Kazakh

By VADIM P. KURYLËV

Kazaks, Kazak, Khazak, Kazakhs

The territory of the Kazakhs, known as Kazakhstan, is quite large. It stretches from the Balkhash Lowlands in the east to the Ural River in the west (about 3,000 kilometers) and from the Syr Darya and Chu river systems and the Tobol River in the south to the Imum and the Irtysh rivers in the north (about 2,000 kilometers). Basically the region consists of steppe, desert, and semidesert lands, which in the east and southeast are bounded by the Altai and Tianshan massifs. In the extreme northwest are the southern marshes of the Common Syrt; in the south the wide, flat Pre-Caspian Lowlands and, further on, the desert peninsula of Mangyshlak. The Ural River flows almost all the way across the Common Syrt and the Pre-Caspian Lowlands, emptying into the Caspian Sea. To the west, Europe begins at the Ural Mountains, and Asia is to the east.

Precipitation is rare almost everywhere other than the mountains, and especially so in the desert regions, where it is less than 10 centimeters per year. Only in the foothills and mountains is rainfall plentiful, ranging from 40 to 160 centimeters per year. Winds blow across the entire region; in the steppe lands these winds turn into severe snowstorms (buran) in the winter, and in the fall (and less often in the summer) into dust storms. The variations in topogaphy and climate have also produced marked variation in the distribution of water sources. Although there are about 85,000 lakes, many are in the mountains in the north, with hardly any in the desert and semidesert regions. The water level in lakes and rivers rises and falls markedly with the seasons, and during droughts some dry up completely in the summer months. The water in the great majority of lakes is saline. Fresh water is found only in the steppe lands and the mountains and in the flatland along the major rivers and lakes. The two seas—the Caspian and Aral—and the largest lakes, including Balkhash, are isolated basins. Only major rivers such as the Ishim, Irtysh, and Tobal cross the Kazakh region and extend into other regions.

The Mangyshlak Peninsula, along with the low mountain ridges of the Aktar and Karatar, is distinguished by deep hollows, the deepest of which—Karagie—is 132 meters below sea level. To the east from Mangyshlak there extends the desert plateau of Ust Urt. Both of these places are now used by the Kazakhs for winter pasturage. To the northeast lie the Pre-Caspian Lowlands bordering the spurs of the Urals and the low mountain massif of Mugogzhari. Further east lie the Turgay plateau and, south of it, the Tuvan Lowlands filled by the desert of Kyzylkum. To the north of the Aral Sea are the sandy massifs of the great and small Balger. The desert of the Pre-Aral Kanakum is north of the Aral Sea. The Aral Sea has recently become well known, as it is gradually growing shallow and creating an ecological crisis. Since ancient times, the Kazakhs have used this region for winter pasturage for their cattle.

The flora is diverse. Many varieties of grain (feather grass, wormwood, and tipchak—an oatlike grass that grows in steppes and deserts) flourish in the steppe in the north; the main summer pasturage is found here. Wormwood and grasses predominate in semidesert regions. Most of Kazakh territory is desert covered by drought-resistant bushes, small brush, and different grasses called salt grass (solyanka). In the sandy deserts are sand wormwood, sage, acacias, and haloxyon (saksaul). In the flatland are tugainye woods, and around the lakes reeds are found in abundance. The foothills are covered with poppies and tulips. Higher up in the mountains are bushes and mixed woods of aspen and birch and, even higher, coniferous forests. In the forest belt, fed by the glacial streams, are alpine and subalpine meadows with a rich variety of flora. The soil in Kazakhstan is mostly fertile. In the north it is chernozem, to the south chermits soils are most common, and in the desert regions there is a mix of red-brown, grey-brown, and sandy soils. Agriculture in the desert regions requires irrigation.

Kazakhs are a Central Asian people who live mainly in Kazakhstan, formerly the Kazakh SSR. The so-called Kirghiz SSR was established as part of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic in 1920 and renamed the Kazakh SSR in 1926. In 1991 it declared its sovereignty and independence and began to be called the Republic of Kazakhstan. Toward the end of 1991 it voluntarily joined the other states that formed the Common-wealth of Independent States. The Republic of Kazakhstan is a multicultural state, with members of numerous different ethnic groups living there. A significant portion of the population is Slavic, mainly Russians and Ukrainians, who constitute nearly half the population in some northern areas. Also living in Kazakhstan are Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Turkmens, Uighur, Tatars, Dungans, Germans, Koreans, Greeks, Kurds, Turks, Mordvins, and many peoples from the Caucasus, especially the northern Caucasus.

Further to the east, the Kazakhs occupy the southern region of the western Siberian plain, to the south of which spreads the fine summer pasturage that the Kazakhs affectionately call the Sary-Arka. Yet further to the south is the desert of Betpak-Dala. The Chu River, its waters flowing from the west, separates the southern part of Betpak-Dala from the sands of Muyunkum. From the southeast to the northwest the land is framed by the mountain ridges of the Karatay. To the east of the Betpak-Dala Desert lies Lake Balkhash and, to the south of the lake, the well-known province of Gernirechye, or, as the Kazakhs call it, Jetys.

As with the flora, there is also a rich variety of fauna including 155 varieties of mammals, 480 of birds, 49 of reptiles, 11 of amphibians, 150 of fish, and many invertebrates.

The self-name of the Kazakh people—“Kazakh” or “Kazak”—has existed, according to written sources, since the seventeenth century and was generally known to neighboring peoples by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Russians, who called them “Kazakhs” or “the Kazatskaye” (or also “Kazattskaya”), subsequently began to call them “Kyrgyz” (although the actual Kyrgyz are the Karakyrgyz or Will Stone Kyrgyz), “Kazak-Kyrgyz,” “Kyrgyz-Kaisak,” and “Kyrgyz-Kazakh.” This occurred because the Russians sought to differentiate the Kazakhs from the Russian Cossacks who had settled in neighboring regions of Siberia at the beginning of the eighteenth century, or in Kazakh territory itself. Only in 1926, when the Kazakhs gained national autonomy, was the name of the Kirghiz ASSR changed to Kazakh and the Kazakhs regained the use of their traditional name.

The wide variation in the landscape and variable distances from the oceans have led to a climate that is basically continental but with marked regional variation. In the north the winters are cold and long, with temperatures dipping to as low as -45° C. In the central regions winters are moderate, and in the south they are gentle and short, almost without snow. Summers are dry and range from warm in the north to hot in the south.

According to the 1989 census, there were 8,136,000 Kazakhs in the lands of the Soviet Union, with 6,535,000 in Kazakhstan. As of the 2009 census, it was estimated that 63.1 percent of the population of Kazakhstan was Kazakh. If the percentage remained the same in 2011, about 9.7 million of the total population of Kazakhstan in 2011 (15,522,373) would be Kazakh (CIA 2011). Kazakhs also live in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan in Central Asia and in Russia. Over 1 million live in other countries, mainly China, Mongolia, and Turkey, and in Europe.

