not considered as the donation of religious nature but was observed as common care for one’s neighbor and served as an example of humanity.

When a new family came to settle in an aul, new neighbors arranged yerulik – giving help for them. While the newcomers were unloading their camels and unpacking their goods and chattels, people from neighboring houses would bring them drinks and meals.

Taking into account that the newly arrived were tired from the long travelling, and their equipment for cooking meals was packed in trunks, this treatment was very helpful. Having fed the newcomers the volunteers began to aid them. They untied numerous bales, sorted out the yurt’s accessories and helped to set it up.

Thanks to yerulik new dwellers in the aul quickly got acquainted with their neighbors so the adaptation to the new place of living was easier and ran more smoothly. Quite often, thanks to this wise custom, unfamiliar or little-known people turned to be close friends, ready to help in case of trouble and to share every joy.

If some of the neighboring family intended to move, it was invited for ayrylysar kozhe – soup of parting. During the meal former neighbors thanked each other for help and cooperation. The meal finished with the wish of a future meeting in good health.