| Description |
Sumolok is a ritual dish cooked by the entire community for spring holiday Nooruz. Sumolok is a brown, nutritious, sweet paste-like liquid dish. Children like eating it very much. Sumolok is cooked for 20-24 hours. Firstly, the oil is heated in a big pot (kazan), then the flower is fried in it and the first batch of mushed sprouts are added. When it starts getting thicker, the second and then third batches are added. When it starts boiling, it is put on slow fire for 5-6 hours. When it seems ready, the fire is put off and sumolok is left under its own steam. In the morning, the eldest women open sumolok and everyone looks at the surface of it. Various interesting lines form on the surface. They are used to make predictions for the coming year. When sumolok is cooled down it is served for the community members. |
| Social and cultural significance |
Sumolok is the main treat on the Kyrgyz festive table for the Nooruz holiday. It is impossible to imagine a holiday without it. According to ancient tradition, every woman should prepare this nutritious delicacy at least once in her life. Sumolok preparation is a whole ritual.
Sumolok is a symbol of satiety. There is a belief that a long time ago, in order not to die of hunger, the whole village brought and threw into the cauldron everything they had, and that is how they remained alive. Pebbles are necessarily thrown into the cauldron, that way the delicacy will end up without any lumps. While cooking, women make a wish. They try the sumolok not with a spoon, but with the pinkie finger - according to legend, only then can a wish come true.
There is also a belief that if a barren woman walks around a cauldron with sumolok three times and sits on the warm ashes remaining from the fire, then she will definitely bear a child.
It is also believed that sumolok enhances people’s physical and spiritual powers. Sumolok is a symbol of rejuvenation and abundance.
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| Transmission method |
The specific features and knowledge concerning the element has been mainly transmitted in a natural way through demonstration. The recipe for sumolok has been passed down through generations from mothers to daughters and daughters-in-law. |
| Community |
Community of traditional cooking practitioners and wider community |