The Kazakh language belongs to the Northwest or Kipchak Group of Turkish languages of the Ural-Altaic Family. Together with Karakalpak and Nogay it forms the Kipchak-Nogay Subgroup of the Kipchak languages. Kazakh has three dialects—Western, North-Eastern, and Southern.

In the second 500 years of the first millennium A.D. a process of feudalization took place. Powerful feudal states such as the Old Turkish, Tyurgesh, Karluk, Oguz, Kumak, and Kipchak ruled the region, with each tending to replace the next. In 1219-1220 Mongol Tatars conquered the region; their rule restricted cultural and economic development. The emergence of the Kazakhs as a distinct ethnic group occurred in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with the rise of the Kazakh Khanate. There were three powerful entities called zhuz (Russian: orda): the Old Zhuz in southern Kazakhstan and the Semirechie, the Middle Zhuz in central and northern Kazakhstan, and the Young Zhuz in western Kazakhstan. At the start of the nineteenth century the Bukeev Zhuz broke away from the Young Zhuz and occupied the Pre-Caspian steppe between the Volga and Ural rivers. Each of the zhuzes consisted of a number of tribes, which were further subdivided into smaller tribes and clans within the tribes. The clans were unified internally by common ancestry.

During this period, the Kazakh economy also changed markedly. Trade increased, agriculture developed, and the first industrial enterprises, mainly devoted to the processing of agricultural raw materials, were developed. The territory was also settled by large numbers of peasants from European Russia, and Kazakhstan became a multicultural region. The presence of the Russians affected the Kazakhs in a variety of ways. On the one hand, they lost large tracts of the best pasturage because this land was allotted to the settlers. On the other hand, the settlers were involved in the development of Kazakh agriculture and the emergence of a Kazakh ethnic consciousness. A Kazakh bourgeoisie was born, and a working class began to emerge—both entirely new social groupings for the Kazakhs.

World War II interrupted the peaceful development of the Kazakh Republic. More than 1.2 million citizens of Kazakhstan were drafted into military service and participated in the defense of the USSR. According to data from 1946, 96,638 Kazakh veterans received decorations and medals of distinction.

All of these factors led to serious socioeconomic complications and to a shortage of industrial goods and food products.

The modern [late twentieth century] political life of the Kazakhs is very active. Legislators are passing a series of laws that are fundamentally changing the lives of the people of Kazakhstan. The president of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev, was popularly elected and enjoys the support of most of the population, especially the Kazakhs. In September 1991, the Communist party of Kazakhstan was renamed the Socialist party. Other parties have arisen, including the Social Democratic party, the Alash Party of National Independence, and the Republican party, along with many social movements. Testing at the atomic proving ground of Semipalatinsk Oblast has been discontinued. The Aral Sea Basin has been declared a zone of ecological disaster, and measures are being taken to rectify the aftereffects of this catastrophe. Among the laws adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, notable are the laws connected with the development of the culture and language of the Kazakh people as well as those of other ethnic groups living in the territory of Kazakhstan. The Kazakh language has become the state language, although Russian continues to be the language of international relations. Legislation about teaching and record keeping in the languages of other nationalities in areas where they live in dense concentration has also been passed.

During the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries the “traditional” culture of the Kazakhs was established, including house type, furnishings, utensils, clothing, food, rituals, art, and oral tradition. All customs and beliefs were strongly influenced by the nomadic and seminomadic animal husbandry that was the basis of Kazakh life.

During World War I large numbers of Kazakhs were mobilized for rear-echelon work. In 1916 an anticolonial movement flared up, only to be harshly suppressed; 300,000 Kazakhs were forced to migrate beyond the boundaries of Russia, some to China and Mongolia. During the 1917 Revolution and the civil war and in subsequent periods, the Kazakhs shared the same fate as other peoples of the USSR. On the one hand, a backward, agrarian region was transformed into an agricultural, industrialized republic. As a result, a high culture emerged, characterized by literature, art, science, and technology. These years, however, were also marked by cruel famines, especially during the years of massive collectivization, which for the pastoral Kazakhs was accompanied by enforced settlement, epidemics, and many Stalinist repressions that killed millions of people. For example, during the famines of the 1930s the populations of entire villages perished—hundreds of thousands of Kazakh families. Those who survived left their property and herds behind and set off for Siberia, Central Asia, and other regions. Approximately 1 million Kazakhs dispersed in China, Mongolia, Afghanistan, and other countries. Nearly 200,000 of these returned in 1934; the rest remained abroad. During the 1930s, mass purges and campaigns against “enemies of the people” were carried out among the Kazakhs, as among the other peoples of the USSR. As a result of all these tragic events, 1.75 million Kazakhs perished—nearly 40 percent of the total population.

During the war the Kazakh homeland also played a vital role in the country's economy, providing coal, oil, and various metals and furnishing the army with food products. Also during the war, Kazakhstan accommodated more than 1 million Russians, Ukrainians, Belarussians, and other peoples of the Soviet Union evacuated from frontline areas.

To this one must add the irreparable changes in the ecosystem as a result of 40 years of systematic nuclear testing in the Semipalatinsk region. The air, earth, rivers, and lakes of the once-blossoming region were contaminated with radioactivity in a large area around the testing ground; the people, especially the children, as well as the animals and plants are suffering from the effects of these acts.

Fundamental economic changes have come about. Joint-stock companies, cooperative works, and the privatization of businesses have been authorized. The number of farm-based economies is growing. Land is given to farmers for unlimited use, including the right to inherit it. On collective and state farms, leases are receiving wide-spread distribution; anyone may rent a portion of land to cultivate crops, in return for a portion of the harvest but is entitled to sell the remainder at market price. Since 1992, in Kazakhstan as in many other republics of the former USSR, free prices for food and industrial products have been introduced, with the exception of products of primary necessity. In short, a market economy is being developed.

Much archaeological and documentary evidence establishes the continuous history of Kazakhstan from the Late Paleolithic era. In the late Bronze Age (end of the second to the beginning of the first millenia B.C.) the inhabitants of the steppe region began practicing nomadic animal husbandry, mining, and the production of bronze wares. More than 100 settlements dating to the Bronze Age, with foundaries for the fusion of metals and the manufacture of weapons, tools, and ornaments, have been discovered. In the following period (roughly from the first millenium B.C. to the Christian Era) the nomadic tribes of Kazakhstan began to consolidate into larger units—the Saks (Scythians) tribal union in southern (Semirechie), eastern, and central Kazakhstan, and the Savromat Confederacy to the west and partly to the north. Ideologically, the cults of the sun and fire dominated worship of the goddess-guardian of the domestic hearth and of fertility and totemism, and magical practices were retained. The well-known Scythian-Saksian style flourished, renowned to this day for its artistry and expressivity. Subsequently, new, more powerful tribal unities developed, these showing early signs of centralized state power: Usuni, and Kangyugi (in southern Kazakhstan the Semirechie), which maintained contacts with Bactria and the empires of Kushan, Panthia, and China.

