Chinese Nation – Kazakh

Kazaks are mainly in central and Western Asia, mainly distributed in Kazakhstan, China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Mongolia, and other countries.

Kazakh is the main ethnic group in Kazakhstan, accounting for 65.5% of the total population. According to the statistics of the sixth national census in 2010, the total population of Kazakh in China is 1462588.

Kazakh diet is closely related to nomadic life, mainly including tea, meat, milk, and pasta. In Kazakh’s daily diet, there can be no vegetables for a day, but there must be no tea for a day. Three meals a day, two meals during the day, mainly drinking brick tea and Fu tea boiled tea or milk tea, milk tea is in the fried strong tea with salt, mixed with milk and milk skin, butter, accompanied by Nang or fried noodles, fried wheat, this is breakfast and lunch. In the evening, eat a staple food with meat and noodles, drink a lot of tea, which can drive away from the cold in winter and relieve the heat in summer. Because eating more meat, drinking tea can help digestion and increase nutrition.

When winter comes and snow is closing, Kazakh people will slaughter some horses, cattle, and sheep, and then process part of the meat into horse intestines, beef enema, smoked meat, and fried meat slices for winter storage, so that the processed meat can be eaten until the next spring.

Kazakh dairy products are mainly made of goat’s milk, horse’s milk, camel’s milk. There is a saying: “milk is Kazakh food.”. It can be seen that the number of dairy products in Kazakh food. The main types of dairy products are fresh milk, sour milk, milk skin, milk tofu, milk pimple, butter, milk cake, horse milk wine, and so on. Due to the need for nomadic life, the production method of Kazakh pasta is simple, convenient, and not limited by conditions. The traditional pasta mainly includes pancakes, oil cakes, fried wheat, “Naren” (a hand food that cuts cooked mutton into small pieces to cover noodles), “Baoershak” (mutton oil fried dough), etc.

In addition to the above-mentioned part of the diet, Kazakh people living in the city have also learned to cook various kinds of food with their surrounding brothers, and their diet structure tends to be diversified. At the same time, in turn, it affected the Kazakh people in the agricultural and pastoral areas and enriched their dining tables. Uygur rice intestines, noodles and lungs, Hui powder soup, and so on have become Kazakh’s common food.

Kazakh costumes have strong national characteristics. “Mark” is a hat that Kazakh men wear in winter. It has two ear fins and a long tail fan behind it, which can keep out the wind and snow and avoid the cold. The inner layer of the hat is usually made of black lambskin or fox skin, and the face is made of colorful silk. In winter, they also wear a kind of dome hat called “Polk”, which is usually made of otter skin, mink skin, fox skin, and lambskin. In winter, men wear tanned fur coats or leather trousers with wool facing inward and fur coats sewn with wolf skin, fox skin, or other valuable animal skins (with a cloth outside). The belt is mostly made of cow leather, with gold, silver, coral, pearl, gem, and other ornaments inlaid on it. In summer, elderly Kazakh men usually wear boots made of soft leather and rubber shoes to protect their boots. Young men wear leather boots. Hunters wear soft boots with high heads, which are easy to wade through mountains and rivers. Also, men in alpine areas wear warm-felt boots.

Kazakh women’s dress is more complex than men’s dress, with various styles and exquisite workmanship. Moreover, with the change of age, the dress is also different. There are two kinds of headdresses for women: hats and headscarves. Girls have been wearing “taken” since childhood. This kind of hat has a hard shell and flat top. On the top, there are owl feathers which indicate good luck. On the top, there are brilliant pearls and jade. “Shawukelei” is a pointed hat worn by girls when they get married. The inner layer is made of thin felt, and the outer layer is covered with silk. The wall of the hat is embroidered with various patterns of flowers, grass, and animal horns, and is inlaid with colorful gold, silver, and jewelry. Little girls’ clothes are usually decorated with silver and copper or buttons. Girls and young girls wear dresses with cross-stitch lace on the cuffs and pleats on the hem. The upper body is covered with a half-tight black, red, and green shawl, and the two sides of the front of the shawl are decorated with bright silver. The unmarried girl is wearing a white underwear with geometric patterns embroidered on the collar and cuffs. She is decorated with lace on the outside. Her hem is a pleated dress with double lace. Both sides of her chest are decorated with silver coins, buttons, and pearl shells. In the warm season, middle-aged women wear colorful flannelette embroidery on the front and bottom of their chests, with half sleeve loops of two pockets on both sides, and shoulders; in winter, “Rishikesh” is made of fox leg skin and lambskin, with otter skin edging, various patterns on the front and bottom, and a fur coat “Kulu” covered with satin. Women’s shoes and boots have many styles. They usually wear “Mais” (soft-soled leather boots) and “kids” (overshoes). The rich women’s boots and shoes and stockings are more particular. The “cabs” they wear have all kinds of decorations, and the “Mais” are embroidered with patterns.

With the impact of the economic tide, Kazakh clothing styles have been updated, which is not much different from the clothing worn by most ethnic groups.

In Kazakh’s daily life, “Bata” (a blessing word) is everywhere, and it is said all the time. For example, from the birth of a baby, naming to marriage, from slaughtering livestock, eating to going out for business, moving to other places, from birthdays to festivals, people naturally regard “Bata” as an important etiquette to express their good wishes to people and things. The content of Babu’s dinner table is different from that of other people’s. Kazakh firmly believes that the power of “Bata” is mysterious and powerful. Some proverbs say: “the rain stains the earth green, Bata becomes a hero”, “a beautiful Bata can make a person lucky, but without Bata, a person will suffer misfortune”.

In places where Kazakh people live in concentrated communities, the elderly are highly respected, both men and women, rich and poor. When the younger generation sees them, they should salute and greet them, replacing their names with honorifics such as “Aksahal” (the old man), “APA” (aunt). When the old people speak, the younger generation must not interrupt, let alone smoke and drink in front of them. When the old man dismounts, the younger generation should come out to welcome him, help him dismount, and tie his horse. When entering the room, let the old man go first and sit in the middle of the room. When eating meat, the head and leg of the sheep should be served to the old people.

Sahi etiquette runs through the whole life of Kazakh. The birth of a baby should be congratulated, the marriage of a man and a woman should be congratulated, and so on. As long as there are major and minor events worthy of celebration, there will be women holding handfuls or plates of delicious dry food such as wedding candy, milk lumps, and Balshaq, which will be thrown to the happy crowd from time to time to show that they are happy and happy. People will catch the happy candy one after another and compete to eat “Saxiwu” first.

Kazakh festivals are closely related to religious beliefs, just like other ethnic groups who believe in Islam. Apart from Rouzi Festival and Guerbang Festival, there is also the “Nawurouzi” festival.

“Renzi Festival” and “gulping Festival” originated from religion, but they have become Kazakh festivals with strong national characteristics and are national statutory festivals.

“Nawurouzi Festival” is a traditional festival before Kazakh people believe in Islam, which is equivalent to the Spring Festival. Kazakh people have used the calendar of the zodiac for a long time. The starting point of these Lunar New Year annals is the equal spring breeze day and night, called “rules” or “Nawrocki,” which means “new year”. The Chinese Zodiac starts to change from the day of “Nawurouzi”, which is called “vernal equinox”. On the “Nawurouzi” day, every family makes “Nawurouzi” porridge. Kazakh people go to villages in groups, eat porridge from house to house, recite the poem “Nawurouzi”, embrace the new year, and with the livestock and crops a good harvest in the new year. After cooking the meat specially prepared for Nawurouzi Festival, it needs to be brought to the respected elder. The old man sends a message to wish the livestock prosperous and the milk rich.