Nomadic way of life of the Kyrgyz and natural conditions they have lived in had their impact on formation of traditional system of knowledge, social and economic practices of livelihood directed at resect for nature and surrounding world. Traditional knowledge on cattle breeding and pasturing are based on ancient practices and measures on sustainable use of lands, soil, and vegetation for sustenance of the population. They consist of knowledge on movements of livestock, peculiarities of pasturing, soil remediation, re-vegetation, forage conservation and disposal of feeding stuffs, and peculiarities related to veterinary and care of the livestock.

‘Chuko atmay’ is played with ‘alchiks’ (dices). Participants draw a circle with a diameter of 3-5 meters. Alchiks are placed in the middle of the circle. Order of the game is determined by throwing of ‘saka’. Two shot lines are drawn one meter away from the circle from two sides. If an alchik is beaten out of the line after the first successful shot, other shots are carried out from the circle’s line. In case of unsuccessful shot, other player takes a turn. The player, which shots out the largest number of alchiks, wins. ‘Ordo’ is one of the most spread games of the Kyrgyz. The word ‘ordo’ itself means ‘khan’s bid’. The game reproduces a battle for the capture of bid and represents some kind of a military map. A circle drawn on the ground means the enemy territory, and opponents frame a plan of the battle. Skills of leading the right interior policy are in the basis of this game as well. Ordo is played by two teams (6-10 people at each team). Playing order of the game goes in the round or by using elimination principle. Duration of the game is about two hours. The essence of the game is to strike the khan’s ordo placed in the center of a circle (16 meters in diameter) with the abalak (bat), as well as to push khan himself and voivodes (generals) out of the circle. The team, which strikes the largest number of voivodes out of the circle, wins. ‘Kan talamay, Upai’ is a traditional game with dices of ovine knee joints ‘chuko’. Players are divided into two teams consisting of 2, 4 or more. The number of dices needed for the game vary from 13-37 or more. The purpose of the game is to collect as much upais as possible. The largest dice is determined as ‘khan’ and dyed into a vivid color. Starting player takes all dices in his joint palms, placing khan in the center, and scatters them all onto the carpet. The first player tries to strike the khan. If the target is hit, the player continues to play, and in case of a failure – the next player enters into the game. Shots are done by the dices with equal position. There are also special regulations

Practices of making whip for riding horses and donkeys. Qamchin (whip) consists of two parts and is made from skin of cows, goat or camel.

Colorful yurt tent bands (baskur, bau, zhel bau) are made using combination-technique (flat and pile weaving). Yurt bands are an integral part of yurt and easy to produce; they are woven in every region of Kazakhstan. Both the bands and flat-woven carpets are woven on a special narrow loom which is also employed to weave a number of narrow strips that would then be sewn together to create alasha rugs. To achieve the dynamic look of a carpet, alasha were either made from strips of different colors or with designs and pile reliefs. The basic production material is sheep’s wool, goat wool and horse hair, natural cotton and silk fibers. It is also common to add camel or goat wool to warp yarn to add durability. Yurt decorations are best understood starting from the dome or uppermost region of the structure, which was traditionally adorned by patterned baskur and bau bands, and colorful shashak tassels. The baskur strips tied up the roof poles (uyk and kerege) of a yurt and its latticework (kerege) around the perimeter and decorated the joints between the kerege and the dome. The bau bands ran diagonally under the wooden poles and were fastened to outer felt covers. In addition to their functionality, they also served as decoration for the dome of the yurt. The bau and baskur bands were made using a variety of techniques and colors. The shashak tassels were also an important decorative and protective item. Like twinkling stars they shimmered, moved by air entering the yurt through the shanyrak - a circular opening at the top that symbolized the limitless eternal sky. Wall rugs are another significant decorative aspect of Kazakh yurts. These include pile items (tukti kilem, or kaly kilem) and flat-woven textiles (takyr kilem, takta kilem, taz kilem, araby kilem, beskeste kilem, badnas kilem, alasha, and many others). There are also rugs made using chain stitch (loop-type stitches in a continuous row )- tus kilem, biz kilem, and ilme kilem. Carpets adorned the walls of a yurt and served as insulation. They covered its floors and were also used as covers for loaded camels during migration. In addition, they were an indispensable part of a bride's dowry, were given as presents to guests at celebrations, and were used to wrap the dead before burial.

