Traditional Spring Fe Ive Rites of Kazakh Horse Breeders
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Windows to ICH triad of spring festive rites— biye baylau , ayghyr kosu , grant an abundance of milk and ‘to !ll the roots of everything and kymyz murundyk , identi!ed and documented with butter’. * One of the most important ritual components of Traditional Spring Feive Rites A in Terisakkan Village in the northern outskirts of biye baylau is the o+ering of ritual food (mainly butter, cream, Ulytau District, Central Kazakhstan—is a testimony homemade bread, and sweets) to all who may come. Every to nomadic culture surviving up to today. Regarded by its family serves it near their tethered horses. Nobody can pass it of Kazakh Horse Breeders bearers as the most important annual festive event, it starts in by, everyone must try some food, wherever it is o+ered, and early May with !rst spring warmth, new grass, "owers, and say a good wish. Yelena Khorosh foals, opening a new year-round cycle of life reproduction and A culmination of biye baylau is milking. Mares are milked Scienti!c Researcher, National Historic, Cultural and Natural Reserve-Museum, Ulytau a new season of making koumiss, an ancient sacred drink. by women. Men assist them, bringing foals, one by one, to #ese rites feature the remnants of ancient cults and beliefs mares for suckling and then taking them back to allow inherited by the Kazakhs from their nomadic ancestors, for milking. Everyone is silent, because speaking to those notably of the cult of horse and the related cult of Qambar performing the !rst spring milking of mares is not allowed. Ata. #e latter personage is present in the folklore of Uzbek, To protect horse milk against evil spirits, every housewife Kyrghyz, Turkmen, Tajik, and other peoples of Central and performs a qubini ystau ritual, treating a wooden barrel for West Asia as not only a herdsman and a patron of horses making koumiss with butter and then with a smoke of fresh and horse breeders but also as an epic hero and a musician. juniper kindled in a samovar. Among the Kazakhs he is equally known as Zhylkyshy Ata, Ayghyr kosu (stallion’s marriage) is a rite for the adjoining “the ancestor of herdsmen.” stallions in herds. It represents the second rite of the spring One meaning of the word qambar is “a stud-horse.” festive triad and takes place on the same day as biye baylau. Accordingly, the personage of Qambar Ata in Kazakh folklore Women grease stallions’ manes and tails with butter, asking is associated with a stallion: Qambar Ata to give good o+spring to the herds. Men lead stallions out and keep them in check for a while. #en they Horse Patron, Qambar, is a stud-horse of herd, take bridles o+ and let stallions join their herds. #is day ends #e origin of increase and a source of wealth. $ with celebrations accompanied by music performances and traditional competitive games. Up to now, old Kazakh horse breeders mention Qambar Kymyz muryndyk (initiation of koumiss) is a crowning part Ata in the traditional wording of worship, blending both of the spring festive triad, a rite of sharing the !rst koumiss, pre-Islamic and Islamic concepts, at the start of the fes- opening a season of its making and drinking. It starts when tive rites: the !rst koumiss is ready. One a/er another, all families invite each other to taste their koumiss. #e oldest woman of the vil- Qambar Ata, the Horse Patron, lage always comes !rst. She ties a piece of white cloth to a qubi May God make every wish come true! (barrel), whips koumiss and says: ‘clear soul, high-minded May there always be many mares, wishes’. #en she and the other elderly women occupy the May koumiss always be in abundance. most honorable places at the table. #e elderly men and then May all children be healthy, all the other guests follow them and seat themselves. Prior All relatives live in concord to the ritual meal, the oldest man enounces his blessing that And our alliance be stable. starts with the name of Qambar Ata regarded as an inventor God the Great! & of koumiss. 0 #e meal ends with koumiss and good wishes to the hosts. Kymyz muryndyk lasts several days until koumiss #en the oldest man of the village gives his blessing to all, sharing ceremonies in all houses of the village are over. thus launching biye baylau (tethering a mare), an ancient ‘!rst milking’ rite, the initial part of the spring festive triad. Biye baylau incorporates several ritual components. #e !rst one Notes is zheli tartu —driving pegs in the ground and straining a rope 1 Toktabai A. U. 2004. “Horse Cult of the Kazakhs”. (Translated title.) (zheli ) for tethering mares and foals. #e !rst peg is always Originally published as “Культ коня у казахов.” Almaty. p. 25. driven by the elected honored man. Zheli maylau (buttering a 2 Ibid. p. 24. rope) is another ritual act of biye baylau. Women generously 3 Ibid. pp. 25–26. grease ropes and pegs with fresh butter, asking Qambar Ata to 4 Ibid. pp. 26-27. OrnamentalOrna ment al pencilp enci l boxbbox compositioncompos itio n usingusu ing papier-mâché,papi er-m âché , pigmpigments,ents , goggoldld lleaf,eaf, and laclacquerquer © SShohalilhoha lil ShoyShoyakubovakub ov Ayghyr kosu , a rite for adjoining stallions in their herds. © National Historic, Cultural and Natural Reserve-Museum, Ulytau, 2011 ichcourier.ichcap.org VOLUME 33 ICH COURIER 15.