In the first quarter of the eighteenth century the survival of the Kazakhs was threatened by invasions of the Jungans from the east in 1713, 1718, and 1722-1723, a period known as “the years of the great disaster.” The Jungans seized a significant amount of Kazakh land, and some Kazakh tribes and clans fled west and established protective ties with the Russians. In 1731 the Kazakhs of the Young Zhuz (Khan Abulkhair) and some from the Middle Zhuz accepted Russian citizenship. The unification of Kazakhstan with Russia was completed by the 1860s, and, as a result, the Kazakh steppe was ringed by Russian military lines and fortifications, which served to strengthen the Russian Empire. The basic military force was drawn from Cossack settlements, to which were given over 67 million hectares of the best Kazakh land. During the unification process the power of the Kazakh khans was weakened (the Young Zhuz in 1824 and the Nukeev Zhuz in 1845), and a new administrative system based on the rule of the czar was introduced. The new system delineated the following territories: West-Siberian, later Steppe (with the Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk regions); Orenburg, with its Ural and Tungai provinces; Turkestan territory, with its Syr-Dal'in and Semirechie provinces. In turn the provinces (oblasts) were subdivided into regions (uezds) and the regions into districts (volosts). Kazakh lands were declared to be state property and granted for usufruct without a time limit.

Despite these horrific human losses, the national economy of Kazakhstan nevertheless developed steadily. In the prewar years, 200 large-scale industrial enterprises were established, land-tenure regulations for the former Kazakh nomads and seminomads were implemented, and livestock raising and agriculture were improved.

In the postwar period, the Kazakhs endured several unfortunate events. In the mid-1950s, there was a mass “opening up” of the virgin steppe lands. With the help of 640,000 immigrant workers who arrived to aid the Kazakhs, more than 1.8 million hectares of land were plowed and sown—that is, approximately 60 percent of the total area of the country's newly opened land. In 1956 Kazakhstan provided the state with more than 1 billion puds (36 billion lbs/16.38 billion kg) of bread. This was more than in the eleven preceding years combined. The virgin land epic was ill-conceived, however. Over a huge area the most fertile layer of soil (humus) was destroyed by erosion. In addition, the lands previously used for pasture, the best ones, were reduced, which seriously undermined the basis of the Kazakhs' traditional occupation, livestock raising. The ecological situation in Kazakhstan deteriorated, as the plowing up of the steppes resulted in a reduction of the number of livestock and the stocks of wild animals and birds and the drying up of the rivers and lakes.

An ecological tragedy is coming about with the unprecedented drying up of the Aral Sea. Because of the shortage of water, the dispersal of poisonous chemical fertilizers, and the general contamination of the land and water, everyone living within a few kilometers of the Aral Sea is perishing. The tragedy affects not only Kazakhs but other peoples as well—the Turkmens, the Uzbeks, and the Karakalpaks who live in the basin of the Aral Sea.

In the rural areas, less than one-half of all children are provided with preschool institutions; most medical facilities are ill-equipped, lacking medicine and medical supplies; and hospital beds are poorly distributed. The homes of rural Kazakhs, as a rule, lack running water and sewer systems; more than 700 settlements use imported water. Many cities, including large ones, are experiencing a severe shortage of water. In remote districts, where mainly Kazakhs dwell, a low standard of living remains: there is a high infant and maternal mortality rate and a high rate of disease in general.

The events outlined above have led to an exacerbation of socioeconomic and political problems and to dissatisfaction manifesting itself in various ways. On 17 December 1986 student disturbances broke out in the capital of Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata. As a result of provocation, clashes between youths and the militia flared up, causing numerous casualties. Nearly 1,700 people were injured and more than 8,000 arrested and detained, many of whom were convicted. At the present time these events have been reappraised as struggles for democratic freedom. December 17 has been proclaimed Kazakhstan's Day of Democracy.

Not every aspect of the development of industry was well received. Although Kazakhstan is an industrially developed country, the structure of the national economy is one-sided: the principle emphasis has been on the attainment and initial processing of raw materials.

In June 1989 long unresolved social problems in the city of Novyi Uzen' (Mangyshlak Peninsula) led to interethnic conflicts—members of seventy ethnic groups, many from the Caucasus, live in the city alongside Kazakhs. As a result of the riots, lives were lost and strikes were held repeatedly at the mines of the Karagandin coal basin.

A distinguishing feature of the Kazakhs living in rural areas is the retention of the traditional transportable dwelling—the yurt—in several regions of Kazakhstan (the Mangyshlak Peninsula, the areas around the Syr Darya, etc.), even up to the present. The yurt is a round, collapsible dwelling consisting of a wooden frame covered in felt. The basis of the frame is several sliding wooden lattices (kerge), which fold up when collapsed. The bigger these lattices are, the bigger are the yurts themselves. Long curved poles (uuk) are attached to these lattices from above, the sharp upper ends of which are put into a wooden hoop (shangyrak). Thus the roof of the yurt has a dome-shaped appearance. In one place between the lattices Kazakhs fasten a wooden bivalved door frame. A flap of felt on the hoop of the yurt's dome is tied back to form an opening for smoke from the hearth, which is traditionally positioned in the center of the yurt, slightly closer to the door. Today ( in the twentieth century) yurts are used mainly during the summer. They serve as dwellings chiefly for families of shepherds who set off with their herds for the summer pastures. Other rural inhabitants set up yurts near their homes in the summer.

Among the settled and semisettled Kazakhs (among the latter during their winter camp), permanent dwellings are found, differing according to the climatic conditions of the vast Kazakh homeland and depending on the influence of neighboring settled peoples. Thus, among the northern Kazakhs, a permanent dwelling in a yurtlike form was originally widespread, as is common among peoples of western Siberia. In the south and west of Kazakhstan, the ancient form of dwelling was the adobe cottage. In the middle of the nineteenth century, however, quadrangular buildings with flat roofs covered with earth and turf appeared. As a rule, these were built without a foundation and had an earthen floor, which was covered with felt and carpets. They utilized turf, adobe bricks, wood, and stone as building materials.

The entire internal space of the yurt is strictly arranged according to tradition. Opposite the door by the wall is the zhuk, where trunks filled with household items are stacked; during the day the bedding is also piled up there. The place in front of the zhuk is considered the most honored (tor). The most esteemed guest occupies this spot and, in the event no guest is present, the master of the yurt does so. The floor of this area is covered with fleece carpets or even fur bedding over the usual felt. The woman's half of the yurt is located to the left of the tor, where she stores household tools and food supplies as well as the large skin bag (saba) for kumys (a beverage prepared from sour mare's milk). The bedding of the master and his wife is located nearer to the tor. The area to the right of the tor is considered the male half, where the horse harness, saddle, and the master's tools are found. Closer to the door is the place reserved for the younger members of the family, including sometimes even a married son. The door of the Kazakh yurt always faces south. Kazakhs still try to preserve the traditional layout of the yurt's interior as much as possible.

