NOMADIC LIFE AND YURTS IN KYRGYZSTAN

KYRGYZ NOMADIC LIFE

The Kyrgyz have been nomads for as long as anybody can remember. Many tend sheep, and to a lesser extent cattle, and yaks in the highlands. Shepherds on horseback, with lean dogs running beside them, live in yurts and move their animals between valleys in the winter and mountain pastures in the spring. One nomad told the New York Times, “This will always be Kyrgyzstan. That means people will always live in the mountains, always have horses, and always take care of animal. It’s who we are and what we do,”

The Kyrgyz, however, have traditionally been more settled than the Kazakhs. There are skilled horsemen but usually have lived in permanent settlements—where they raised animals — for nine months of the year and then moved to higher pastures for the summer. Many Kyrgyz that are considered nomadic live a semi-nomadic resistance: spending most of the year in their permanent homes and residing yurts in the summer.

Kyrgyzstan is famous for it jailoos, high pastures used for grazing in summer. Unlike the Kazakhs and Mongols, who primarily migrated with their animals long distance from summer pastures in the steppes to winter pastures in the semideserts, the Kyrgyz have traditionally migrated vertically between summer pastures in the mountains and winter grazing areas or settled farms in the valleys or lowlands.

Horses and Livestock in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyz nomadic pastoralists have traditionally raised mostly sheep but also horses, goats. Bactrian camels and yaks. In some places pigs were kept. There are about 1 million cattle and 9.3 million sheep and goats in Kyrgyzstan.

There are roughly twice as many sheep as people in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan produces lots wool. Animals sometimes kept in corals and allowed to roam around the mountain and valley grazing areas. Fires are made with animal dung.

The Selfless Nomad wrote in his blog: “Sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell. In Kyrgyzstan the sheep is a way of life. A culture whose favorite meat is mutton, almost any large gathering will have boiled sheep, handicrafts are made from wool along with their yurts, they also have children’s game played with the knees from sheep chuko. In the village wealth is measured in the amount of sheep or other livestock you own, at the animal bazar you choose a sheep by the amount of fat it has in it’s butt. People go to the lush mountain valleys in summer to graze their sheep and other livestock. Sheep play a huge role in Kyrgyz life and culture. [Source: /theselflessnomad ; May 11, 2014 \=/]

Horses are prized as a means of transportation, source of food, investment and a display of wealth. People use them to get around, herd sheep and carry and pull loads. They are bred and sold, milked and occasionally eaten. They are prized as a source of koumiss. Even people who live in Bishkek and other cities are expected to be excellent horsemen and have horses and saddles back in their home villages. Manhood is often judged by horsemanship.

Kyrgyz Nomadic Lifestyle

The Kyrgyz material life is still closely related to animal husbandry; garments, food and dwellings all distinctively feature nomadism. The nomad Kyrgyz live on the plains near rivers in summer and move to mountain slopes with a sunny exposure in winter. The settled Kyrgyz mostly live in flat-roofed square mud houses with windows and skylights. The nomadic Kyrgyz of Kizilsu graze their livestock herds on low-lying grassland plains in the vicinity of rivers during the summer months, then relocate to higher mountain terrain during the winter, as the higher mountain slopes offer more exposure to the warming rays of the sun during winter.

The diet of the Kyrgyz herdsmen mainly consists of animal byproducts, with some cabbages, onions and potatoes. They drink goat's milk, yogurt and tea with milk and salt. Rich herdsmen mainly drink cow's milk and eat beef, mutton, horse and camel meat, wheat flour and rice. They store butter in dried sheep or cattle stomachs. All tableware is made of wood.

The tents are made of felt, Those that are not yurts are generally square in shape with a frame and fencing made with red willow stakes. The tent frame is first covered with a mat of grass and then a felt covering with a one-meter-square skylight, to which a movable felt cover is attached. The tent is tied down with thick ropes to keep it steady in strong winds and snowstorms. Kyrgyz settlers, in contrast, live in flat-roofed square mud houses with windows and skylights, and make their living as farmers.