Kazakhstan

The traditional turkmen carpets and carpet products are the hand-woven woollen textile goods of ornamental art with quadrangular shape in different sizes with dense texture ornamented with characteristic colored patterns pertaining each separately to one of five main turkmen tribes (tekke, yomut, ersary, saryk and salor). Their designs form patterns from clear linear geometric ornaments (dots, lines and figures). Compositional decision of the turkmen carpets has characteristic features: the central field with major patterns ("gels") in octagonal forms is limited with the borders, patterns which differ from that of the central field. The alternation of recurrence of designs represented with combination of the belt and centric ornamental compositions. Reality surrounding a carpet weaver (local flora, fauna and environment) has been reflected in a combination of the threads, pictures and colours creating carpet designs. The turkmen carpets are created on horizontal or vertical looms mainly using different coloured wool threads. Weavers use both types of knotting; double knots with double weft or one-and-a half knot with double weft. Carpets serve both as a floor covering and a wall decoration functions and substitute furniture to satisfy everyday aesthetic needs of turkmen people. There are also special carpets woven for the birth of a child, for wedding ceremonies, for prayers and for mourning rituals. Carpet products such as chuvals (sacks), khorjuns (saddle-bags), torbas (bags) are destined for clothing, transportation of various household paraphernalia and used for decorations of camels, horses, nomad tents, wedding processions etc.

Turkmenistan 2019

Horse branding is a one of the most respected household items made by a balcksmith. Mongolian horse-brand are shaped into symbols that are associated with the tribes or ethnic groups to which the nomadic herder belongs. The culture of the brand of nomadic Mongol was written on the historical sources and evidences over 4000 and 5000 years ago. Every brand is different and never duplicated. The livestock brand is classified into 3 different categories as brand on hair, brand on surface of skin, brand on body. Mongols brand the horses and camels, and mostly do branding to young horses (in age of foul) in autumn and do branding feast within families. Horse brand is very important marks to herders to recognize their animals, therefore herders say this word “Altan biyend aman gerch, aduu mald tamga gerch” as “Tongue is expression of our body, and the brand is the evidence of horse and livestock”.

Mongols move from place to place throughout four seasons in search for new pastures. In order to use the grass-land properly Mongols move from place to place and this has been an important part of their life and traditions associated with animal husbandry for hundreds of years. There are strict rules to follow for the practices of moving. Mongols have a tradition to move on a clear and cloudless day by observing the sky and weather. The head of the family decides where to encamp. After the loading of the camels or oxen is completed, the old sites of the ger and corral are cleaned. Ashes and rubbish are taken away. The old sites and holes where the tethering line was get leveled. The load leading horse’s main is cut. There is a custom that the lady of the house dressed in her best garment to lead the load on a horseback with fully decorated saddle.

Melodies associated with herding of animals, coaxing rituals for baby animals and hunting are the common representatives of this element. Such intonations and melodies derived from the nomadic people’s mode of life are classified as melodies for animals such as gurii gurii for horses, oov oov for cows, toor toor for camels, and melodies for coaxing animals, melodies for milking the mother animals such as toig toigoo for coaxing baby sheep, for baby goat as cheeg cheeg, and for baby camel saying melody khoos khoos. There are also other melodies for hunting (melodies to call games, melodies to amuse games), melodies for uukhai or cheering up (uukhai for archery, uukhai for anklebone shooting, melodies for wrestler or race-horse title recitations, giingoo or zeengoo melodies of the horse-jockeys) are used for daily life of Mongolians. This the specific rite of psychological connection between herder and animals.

Historically, livestock herding has been one of the main livelihoods of the Kyrgyz people. That is why leather crafting has become an important craft and many household items are made out of leather. The skin of such domestic and wild animals as cows, horses, camels, yaks, sheep, goats, foxes, otters, mountain goats and deer is used for leathercraft. Sheep and goat skin is most widely used due to their accessibility. Sheep leather is used for making shoes and cloths. In the context of nomadic and pastoral lifestyle, dishes made out of leather are still popular. The vessels for milk products such as sabaa, kookor, konok, konochok were made out of processed camel of cow skin. The vessels are smoked with juniper or pine branches before use. Cattle skin is used to make leather for some household items such as wooden chests for dishes and utensils, horse tack (stirrups, various strips, reigns and whips), etc. Both women and men are engaged in leather work. At the same time there is a clear separation in labor. E.g. only men slaughter and skin animals. Men also process leather for horse tack and other large things. Women process skin of smaller animals such as sheep and goats. Women make such household items as vessels for milk products, various bags, sacks and cup-holders. Kyrgyz people tried to decorate leather items just like any other household item. There were many ways to decorate leather items. E.g. cup-holders were decorated with silver clips or patterns were craved right on the surface of leather. Leather items were made in different shapes. E.g. kookor, a vessel for kymyz, was made in a shape of an anchor, cup holders were cylindrical or semi-spherical. Carving or stamping patterns on the leather surface looks very good because it livens up the monotonous surface and makes it more pleasing to eye.