Today [the twentieth century] the rural dwelling of the Kazakhs is a rather large accommodation with several rooms. Usually there is a room for the elderly, in which they maintain the traditions particularly strongly. There is also a guest room with modern furnishings. The kitchen is set off separately. Even now, however, the whole life of a family is spent in a single room, especially during the winter. Many rural homes have their own steam heating.

As of 1989, 57 percent of the people were urban dwellers and 43 percent rural residents. [Note: the percentage of urban dwellers was 59 percent in 2010—CIA. 2011.] The capital of the republic, Alma-Ata, was founded in 1854 and is situated at a height of 700-900 meters by the northern slopes of the Zailiiski Altai range.. There were 82 cities and 132 urban-type settlements in Kazakhstan. The 17 provinces (oblasts) included 218 rural and 33 urban districts. In the cities Kazakhs live in large apartment buildings, paying monthly rent, as well as in houses of the rural type, which, in general, they own. In the rural settlements and auls of rural areas, Kazakhs live in houses of their own construction. While under the Soviet Union, a portion of rural dwellers used houses built for them on collective or state farms. These units were subsequently privatized in the decade after independence.

Despite the predominance of a nomadic or seminomadic life-style among the Kazakhs, they did construct a large number of “cult” monuments—funerary buildings (see “Death and Afterlife”).

In the mountainous regions the nomadic and seminomadic Kazakhs passed the winter in the valleys of the mountain rivers and ravines, where there was little snow, whereas in the summer they and their herds went high into the mountains to the alpine and subalpine meadows. This type of migration is called “vertical.”

From sheepskins, which the Kazakhs, as a rule, process themselves, they sew warm coats, hats, and sometimes men's trousers. The pelts of domestic animals, including sheep, are sent to market. A minority of Kazakhs also raise goats, from which they also get milk, meat, wool, and pelts.

Kazakhs make butter and various types of curds and cheese from sheep's milk. The most widespread is a dry cheese from sour milk, kurt. It is one of the chief means of nourishment for the average Kazakh in the winter months, when there is no milk. The Kazakhs always boil sheep or cow's milk; only mare's milk is used fresh and, in this case, always soured. The most beloved and widespread Kazakh dish is boiled lamb, in Kazakh bes barmak (“five fingers,” since the Kazakhs, like many other Eastern peoples, eat with their hands). They give the specially prepared lamb's head to the most esteemed guest.

The traditional winter headgear of the Kazakhs was a pointed fur cap (tymak) with earflaps of lamb's wool or even sable fur, with a felt base covered by heavy cloth. Factory-made caps with earflaps have almost completely supplanted them. In the summer Kazakhs wore hats made from thin white felt with bent-back flaps (kalpak); recently such hats have also been replaced by factory-made ones, including ones of felt. It has again become fashionable, however, especially among youths, to wear the traditional felt caps which, incidentally, provide better protection against the cold. These caps have turned into a distinctive “ethno-designative” feature. Bashlyks with a crown with a small peak and flaps to cover the ears and neck were sewn from felt and later from cloth. It was usual that the head was always covered, even at night during sleep, if only with a tyubeteika (Central Asian embroidered skullcap).

A great diversity existed in women's headgear. Variations pointed to age differences, family position, or membership in a given clan. Thus, girls wore elegant caps with a cloth crown, which they decorated without fail, and a fur cap-band (boryuk). The decoration was finished with eagle-owl feathers, which had a protective function. The young women wore the most expensive female headdress, saukele. This consisted of a tall (up to 70 centimeters) cone of felt, covered in expensive fabric and richly ornamented with various pendants, fur, and precious stones. Along the sides of the saukele descended corals, pendants of beads, and other decorations. From the back of the saukele women attached long, richly embroidered and adorned ribbons or kerchiefs of expensive fabric. Among the rich, the worth of the saukele could reach up to 2,000 silver rubles. Therefore, the saukele passed from one generation to the next in Kazakh families.

Many researchers note the influence of the Tatar outfit on both the Kazakh men's and women's attire and, from the mid-nineteenth century, of Russian-style clothing, especially in the cities. In the present, as was noted above, individual parts of the traditional Kazakh attire that serve as ethno-designative features have been preserved. The national costume has been retained to a great degree in rural areas and among the elderly population, especially by the women, as well as among those who most uphold the occupations of the traditional branches of the economy—shepherds, for example. In general, however, Kazakhs today wear clothes of urban cut and of factory manufacture.

The particular nomadic life-style determined the specific makeup of the herd. The domesticated animals had to withstand travel during the lengthy migration and, crucially, had to be able to procure food for themselves from under the snow during the winter. The horse was most suited to these conditions and was thus highly prized among the Kazakhs. The horse was also the main transport and riding animal, able to cover a long distance in a relatively short time. The horse also supplied kumys, which has been revered since the days of the Scythian nomads. Horse meat was also considered most tasty and nutritious; horse hair was used in the preparation of strong, thick ropes.

Camels serve as the basic beast of burden among the Kazakh nomads and seminomads. During the migrations they load all domestic goods on them, including the dismantled parts of the yurts. Kazakhs keep fewer camels than they do other domestic animals, however. Even rich families possess no more than fifty to sixty camels; other households, the poorer ones, have no more than three or four—that is, only as many as are required to transfer all domestic items during the migrations. In several regions of Kazakhstan—on the Mangyshlak Peninsula, for example—the Kazakhs drink shubat (the sour milk of camels), which is their preferred beverage. Camel's wool is valued for its great warmth. Like the horse and the sheep, the camel is highly esteemed by the Kazakhs. Muslims view it as a holy animal.

The traditional Kazakh national costume was closely tied to their nomadic life-style. Thus, the oldest materials used in clothing preparation were cloths woven from camel or sheep wool, thin felts, skins, and fur. In ancient times, however, they had already begun sewing clothing from manufactured fabrics—cottons, silks, and wools from Central Asia, China, and, from the eighteenth century on, from Russia. In our own time, fabrics of industrial manufacture have supplanted all others. The men's outfit traditionally consisted of an undershirt and pants, which in the summer also served as work clothes. Over the shirt, men wore long beru kavkas or beshmets (quilted coats, narrow but widening toward the bottom, knee-length with long sleeves). Theshapan—a robe with long sleeves tapering from the shoulder to the fingers, with a stand-up collar, worn open and therefore always with a belt—was ubiquitous. Poor Kazakhs fashioned their shapans from homewoven camel wool; the rich, however, made them from velvet, heavy cloth, or silk of bright colors. Depending on the weather, Kazakhs would wear one shapan over another. In the wintertime, they wore coats sewn from sheepskin—either double-sided or not—or from skins of lamb, ferret, marten, and fox. The outer trousers were made of skins adorned with ornaments, especially among the rich. When setting off on a long journey, the Kazakh horseman inserted the flaps of all the robes he was wearing into these trousers. Their high-heeled boots, sewn of strong skins, were well suited to riding.

Traditionally, all Kazakh men shaved their heads as well as their mustaches and beards around the lips. At present, only elderly men shave their heads, and most men let their mustaches and beards grow.