Kyrgyz Nomadic Life Under the Soviets

The Soviets encourage the Kyrgyz to continue practicing migratory pastoralism because it was the most efficient way to raise livestock in the rugged, mountainous terrains that makes up most of Kyrgyzstan. In the 1960s, Khrushchev, launched an economic plan aimed at pastoralist that included production of factory-made yurts.

Each family traditionally had its own pastures which it defended against others. This system persisted under the Soviets except that brigades rather than families guarded the interests of the land. The Soviets exerted more control over land use which reduced conflicts over land.

In the Soviet era, many people lived on collective farms that raised livestock. After the collapse of the Soviet Union many of these collective were closed down an many people lots their jobs.

After the Soviet era, many herders left collective farms to work on their own. Discussing the transition to a market economy, one herder told the New York Times, “This is better. You breed your own horses, you sell your own horses. You make koumiss, You sell koumiss. But you have to pay taxes.”

Character of Nomadic Kyrgyz

Describing Kyrgyz nomads in northern Afghanistan, Michael Finkel wrote in National Geographic: “The Kyrgyz are not the most gregarious people. They don’t laugh much. They own no books, no playing cards, no board games. Their one dance is little more than a gentle waving of a handkerchief. With a single exception—a young boy who filled a notebook with marvelous penciled portraits—I met no one who seemed interested in fine art or drawing. A wedding I attended was shockingly joyless, with the exception of a game of buzkashi, a fast and violent sport played on horseback with the headless carcass of a goat as the ball. [Source: Michael Finkel, National Geographic, February 2013 =]

“Kyrgyz manners could be considered gruff. It’s acceptable to walk away in the middle of a conversation. More than once, without asking, a man would thrust his hand into my pocket to see what I kept in there. Or snatch my glasses off my nose to inspect them. The Kyrgyz eat meat by slicing off hunks and stashing the leftovers in a pocket. There’s not much singing. =

“Perhaps this is understandable. This is a place, as the khan says, where “you get old fast.” Maybe, when you are always cold, when you watch a half dozen of your children die, some emotion is sandpapered away. Maybe this land is too windy, too remote, too hard. If it doesn’t kill you, it damages you; it robs you of a certain channel of joy. =

“Until you step into a Kyrgyz yurt. Move aside the heavy felt door. And suddenly everything changes. The outside world disappears, and you’ve walked into a Kyrgyz wonderland. The blankets and carpets and wall hangings and ceiling coverings are all decorated with ornate designs—paisley, flowered, spangled, psychedelic, kaleidoscopic. This is where the family eats and sleeps and escapes, in this ecstatic explosion of color.” =

Yurts

A yurt is weather-resistant, collapsible dwelling consisting of a wooden frame surrounded by felt . According to UNESCO: The yurt is a round structure of walls, poles and a peaked roof covered with canvas and felt, and tightened with ropes. It is light enough for nomads to carry; flexible enough to fold and pack; and sturdy enough to be dismantled and reassembled. The yurt can withstand Mongolia’s fierce spring winds.

Used by the armies of Genghis Khan and found throughout Central Asia, they have a distinctive circular shape and broad dome-like conical roof and are 150 centimeters to 180 centimeters high. Their precursors have been used since 3000 B.C. Yurts are known as yurts in Russia and Central Asia and gers in Mongolia. Ger means “dwelling” in the Mongolian language. Yurt, or yurta, is a Turkic word widely used by Russians and Soviet people — more familiar to Westerners than yurt but one Mongolians may take offense to.

Yurts are warm in the winter, cool in the summer and resist the fiercest winds. The walls are made of felt pads covered with white canvas which provides insulation and wind protection. In some places, the felt is still made the traditional way by dousing fluffed wool with water and rolling it around a pole inside a freshly killed yak skin and then dragging all that around behind a horse.

Nomads in Mongolia, Central Asia, Turkey and Western China still use them. Most yurts are fairly uniform in size. But sometimes some really huge ones are made. The Mongols in the Genghis Khan era used enormous ceremonial ones for in court functions. A three story one was built in Kyrgyzstan for a ceremony honoring famous epic poem, the Manas.

