Last week, Kazakhstan celebrated the 3-day national holiday called Nauryz. Put simply, Nauryz is a conglomeration of festivities that mark the coming of Spring and the beginning of the cycle of farming and animal husbandry that nomadic tribes relied on, long before the days of imported foods from Pakistan and China (also before the days of Russian influence and Soviet infrastructure development). As you may know, Kazakhstan has extreme snow, ice, and wind for half of the year, during which families eat pickled goods, preserves, and dried fruits that they prepared during the summer months. Families in the village slaughter a cow or sheep before the winter and freeze the meat outside in order to use it until the following Spring.
The disappearance of snow and the reemergence of the sun is sometimes described as the "Kazakh New Year", celebrated on the Spring equinox of every year, aka Nauryz. Spring, you might say, is a pretty big deal for people who can only grow frostbitten potatoes for 6 months of the year.
Nauryz has deep historical roots in this part of the world, and is celebrated not only in Kazakhstan, but in other Central Asian countries as well. For Kazakhstan in particular, though, Nauryz is the most Kazakh-oriented holiday out of the year, where old Kazakh culture is put on full display in honor of Spring.
Thus, to celebrate Nauryz in style, and to get out of the city a little bit, Tess and I took a 5 hour bus down to a Kazakh town called Balhash, where my friend Samantha is a PCV. I had never been to Balhash before, despite it being one of the closest locations to Karaganda (how 'bout them apples, puts a new meaning to "are we there yet?"), and despite it being one of the 3 "tourist destinations" in Kazakhstan. Balhash, it seems, is known for its lake, fishing, and "beautiful beach" where many Karagandians vacation during the summer. In fact, of all the cities in Kazakhstan that made it onto my world map that I bought at Barnes and Noble before I left, Balhash is one of them. Go figure.
We stayed with Sam and readied ourselves to do all things Kazakh (read: eat friend foods, sit on the floor, drink fermented mare's milk, toast to the prosperity of Kazakhstan, watch traditional dances, listen to dombra music, go guesting in yurts, etc) for the Nauryz celebration that was set-up on the main drag of town, very near to Sam's apartment.
The most memorable parts of my 2 Nauryz holidays in Kazakhstan (last year I was in Shymkent, the epicenter of Kazakh culture, they say) are the yurts (old-school nomadic steppe dwellings), abundance of free food, and most of all, the traditional dancing/costumes.
Thus, to celebrate Nauryz in style, and to get out of the city a little bit, Tess and I took a 5 hour bus down to a Kazakh town called Balhash, where my friend Samantha is a PCV. I had never been to Balhash before, despite it being one of the closest locations to Karaganda (how 'bout them apples, puts a new meaning to "are we there yet?"), and despite it being one of the 3 "tourist destinations" in Kazakhstan. Balhash, it seems, is known for its lake, fishing, and "beautiful beach" where many Karagandians vacation during the summer. In fact, of all the cities in Kazakhstan that made it onto my world map that I bought at Barnes and Noble before I left, Balhash is one of them. Go figure.
We stayed with Sam and readied ourselves to do all things Kazakh (read: eat friend foods, sit on the floor, drink fermented mare's milk, toast to the prosperity of Kazakhstan, watch traditional dances, listen to dombra music, go guesting in yurts, etc) for the Nauryz celebration that was set-up on the main drag of town, very near to Sam's apartment.
The most memorable parts of my 2 Nauryz holidays in Kazakhstan (last year I was in Shymkent, the epicenter of Kazakh culture, they say) are the yurts (old-school nomadic steppe dwellings), abundance of free food, and most of all, the traditional dancing/costumes.
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