In the year after marriage, the young woman donned the headdress of the married woman, which represented a type of cowl of white fabric covering the head, shoulders, breast, and back. Kazakhs call such a headdress kimeshek. Young and middle-aged women decorated theirs with embroidery on the outward-facing side; those of the elderly were not embroidered. Among the various Kazakh clan groups, this headgear was differentiated according to cut, form, and dimensions of the part covering the back.

In early childhood the Kazakh nomad was given a colt, which she or he called by name, looked after, and by the age of 5 to 7 was already riding. Adult Kazakhs, both men and women, were spectacular riders; so great was there skill that several researchers noted that the rider seemed to become one with the horse. The importance of the horse in the life of the Kazakh nomads is further attested by the fact that instead of “to the left” the Kazakhs say “mounting side” (minar yak); instead of “to the right” they say “whip{-holding} side” (kamshi yagt). From as early as the Scythian-Sak period, nomadic livestock breeders have revered the horse as a totemic animal.

The Kazakhs also raise cattle. Among the nomads, it is true that there are only a few, and often none, because they are not suited for long and rapid migrations and are not capable of procuring food for themselves from underneath the snow. Relatively more cattle are found among the seminomads, who, in contrast with the nomads, undertake shorter migrations and prepare hay for the livestock to eat during winter. Cattle are not only a source of milk, meat, and leather; they are also the principle beast of burden in agricultural endeavors.

The belt was an indispensible part of the traditional costume; Kazakhs tied it over the shapan or trousers, especially when they were preparing to ride. Belts were of silk fabric or skins—the latter were decorated with metallic plates of silver and sometimes even precious stones, among the rich.

Women wore the kimeshek when at home, and, when going out, they put on a white turban of great width over it.

In the pre-Revolutionary period the Kazakhs were prominent on the Eurasian Steppe, leading nomadic and seminomadic life-styles. Their chief occupation was livestock raising; the animals were kept in pastures year-round. These pastures were divided according to season—summer, spring/fall, and winter, based on when grass was sufficient, in turn depending on climatic conditions. The summer pastures were located in the north, in the steppe zone, with abundant, lush grass. It was impossible to remain there during the winter, however, as the huge amount of snow would not permit the livestock to graze. Therefore the nomadic livestock breeders were required to move with their herds far to the south to the desert and semidesert zones in the winter, where vegetation flourished after the autumn rains and where there was little snow. Sometimes the migration reached upwards of 1,000-1,500 kilometers. En route, the nomads would stay for a short while at the spring/fall pastures when they were migrating to the north in the spring and to the south during the fall. Such a migratory system was quite widespread among the Kazakh nomads and seminomads; it has been designated “meridianal” in the literature.

Sheep have no lesser significance to the Kazakh nomads and seminomads. As with the horse, the Kazakhs had their own particular breed of sheep, which was well suited to the conditions of year-round pasturing without warm refuge during the winter. “Fatty-tail” sheep were particularly prized—that is, sheep that instead of a tail had a large fatty growth that reached a weight of 10-16 kilograms. Kazakhs get all that is necessary for life from sheep. From its wool they make felt, with which they cover the traditional nomadic dwelling, the yurt, and make felt carpets decorated with multicolored ornamentation. They cover the earthen floor in the yurt with these carpets. In the winter the Kazakhs put stockings of thin felt in their boots for warmth. Felt is also used as a saddlecloth.

In general, the Kazakhs grew a variety of grains: wheat, millet, a little rye, barley, and others. At present Kazakh farmers, for the most part, raise the best kinds of wheat: the so-called hard (durum) wheats. The cultivation of rice, peas, corn, and industrial crops, especially cotton and tobacco, is widespread. In the south of Kazakhstan, the cultivation of fruits and vegetables is developing.

The Kazakh women, like the men, wore a shirt and trousers as undergarments. Sometimes, however, the shirt was long and tunic-shaped and served as a dress. Fashioned out of cotton fabric, the shirt-dress was white (but dark for older women and of bright and variegated colors—usually red—for younger women). Beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, Kazakhs began to sew these brought in at the waist, to which they attached a wider lower part at the gathers. As an adornment to this lower part of the dress, younger women sewed on two or three frills of the same material. Sometimes they embroidered them and covered them with braids and silk ribbons.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, multicolored silk shawls with tassels imported from Russia came into fashion. Today, (twentieth century) particularly in rural areas, women wear headgear according to their age; if young girls or women appear in public without headgear, they meet with great disapproval from the older generation. Girls do not necessarily wear a headdress at home, especially the daughter of the master of the house. If a young woman wears a headdress, it indicates that she is marriageable.

In a number of regions of Kazakhstan where the conditions are suitable for irrigation agriculture—along large rivers and lakes, for example, or in foothill regions where streams abound—the Kazakhs have always practiced agriculture.

Over the dress women wore sleeveless tunics extending down to the knees, with an open collar and a clasp at the belt. They also wore beshmets. These were sleeveless ones, fashioned of thick cotton, wool, silk, or velvet fabrics. Red, green, or raspberry beshmets of velvet were particularly prized. The women, like the men, wore robes when out and about and sheepskin overcoats in the winter.

Women and girls also differed from one another in hairstyle. The former braided their hair into two or three plaits, whereas the girls had many thin braids, sometimes as many as thirty. Young women and girls adorned their braids with shells, metallic plates, pearls, and coins. Rich Kazakh women sported many silver adornments—rings, bracelets, earrings, breast pendants, and so on. Some of these adornments had a sacred significance. Thus, the arms of a woman were considered unclean if she wore no bracelets. As with men, an indispensible attribute of the female costume was a richly ornamented belt of beautiful fabric or even skin.

Women's footwear consisted of leather boots sewn for one foot—that is, without distinguishing the left side from the right. They also sewed soft boots of green and red leather and adorned them with embroidery. Women's trousers were of almost the same cut as the men's.

In addition to raising livestock and practicing agriculture, the Kazakhs engage in a variety of manufactures. Only women process wool and prepare various items from it, but both men and women process leather and pelts. Woodworking and metalwork are in the domain of the men. Traditionally, only Kazakh men were occupied with tending the livestock (including the milking of the horses), whereas women performed all domestic tasks, including the erecting and dismantling of the yurts during the migrations. Notable for their quality are the preparation of various felts and the working of leather and pelts for clothing, various types of skin vessels, saddles, and so forth. Woodworking is widespread, including the preparation of the wooden parts of the yurt, saddles, trunks, and wooden vessels, which like the skin vessels are indispensible in nomadic conditions. Many wooden products are adorned with carvings. One of the most ancient trades of the Kazakhs is metalwork: the fabrication of weapons and instruments of labor as well as household items. The art of silver adornment is highly refined.

The years of Soviet dominance were marked by the fostering of a nihilistic attitude toward national culture; as a result, many traditional Kazakh trades disappeared almost completely. Only in the present (twentieth century) has a rebirth of traditional Kazakh trades occurred, in conjunction with a general rebirth of national culture.