Kyrgyz Yurts

The entrance to the Kyrgyz yurt, or “akoi”, usually faces east and has a door made of pine or birch wood. Floors are lined with felt and covered by shrydaks and sometimes yak skins. They often have a cast iron stove in the middle used for heat, cooking and warming up tea. People stand-up or sit on carpets. Buckets and plastic bottles hang from the walls. Sometimes there are small cabinet used for storing utensils abd dishes. Some town dwellers still keep yurts outside their homes.

The exterior of the Kyrgyz yurt is made with several felt layers fastened by ropes. The inside is divided into two parts. The right side, is the “women’s side' (the eptchi zhak). This is the place for kitchen utensils and dish-washing. Thread, needles, needle-work, knitting and all sorts of females articles are kept in bags on this side. The left side is the “male side” (er zhak). Here one can find saddlery, kumchas (whips), knives for hunting and tools used for cattle-breeding, handicrafts and hunting. There also is an ample supply of carpets, juk blankets, pillows, heaped-up on special places of rest. [Source: kyrgyz.net.my, official Kyrgyzstan tourism website]

Michael Finkel wrote in National Geographic: “Until you step into a Kyrgyz yurt. Move aside the heavy felt door. And suddenly everything changes. The outside world disappears, and you’ve walked into a Kyrgyz wonderland. The blankets and carpets and wall hangings and ceiling coverings are all decorated with ornate designs—paisley, flowered, spangled, psychedelic, kaleidoscopic. This is where the family eats and sleeps and escapes, in this ecstatic explosion of color. [Source: Michael Finkel, National Geographic, February 2013 =]

“In the center of the yurt is either an open fire or an iron stove. There’s no wood in Kyrgyz country. Instead they burn yak dung, which actually emits a sweet odor. Always, there is a teapot on the boil. Usually several. Tea is the staple of the Kyrgyz; they drink it with yak milk and salt, and they drink it constantly. “I drink 120 cups a day,” Er Ali Bai told me. He probably wasn’t exaggerating much.” =

Kyrgyz and Kazakh Yurt-Making Craftsmanship Recognized by UNESCO

In 2014, traditional knowledge and skills in making Kyrgyz and Kazakh yurts was placed on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage list. According to UNESCO: “The yurt is a nomadic dwelling used among the Kazakh and Kyrgyz peoples. It has a wooden circular frame covered with felt and braided with ropes, and can be easily assembled and dismantled within a short period of time. The bearers of yurt-making knowledge are craftspeople, both men and women, who produce yurts and their interior decorations. Yurts are made from natural and renewable raw materials. Men and their apprentices make the wooden frames by hand, along with wooden, leather, bone and metal details. Women make the interior decorations and exterior coverings, ornamented with traditional zoomorphic, vegetative or geometric patterns. [Source: UNESCO ~]

As a rule, they work in community-based groups supervised by experienced women artisans, and employ weaving, spinning, braiding, felting, embroidering, sewing and other traditional handicraft techniques. Yurt creation involves the whole community of craftspeople, and fosters common human values, constructive cooperation and creative imagination. Traditionally, knowledge and skills are transmitted within families or from teachers to apprentices. All festivities, ceremonies, births, weddings and funeral rituals are held in a yurt. As such, the yurt remains a symbol of family and traditional hospitality, fundamental to the identity of the Kazakh and Kyrgyz peoples. ~

According to UNESCO Kyrgyz and Kazakh yurt-making skills were placed on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage list because: 1) Traditional yurt-making knowledge and skills are transmitted from generation to generation in families and through various formal and non-formal educational activities; part of Kyrgyz and Kazakh peoples’ everyday life, yurt-making provides its practitioners with a sense of identity and continuity and highlights a harmonious relation between nature and human creativity.

See Arts and Crafts Under Culture

Kyrgyz Hunters

After the herders leave the highland pastures after the summer the hunters remain. One 67-year-old hunter and yak herder interviewed by the New York Times said he regularly scaled glacier-clad mountain slopes in search of game. He made money from selling marmot skins, yak wool and meat and attributed his extraordinary health and keen eyesight to a diet of yak meat and a refusal to think about “politics or anything negative.”

Outdoorsman Micheal McRae wrote in National Geographic that he came across some Kyrgyz hunters in the Tien Shan mountains and asked them if his group carry some of their packs. Even after he offered to pay them the hunters said, "Forget it. We're not interested...We don't need anything you have."

