The Kazakhs preserve their national traditions which go back many thousand years. The ancient and original culture of the Kazakhs was formed in the conditions of nomadic life, which left a deep imprint on the psychology, art and life of the present-day Kazaks.
Naturally, in modern times some old Kazakh customs have died out or have changed. Gone are the customs of bride abduction, of kalym payment of ransom money for a bride, and levirate the compulsory marriage of a widow by the elder brother of her deceased husband. The laws of hospitality have been fully preserved, and a guest at a city apartment is accorded the same open-handed hospitality as in the nomadic yurta of the ancient times. The hosts feel offended if the visitor refuses to share a meal or at least a cup of traditional tea. The wedding ritual, the celebration of the birth of a child, the festivities held before moving to spring pastures, or in honour of an esteemed visitor, contain many elements that have been preserved down the centuries from ancient times. Another surviving custom is the respect shown to the elders aksakals.
Kazakh folk customs are discovered in the wedding ritual. His attitude of the brides parents to the bridegroom was free from many customs dictayed by islam. After the engagement and the first payment of kalym the bridegroom had a right to visit the bride secretly, usually at the brothers place or at the house of the bride relatives. The second visit was open. When islam didnt have great influence on the family life of Kazakh people the family ties were secured by the peoples common approving, singing chorus songs zhar-zhar performed at the wedding celebration. zhar-zhar is a song competition. It is usually sung by two groups of young people. The mens group is headed be the bridegroom and the womens one by the bride. The tradition demanded that the bride accompanied by her friends and singing a farewell song should visit every yurta of the aul and the neighboring ones.
Festive occasions with the Kazakhs are usually accompanied by national sports. Some of the more popular contests include alaman baiga mass long-distance horse-races; kures the wrestling of two strong men; sayis a dual between two horsemen trying to unsaddle each other; kokpar, in which a large group of horsemen struggles to take possession of a carcass or dummy of a goat and deliver it to their goal.. One of the oldest games is at-omyraulastyrue in which five or seven horsemen try to drive one another out of a circle 25-30 metres in diameter. A very beautiful sight to watch is zhorga zharys ambler races in which only girls and young women are allowed to take part. The riders wear bright national costumes and beautiful headwear. The saddles are inlaid with national ornaments, and the gait of the pacers is easy, smooth and graceful. Valuable prizes were prepared for the participants of these games.
Kumis alu ("Pick up the coin"). The essence of the game is that while galloping at full speed a young man should pick up a silver ingot off the ground - such had been condition of the game in old days. Nowadays a handkerchief replaces the ingot. This contest particularly impressed Alexander the Great when he visited Central Asia. According to historians' evidence on watching kumis alu he exclaimed "That's a sort of training worthy of a warrior on horseback".
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Audaryspak ("Wrestling on horseback") - this kind of national sports requires skills both in hand-to-hand fighting and in trick riding. In fact two men fight while on horseback. Wins the one that brings his adversary down of his horse.
Among young people a popular game is kys kuu Catch the girl A girl and a boy race each other on horseback: if the girl overtakes the boy, she strikes him with a lash, but if the boy is the victor, he kisses the girl
The Kazakhs are very fond of songs, music and dancing. The folk songs are created by akyns, extempore poets and singers, who not only make up the words and music for the songs, but also perform then accompanying themselves on the dombra. The folk songs reflect the centuries of the peoples history, its struggle against conquerors and local bais (landowners), the labour and customs, and the beautiful natural surroundings of the native land.
Berkutchi - hunting with a golden eagle. A tradition that has already been practiced for ten centuries. They say that presenting a youngster with a fledgling of a hunting bird is tantamount to wishing him to be brave and strong young fellow. Virtually training of a golden eagle is a rare and painstaking art. The bird just caught is being slowly trained to its master (a berkutchi). For the purpose the man doesn't get a wink of sleep for several nights with the bird being subjected to similar discomfort. The bird must take food (pieces of raw meat) from its master's hand only. When the eagles has got used to the hunter, its horse and its dog, it undergoes training: first it "hunts" stuffed foxes and only then proceeds with real hunting.
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