The households of the aul cooperate in many labor-intensive activities, such as tending the livestock. The most difficult jobs necessitate the strength of many workers; for example, the shearing of sheep in spring and fall requires the combined efforts of the households and auls of the entire nomadic community. At present, Kazakhs are trying to preserve the traditional forms of the family, especially in rural areas; under urban conditions, this is obviously more difficult.

The community is divided into smaller units, auls, which consist of closely related families headed by the senior member, an aksakala (“white beard”). Usually this is the father, although the adult married sons head the other households. After the father's death, his oldest son becomes head of the aul.

The summer pastures are usually under the governance and use of individual clans, which consist of several nomadic kin groups or communities. The winter pastures, as a rule, are in the common use of the small nomadic community. Water sources for livestock are a chief concern of the nomadic breeders. Best of all are natural sources: rivers, streams, lakes, and so forth. Frequently, however, livestock can slake their thirst only from wells; therefore these are the property of the individual households that dug them, or of the aul. The right to use the pastures nearest to the well follows from this. There are also wells that belong to the entire clan. As a rule, such wells were dug long ago. The land-use pattern of the seminomadic Kazakhs is similar, but in contrast with the nomads, they also have hay-growing areas for the preparation of winter fodder. As a rule, these hay-growing areas are under the control of individual households and are spread out near the winter pastures. Also located here are the arable lands: seminomadic Kazakhs engage in varying degrees in agriculture along with raising livestock. The poorer a household is, the more it relies on agriculture. The poorest families, who have no livestock, have abandoned seminomadism and live year-round in one location, engaging in agriculture or some other business. Thus, they constitute the settled population among the Kazakhs.

Rather close kin relations were preserved between persons counting back to the seventh generation. Men who were united by this kinship group were not allowed to select a wife from it. In other words, an exogamic clan up to the seventh generation existed among the Kazakhs. Several such clans constituted an even larger clan, which also had one common ancestor. In turn, these clans were united into even larger groupings, groups of which formed tribal unities, entering into three zhuz (see “History and Cultural Relations”). The Kazakhs considered all these clans and tribes to have a common origin or forefather. Specialists maintain that although the ancestors of the exogamic clans were actual personages, those of the larger clans and tribes were legendary or fictitious. The oldest zhuz of the Kazakhs consisted of eleven large tribes, namely Dulat, Alban, Suan, Sary-Uysun, Srgeli, Ysty, Oshakty, Chaprashty, Canyshkly (Katagan), Kangly, and Zhalair. All these tribes in ancient times entered into a union of tribes, headed by an usun. In turn, each of these enumerated tribes consisted of several large clans. Thus, the Dulat tribe consisted of four clans: Botpay, Chmyr, Saikym, Zhamys. These also consisted of several subclans. For example, the Botpay clan had four subclans: Xudaykul, Chagay, Bidas, and Kuralas; the Saikym clan had ten; the Chmyr clan, three; and the Zhamys clan, seven. Each of these subclans was divided into yet smaller groupings down to the exogamic clan and family-kin groups. Every Kazakh knew his own genealogy, at least to seven generations. Thus, the Kazkahs could always determine their kinship ties to one another. Large tribes of Kazakhs entered into the Middle Zhuz: Kipchaks, Argyns, Naimans, Kere, and Uaki. Three large tribes constituted the Younger Zhuz: Bayul, Alimul, and Zetyru. Historical tales and legends associated with the origin of a given clan or tribe also exist. Every Kazakh clan and tribe had its own tamgy, a clan symbol, as well as a war cry, the uran.

The memory of membership in a given tribe or clan still persists among the Kazakhs, even down to the smallest grouping. The Kazakhs of the oldest generation know this particularly well. In connection with the growth of national self-awareness, the interest in one's past has awakened among the youths as well.

Kinship ties among the Kazakhs were traced along both the male and female lines. The children of the daughters or sisters of a woman were called zhien by her other relatives, whereas the latter were called nagashi by the former. In accordance with centuries-old traditions, the Kazakhs attempted not to offend their zhiens and not to refuse them anything, insofar as was possible. According to customary laws, the zhien could take any valuables from the relatives of the mother up to three times.

Kazakh kinship terminology shared many features with that of other Turkic peoples of Central Asia, such as differentiation of age within generations, recognition of many degrees of lineal and collateral agnates, and recognition of maternal as well as paternal lines. Consonant with their penchant for calculating kinship, Kazakhs had numerous terms designating consanguinity and affinity.

A variety of forms of marriage existed among the Kazakhs. The most widespread was marriage via matchmaking and purchase of the bride for a kalyn (bride-price). For an individual to enter into marriage, the observance of certain restrictions tied to the exogamic norms—social, national, and sometimes that of the clan/tribal denomination—were required. The exogamous barrier generally was in effect up to the seventh generation (see “Kin Groups and Descent”). The Kazakhs still uphold this restriction. Traditionally, those who violated the exogamic barrier were severely punished, to the point of expulsion from the clan and even death. In social relations, the parents tried as much as possible to become related to families of standing equal to themselves. Historically, in Kazakh marriages ethnicity and religious factors held great significance. Marriages of mixed ethnicity were encountered, however, especially between Kazakh men and Turkic-speaking women who followed Islam. Less frequently did the Kazakhs take wives from among followers of other faiths. According to Sharia (Islamic law), Muslims could marry nonbelievers only if the latter publicly renounced their faith and adopted Islam. Marriage of Kazakh women to nonbelievers was strictly forbidden. Even in the present, such restrictions generally continue to operate among the Kazakhs.

There are also remnants of ancient variants of “cousin marriages” among the Kazakhs. The so-called cross-cousin marriage is one in which a man married the daughter of his mother's brother or his father's sister. The “orthocousin” marriage was one in which a man married the daughter of his father's brother or of his mother's sister. The latter, of course, would have been a violation of the exogamic norms and therefore was not encountered among the Kazakhs; marriage between children of sisters, however, was frequently encountered, as the exogamy was observed only along the male line.

The bride departed from her own aul and set off for the groom's home accompanied by the groom and numerous relatives. When the bride approached the groom's home, she covered her face. Entering the house, she greeted the fire at the hearth. Those who gathered for the celebration, generally the groom's relatives, sang songs called bet ashar (uncovering the face). They also sang songs in which the obligations of the young wife were enumerated. Then one of the groom's young relatives raised the veil slightly from the bride's face with a small stick. At this time, those who gathered counted the gifts for the bride-inspection (smotriny).

One form of arranged marriage was the so-called cradle-betrothal, in which the fathers of the future bride and groom negotiated their marriage immediately following the birth of the children.

A necessary condition of Kazakh nuptials was the custom of recompense payment, the kalyn, from the groom's family to the father of the bride. In general, the bride-price consisted of livestock. In response to the bride-price, the bride brought a rich dowry to the home of her intended, which by tradition obligatorily included a yurt.

In the wedding celebrations of the Kazakhs, many ceremonies bear a religio-magical character, for example the showering of the newlyweds with sweets and the “uniting” ceremonies—the drinking of water by the bride and groom from one cup, for instance.