The Traditional Coaxing ritual expresses the peculiar relationship between a man and animal. The ritual comes under the domain of “social practices, rituals and festive events” and in cases where there is participation in the ritual by a singer and musician, or by a few musicians, it might also come under the domain of “performing art”. While elsewhere spring is a pleasant season for peasants, it isn’t convenient for Mongolian herdsmen. The mother animals give birth to their young in a harsh and dusty spring, so there is a big risk of losing a mother or a baby animal. Mongols have a variety of rituals relating to husbandry in traditional Mongolian society. One of them is a chanting ritual for a new-born baby animal and its mother. To chant is to stimulate, through the use of special words and melody, the adopting of a baby animal to a mother. There are different gestures, melodies and chanting techniques for the five types of livestock in Mongolia. Coaxing (khuuslukh) a camel is a ritual for a mother who rejects her baby; or for adopting an orphan baby to another female who has lost her baby, because only a suckling mother will have milk in harsh spring time. For the nomadic Mongols the camel milk has been not only the source of food and drinks in the severe Gobi Desert conditions, but also the basic means of preventing illness or for healing diseases. Therefore, the coaxing rituals originated from the everyday occurrence of the herdsmen and became one of the important elements of Mongolian folk knowledge and ritual. The performance of the ritual continues for a few hours at early morning or at twilight and requires a high skill of handling camels and a singing talent or skill for playing on a musical instrument such as the horse head fiddle or flute. Most herdswomen engage in techniques and methods of coaxing, but these techniques and methods aren’t enough sometimes, for performing the ritual successfully. If there isn’t a singer or musician in the family, the owner of the camels will invite a coaxer or a few masters in coaxing and players of a musical instrument, from another place. In this case, the coaxing ritual will compose of a small performance by several actors: a singer along with a horse head fiddle, flute or mouth-orlgan players. A mother is tied close to the calf, nearby to a yurt. A singer will begin gently their monotone song ""khuus"", ""khuus"" with a horse head fiddle or without any musical instrument. A mother will bite, savage or spit and show her ignorance to a calf at the beginning of the ritual. The coaxer can change their melody, depending on the mother’s behavioural reaction. Most musicians will perform the ritual traditional Mongolian -sad stories about camels- songs such as “Unchin tsagaan botgo”, “Goviin undur” etc. The musician performs his play with different sounds of walking, running and bellowing of a camel and absorbs words into poems, songs and epochs. When a mother camel is being coaxed into accepting a rejected or an orphan calf, it is said to break into tears at the gentle sound of ""khuus"" and the enchanting melody of the horse head fiddle sung and played by someone skilled in the art of casting spells on animals. In some cases, to perform the ritual more effectively herdsmen use additional techniques such as skinning a dead calf and covering the orphan camel calf with the hide, tying a mother together with a baby quite a far distance from the ger camp for the whole night, or soaking the calf in salt, saltpetre or in the mother’s milk. Also it was common to place the ankle bone of a wild sheep (there is a myth that wild ewes never reject their babies) around the neck of a mother or a calf. But nowadays it is very hard to find these anklebones, as wild sheep are enlisted to the endangered-species list. There is also an exotic remedy in the coaxing ritual where the mother is led to a ger at twilight and shown the fire inside. (A camel can’t enter a ger, because of its size.) All participants in the ritual wear good clothes, remain attentive and focused, using their own psychic vision and imagination in the coaxing process, because the participants express their gratitude to gods of the camels, mountains and waters within the ritual. After finishing the ritual a coaxer or small group of masters will be honoured guests of the family. A person, who had performed coaxing rituals prosperously, will be invited again and again by the families in need of the ritual. When, where, how many times they have been invited - is the main criteria for evaluating the talent of a cultural bearer of this ritual. The evaluation is a prerequisite to their popularity in a society. The coaxing ritual has been transmitted from generations to generations and been enriched by the exchange of camel herding knowledge between the herders of Umnugovi, Bayankhongor, Dundgovi provinces, which are the main territories of Mongolia’s Bactrian camel population. “We should not forget this ritual while we are herding camels, because in both the animal and the human - it transcends genre to become a deeply affecting allegory about the importance of patience and acceptance in so many relationships” that is the conception of elders, the cultural bearers’ communities and camel herders. The knowledge and skills relating to the ritual’s transmission occurs from parents and elders to youth, in home tutoring: Elders with long experience of herding, herdswomen with singing talent and the talented musicians, who can influence the camel’s behaviour, are the main actors of the coaxing ritual. The ritual acts as a symbolic medium for creating and maintaining the social ties of individual nomadic families and dependencies to the community, because it is one part of the traditional intangible cultural heritage of the relationship between man and livestock.

Mongolia 2015

Except using camels for riding and pulling carts, Mongols have a tradition to race them. The camel race is organized during the feast that celebrated when the number of camels increased to thousands or celebrating the products from the camel and during other celebrations. The camel breeders mostly race gelding and yearling camels. The yearling camel’s race within around eight kilometres and the gelding-camels around ten kilometres. In recent years Gobi aimags, the main land of camel flocks, have revived the ancient traditional game with camels as camel (buluu) polo. This is an indigenous cultural phenomenon which considered as a contribution to the development of tourist attraction during winter times.