Sheep and Livestock in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyz nomadic pastoralists have traditionally raised mostly sheep but also horses, goats, Bactrian camels and yaks. In some places pigs were kept desp. Today, there are about 1.3 million cattle; 4.4 million chickens, 933,000 goats, 3.9 million sheep, 61,000 pigs and goats in Kyrgyzstan. [Source: World Alamanac 2013]

There are roughly the same number of sheep as people in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan produces lots wool. Animals sometimes kept in corals and allowed to roam around the mountain and valley grazing areas. Fires are made with animal dung.

Livestock and Pasture Land in Kyrgyzstan

The chief agricultural use of land is pasturage for livestock, mainly sheep, goats, and cattle, the tending of which is the traditional vocation of the Kyrgyz people. An estimated 83 percent of land in agricultural use is mountainous pastureland. In the 1980s, livestock production accounted for about 60 percent of the value of the country's agricultural output; such production included mutton, beef, eggs, milk, wool, and thoroughbred horses. [Source: Library of Congress, March 1996 *]

In 1987, when herds reached their largest numbers, about twice as much grain was used for animal feed as for human consumption. However, the prices of and demand for livestock products dropped significantly in the 1990s relative to those of crops. For this reason and because Soviet-era herds had been supported largely by cheap imported grain, in 1994 livestock contributed less than half the total value of Kyrgyzstan's agricultural earnings. In 1994 the most important livestock products were cow's milk (750,000 tons), beef and veal (70,000 tons), mutton and lamb (50,000 tons), eggs (30,600 tons), wool (56,300 tons), pork products (30,000 tons), and poultry meat (25,000 tons). All of those figures were below the totals for the previous two years. *

Kyrgyz and Horses

Horses are like wings for people of the steppe. Children learn to ride around the same time they begin to walk. Kyrgyz people are no exception. When Kyrgyz children are 7 or 8 years old, they must take horses as their partners and grasp all skills of riding and training them. Kyrgyz people regard horses as holy animals. They ride them, but they generally do not make them pull cart or do farm work or other tough jobs. They treat their precious horses as own family members. In addition to regularly feeding them and providing them with drink, Kyrgyz adorn them with lavish care. Saddles and stirrups are made of the best materials by superior craftsmen. Sometimes their saddles were worth more that their horses. In the old days, Kyrgyz men gave presents of gems and gold to their horses as well as their wives. [Source: Liu Jun, Museum of Nationalities, Central University for Nationalities, kepu.net.cn ~]

Horses are prized as means of transportation, sources of food, investments and displays of wealth. People use them primarily to get around and herd sheep. They are bred and sold, milked and occasionally eaten. They are prized as sources of koumiss. Homemade horse sausages— said to be made from “the best part of the horse”— sells for about $3.25 a kilo. Even Kyrgyz who live in cities are expected to be excellent horsemen and have a horse and saddle back in their home villages. Manhood is often judged by horsemanship.

Making a Kyrgyz style saddle involves fixing leather to a wooden frame with tiny nails arranged in the pattern of a sheep's horn. Horse harnesses, particularly terdik, are greatly valued by Kyrgyz people. Craftsmen — including metal workers and jewelry makers — take great care and use all their knowledge and skill to create the best possible terdiks. Terdik-making is a complicated art integrating numerous functions that have been carefully developed over many centuries. In the horse harness, one can find harmonious amalgamation of different types of applied arts for which a variety of craftsmen are needed. Jewelers, blacksmiths, felt makers, needle women and weavers are equally important for the creation of the horse harness.

In addition to saddles, Kyrgyz people adorn their horses with various kinds of ornaments and clothes. Sometimes these cost more than its owner’s entire wardrobe. A horse’s appearance is regarded as a measure of status, economic level and skill of a housewife. Kyrgyz people think of horses as their close mates and confidants. When young men marry their wives, they must present their best horses to the wives' families; at the same time, brides must take their best horses to their new homes. Horses are viewed as precious gifts to present a good friend or seal a deal. ~

Image Sources:

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, U.S. government, Compton’s Encyclopedia, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Foreign Policy, Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, and various books, websites and other publications.

Last updated April 2016