One of the most ancient forms of marriage among the Kazakhs was abduction, in which, under certain circumstances, the young man abducted his future wife either with her agreement or without it.

In accord with custom, Kazakhs could have several wives; Islamic doctrine permitted up to four wives. Kazakhs turned to polygyny, however, only when the first wife was barren; if there were no male heir; by virtue of the tradition of levirate; or because of the inability of the first wife to lead the domestic household, owing to illness, for example. A rich man could have several wives in order to increase the number of his descendants, have sufficient labor resources available, and other reasons. According to custom, the husband had to care completely for all his wives and children.

The ceremonies associated with the wedding are generally preserved today, but sometimes, especially in the cities, so-called youth weddings are organized. At these the acquaintances and relatives simply gather with the bride and groom around a common table, and lavish refreshments are presented. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency toward returning to traditional wedding ceremonies.

As a rule, patrilocal marriage predominated among the Kazakhs. There were instances, however, in which the groom went to live among the relatives of the bride, usually when the daughter was the only child in the family.

The senior wife in the house (baybishe) occupied a special position with respect to the second and third wives (tokal). This often led to strained relations among them and their children. Therefore the Kazakhs tried to separate them into individual households or even auls, insofar as possible.

Still rather widespread, especially in rural areas, is marriage through abduction. This is today only an imitation of abduction, however, since the girl, as a rule, willingly goes to the groom's home “surreptitiously.” In such instances, the wedding is arranged immediately. The groom's parents ask forgiveness from the bride's parents, who give it. After the wedding the bride's dowry is brought.

Levirate (emengerlik) and sororate (baldyz alu) exist among the Kazakhs. In accord with the custom of levirate, after the death of her husband, the widow, together with the children and all the property of the deceased, is inherited by his brother (i.e., she becomes his wife). If the wife or a betrothed bride died, the widower husband/groom, according to the custom of sororate, had the right to marry the younger sister of the deceased. Although this custom was not as strongly observed as levirate, individual instances persist in the present day.

The wedding ceremonies began with the matchmaking, at which the size of the bride-price and the order of its payments were agreed upon. From this moment on the preparation of the dowry was set into motion in the bride's home. As a rule, the parents carried out the selection of the bride, since frequently the bride and groom did not know each other. Only after payment of part of the bride-price could the groom “secretly” visit the bride.

Among the Kazakhs a young wife must behave very modestly; she does not have the right, especially at first, to call her husband's relatives by name, especially the older ones, or show them her face; she must make way for them, let them pass by, and do other acts of obeisance. These taboos, for the most part, are kept even today, just as the survival of clan exogamy up to the seventh generation continues.

After the payment of thekalyn, the wedding day (toy) was designated. Usually the groom first came to the bride's aul, where the wedding ceremony took place with the aid of a mullah. This was followed by festivities at which various ceremonial songs were sung and everyone was treated to kumys.

He remained the heir to the ancestral hearth. Among the seminomadic and settled Kazakhs, there were extended families in which several closely related families lived in one household. Usually this was the family of the head of the household, as well as his married sons, and, after his death, the families of his married brothers. As a rule, however, after the death of the household master, the married brothers parted company. The daughters went to live with the families of their husbands after marriage.

Elements of patriarchal relations were preserved in certain ways, however. Married sons, even when they had their own individual households, did not break ties with the paternal household completely. Many labor-intensive tasks, such as pasturing of livestock, shearing of sheep, preparation of felt, and so on, were accomplished through the efforts of several households with close relations along paternal lines. This was especially important in defending livestock and pastures from the encroachment of others. Such a unification of families, the basis of kinship ties, is called in the literature a “family-kin” group. In Kazakh, these groupings are called bir ata baralary (children of one father). If a family-kin group was called Koshenbaralary, for example, then their ancestor was called Koshen, and the families of this group had heads who were grandsons and great-grandsons of Koshen. Among the Kazakhs, such family-kin groups formed communities. The heads of families were considered close relatives up to the fourth or fifth generation.

Among nomadic Kazakhs the small, individual family predominated, consisting, as a rule, of a married couple, their unmarried children, and elderly parents. In accordance with custom, the oldest son was able to marry first, followed by the other sons in descending order of age. The father allotted livestock (enshi) to the married son and in this way created a new household (otay). According to the ancient customs of the minorat, the youngest son was not allotted a household, even after marriage.

The Kazakhs attach great significance to the birth and raising of children. A Kazakh family is not considered happy without children, especially sons—the continuers of the clan. There are many customs and ceremonies associated with birth and raising of children. These customs arose from centuries of experiences and from the Kazakh worldview. Thus, they protected a pregnant woman from the evil eye with the aid of amulets and did not allow her to leave the house alone at night; weapons, wolves' teeth, eagles' bills, and owl talons were forbidden wherever she lived. All this was necessary to protect her from impure forces. The pregnant woman herself had to observe a multitude of taboos. In order not to tangle the child's umbilical cord, for example, she could not step over the staff for raising the dome of the yurt (bakan), the device for catching horses (kuruk), rope (arkan), and many other items. She was also forbidden to eat camel meat because it was thought that, were she to do so, she would carry her child for twelve months, like a she-camel. Kazakhs protect pregnant women from heavy labor, especially in the later months.

Kazakhs carefully guard the woman and child during the actual birth and the first forty days thereafter, which are regarded as especially dangerous for the baby. Various rituals are followed—placing the child in the cradle on the seventh day, for example. The fortieth day after birth is seen as especially festive because the danger is deemed to have passed. Only women gather at this celebration.

Kazakhs accustom children to work from an early age. They teach a boy to ride a horse at age 3 and to tend it and other livestock at age 5 or 6. The shaving ceremony, strongly upheld in modern times, is conducted when a boy has reached age 3 to 10. Girls are taught to sew, embroider, and carry out other household activities. In the past, Kazakhs believed that at age 13 to 15 they were ready for independent life and could have their own family; as of the early 1990s, girls marry at age 16 to 18.

At present both Islamic and pre-Islamic beliefs continue to be found among the Kazakhs, especially among the elderly.

The Kazakhs are Sunni Muslims. Islam began to appear in southern Kazakhstan in the eighth to ninth centuries, after the Arab conquest of Central Asia. After the foundation of the Kazakh khanate in the fifteenth century, Islam became the predominant religion among the Kazakh people. Its influence was especially strengthened after the Russian colonization of the Kazakhs in the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries because the czarist government attempted to solidify its position in Kazakhstan through Islam. During this period many mosques were constructed andmadrasahs (Islamic secondary schools) opened. Pre-Islamic beliefs—the cults of the sky, of the ancestors, and of fire, for example—continued to a great extent to be preserved among the common people, however. The Kazakhs believed in the supernatural forces of good and evil spirits, of wood goblins and giants. To protect themselves from them, as well as from the evil eye, the Kazakhs wore protection beads and talismans. Shamanic beliefs were widely preserved among the Kazakhs, as well as belief in the strength of the bearers of this cult—the shamans, who the Kazakhs call bakhsy. In contradistinction to the Siberian shamans, who used drums during their rituals, the Kazakh shamans, who could also be men or women, played (with a bow) on a stringed instrument similar to a large violin.

