10 THINGS THAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO BECOME A REAL KAZAKH
Kazakhstan citizens respect and keep traditions which have deep roots and rich history. Sometimes it could be complicated to know all of them, thus WE have made the list of the main traditions and rituals that can bring you closer to Kazakhstan.
Try beshbarmak and kurt
Source: mfa.kz
Beshbarmak is one of the most important dishes among Kazakh people. From the ancient time the main dish of nomads was meat. Succulent soup of beshbarmak saved Kazakh nomads from the harsh winter and cold.
Beshbarmak or besbarmak translates as “five fingers”, because it’s traditionally eaten with one’s fingers.
It’s the whole art in serving this dish and every housewife has her own recipe and techniques in cooking beshbarmak. Before serving the dish, guests are delighted with the beef head which symbolizes the respect. Separating the parts of the head between guests and family members is very important ritual. Senior guest gives the frontal part to men, jaw — to women, the right ear is not served, because it’s a talisman for the family prosperity.
The peculiarity of this dish is that only the youngest men in the house bring the tabak (a big round plate) with beshbarmak to the guests.
Usually beshbarmak is cooked from horse meat, but in the West part of Kazakhstan it can be cooked from fish.
Kurt is a dairy salty product made from drained sour milk. It can be made in a variety of forms, including rolled into balls, sliced into strips, and formed into chunks.
Drink shubat and kumis
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Kumis is a fermented horse or mare milk. It has a sour taste, and the drink is full of vitamins and has a positive effects to your body such as increases metabolism, improves cardiovascular system, enhance immunity and many others.
Shubat is fermented camel sparkling white milk which is more stodgy and greasy than kumis. It’s a popular drink in Kazakhstan and in Turkmenistan.
Visit Kazakh traditional toi (celebration)
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When Kazakhs celebrate the most important events they invite close relatives and friends. The Kazakh celebration is not the celebration without shashu — when the women of respectable age throw candies and coins to the guests and it’s believed that this ritual will bring luck.
You will listen to toasts and you have to say a toast to show your respect and wish all the best to the hosts. Toasts in Kazakhstan could be creative, more like poems or songs.
You will definitely have fun and explore the whole new world of Kazakh society.
Usually guests are late for the celebrations. If you are invited at 19:00, you can be sure that the ceremony will begin at 20:00. And at the end of the celebration, event organizers give plastic bags to women, who can take everything they want such as candies, a slab of cake, nuts, fruits, and other dishes.
Take part in traditional Kazakh game
Source: im6.asset.yvimg.kz
There are many traditional games that Kazakhs like to play. One of them is kokpar, the game for two teams. One player picks the sheep carcass up from the ground, the other horsemen from the opposite team has to take it. The winner is the team whose player reaches the finish line first.
The next popular game is aksyuek (white bone). This game is usually played in the bright summer nights, and everyone including children can take participation in this game. Participants are divided into two teams. The aim is to find the bone thrown by the leader of the game and participants have to find it. The winner is the team who first finds the bone.
Put on traditional clothing
Source: beforethey.com
Kazakhs decorated their costumes with different beautiful elements as fur trim, jewelry, leather. Clothing was rational and showed the social status of its owner. They wore different types of cloths including hats (takiya, boric, tymak, kalpak, balshyk, saukele) outer clothing (shapan, camisole, ton) and shoes (masi, kebis).
Prepare baursaks
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Source: @openkazakhstan
Baursak is puffy fried bread served on special occasions. It’s believed that our dead loved ones can feed the smell of fried bread and enjoy it with us. Baursaks can have round or square forms. You can vary the recipe of the bread as well, but the main ingredients are flour, salt, dried yeast, lightly warmed milk, eggs.
Listen to aitys
Source: gov.kg
Aitys is a song competition between two akyns (poets and singers) who use the national musical instrument called dombra. During aitys, akyns perform improvised songs and express people’s thoughts, feelings and social problems, but in a funny way.
Visit Bayterek
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“Bayterek” is an emblem of Astana which was opened in 2002. “Bayterek” means young, strong and growing tree and symbolizes the country which keeps its historical roots and seeks the future prosperity. There is a legend that Samruk — the holly bird — laid a golden egg in the nest that symbolizes the sun and hope. And every citizen at least once visited one of the first symbols of Kazakhstan.
Try to create korpe (patchwork)
Source: amu.kz
Korpe is a handcraft carpet which replaces chairs, bed, blanket. Nowadays you can meet a pile of korpe almost in every house and usually it used when hosts invite guests. The first step is the creation of mattress, and traditionally it’s made from sheep or camel wool, but now you can meet the natural materials as cotton. The cover of korpe can be made from several patches sewed together. Also you can decorate it with traditional ornaments, and this korpe is called oyukorpe, which means decorated patchwork.
See the bercut hunt (golden eagle)
Source: kazgeo28
The hunting with bercut was an important part of Kazakh culture. From the ancient times, bercut was the most beloved bird among Middle East bercutchi — so called birdmen, who train bercuts.
The golden eagle is a very large, dark brown raptor with broad wings and has very sharp eyesight which makes them ideal hunters. Golden eagles are sometimes considered the most superlative fliers among eagles and perhaps among all raptorial birds. These features make the bercut one of the fastest moving animals on the Earth.
Источник: http://en.weproject.kz/kazahstan/10-things-that-you-have-to-do-to-become-a-real-kazakh