Following the severe Soviet persecutions, in which the mullahs were annihilated, there are few today who have received special religious training. For this reason, literate elderly people who know the prayers fulfill the role of mullahs in rural areas. Quite frequently these are school teachers on pension or other people with higher education.

The folk music traditions are an inseparable part of the spiritual culture of the Kazakh people: the songs, the vocal accompaniment of the professional improvisational poets, the instrumental works, and so on. Popular musical instruments include the dombra, a “plucked” string instrument, and the kobyz—an instrument played with a bow. The favorite wind instrument is the sybyzgy, in the shape of an elongated flute; as for percussion instruments, the dauylpaz, a small drum, is favored. Since the second half of the nineteenth century, new musical instruments have appeared: the accordion and the violin. In the twentieth century professional musical arts have arisen and developed greatly among the Kazakhs. In 1934 the first musical performance took place, and in 1935 the Kazakh State Philharmonic opened. In 1937 the Abay State Academic Theater of opera and ballet opened.

Formerly there were no professional theatrical arts among the Kazakhs. Only in the beginning of the twentieth century and during the years of Soviet dominance did amateur forms of Kazakh theater begin to grow. The first Kazakh theater opened in 1926 in Orenburg (at that time the capital of the Kazakh Republic). At present, Kazakh drama and theatrical arts, as well as the national cinema, have achieved a great deal of success in a short period of time.

Oral folk art is widely developed among the Kazakhs: songs, epic tales, folktales, heroic epics, and so forth. The Kazakhs greatly value their performers: the storytellers (zhyrsy) and improvisational poets (akyn). Several of these achieved great popularity, including Bukharzhyrau Kalmakanov (1693-1787) and the improvisational poet Makhambet Utemisov (1803-1846), who along with his friend Isatay Taymanov led the Kazakh uprising in the Bukeevsky Horde in 1836-1837.

Until recently the decorative arts of the Kazakhs have focused mainly on the details of Kazakh dwellings, clothing, and other everyday objects. One can find original Kazakh ornamentation on teased and unteased carpets, strips, the yurt, and felt coverings. Kazakh women decorate their clothes and embroider.

The work of the eminent Kazakh educator and scholar Chokan Valikhanov (1835-1865), who painstakingly gathered and attentively studied the national poetic works of the Kazakhs, had great significance for the development of Kazakh literature. Kazakh written literature took shape under the influence of Russian literature in the second half of the nineteenth century. The renowned pedagogue Ibray Altynsarin (1841-1889) made a great contribution to the development of Kazakh literature as well. He created the first Kazakh chrestomathy for Russian/Kazakh schools and published his own works, those assembled by him from the national oral literature, and translations from Russian. Abay Kunabaev (1845-1904) was also a prominent figure of the Kazakh literary movement. From the beginning of the twentieth century a plethora of Kazakh poets and writers has produced works in Kazakhstan. Among them are the giants of Kazakh literature Mokhtar Auezov (1897-1961), Saken Seyfullin (1894-1939), Beymbet Maylin (1894-1939), and others. The modern Kazakh writers are successfully continuing the traditions of Kazakh national art and of the founders of Kazakh literature.

Woodworking, leatherwork, and metalwork have occupied places of distinction within the Kazakh national arts, but a professional decorative arts industry developed only in the twentieth century. Moreover, the first professional artists in Kazakhstan were Russians. The openings of the Kazakh State Artists Gallery in 1935 and the Artistic-Theatrical Gallery in 1938 played a large role in the development of art in Kazakhstan. The communications media have greatly expanded, including print, radio, and, in recent times, television.

Academics have developed intensively in the course of the twentieth century; this includes the study of a variety of disciplines from mathematics and mechanics to various social sciences. In Kazakhstan today there are hundreds of scientific institutions where tens of thousands of scholars work. There is also a Kazakh Academy of Science.

The Kazakhs observe funerary rites that are a mixture of Muslim customs with pre-Islamic beliefs. Mainly the relatives and neighbors of the deceased take part in the funeral ceremonies; they place the deceased, washed and wrapped in a white shroud, into a separate yurt specially put up for this event and do not leave him or her unattended for a single minute until the burial. Those who gather for the funeral pray under the guidance of a mullah. The women bemoan the deceased. The mourners bring the deceased to the cemetery on special stretchers; after further prayers, they lower the body into the grave and bury it. Among the Kazakhs, as among many other Eastern peoples, women are not allowed at the cemetery. After interment, ablutions are enacted at home and the clothing of the deceased is distributed to funeral participants; refreshments are prepared for all. Near the yurt of the deceased they set up a spear with a mourning flag, which is red if the deceased was a young person, black if middle-aged, and white if elderly. They do not remove this spear throughout the entire period of mourning—that is, the whole year. Funeral banquets for the deceased are held on the third, seventh, and fortieth days. Kazakhs observe the first anniversary funerary feast especially solemnly, with as many people as possible coming together. For this day, they slaughter the favorite horse of the deceased, whose mane and tail they had shaved on the day of it's master's death. They also slaughter a good deal of other livestock for the feast.

This anniversary funeral banquet is celebrated quite ceremonially; many people gather—representatives come from various tribes and clans, sometimes several hundred people. For this reason, they set up many additional yurts and organize equestrian races, the victors receiving rich prizes. At present the Kazakhs are attempting to preserve all customs and ceremonies associated with the funerary rites.

The Kazakhs set up domed monuments on the graves, frequently mausoleums of stone, adobe bricks, and clay. The simpler grave constructs are clay or brick fences in a rectangular shape, or sometimes simply a pile of stones with a pole to which they attach bundles of horse hair. They also make sacrifices at the graves, laying bones of animals on them.

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Vostrov, Veniamin V., and I. V. Zakharova (1989).

Kazakhskoe Narodnoe Zhilishche (Dwellings of the Kazakh people). Alma-Alta: Nauka Kazakhskoi SSR.

CIA. 2011. World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kz.html/ Accessed June, 2011.

Grodekov, N. I. (1889). Kirgizy i Karakirgizy Syr-Dar'inskoi Oblasti (The Kazakhs and Kirgiz of the Syr Darya Region). Tashkent: Typolithography of S. I. Lakhtin.

Hudson, Alfred E. (1938). Kazak Social Structure, 1-109. Yale University Publications in Anthropology, no. 20. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Konovalov, Aleksei V. (1986). Kazakhi i Iuzhnogo Altaia problemy formirovaniia etnichesko i gruppy (Problems in the ethnic and group formation of the Kazakhs and Southern Altai). Alma-Alta: Izdvo Nauka Kazakhskoi SSR

This culture summary is from the article "Kazakhs" by Vadim P. Kurylëv (text translated by Paul Friedrich and Gregory S. Anderson), in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. 6, Russia and Eurasia/China, Paul Friedrich and Norma Diamond, eds.1994. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall;; & Co. The synopsis and indexing notes were written by John Beierle in September 2010.