The Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek today features mosques scattered throughout its streets. Amazingly, nearly all of these mosques were constructed after the Kyrgyz Republic declared independence in 1991. The city was constructed mostly by Tsarist Russia and the USSR, neither of which encouraged the construction of mosques. The construction boom in Bishkek is testament to […]

The World Nomad Games is a unique international sporting event that celebrates the traditional sports and cultural heritage of the traditionally nomadic Turkic people. The World Nomad Games brings together athletes and spectators from around the world to participate in nomadic traditions through a festival of traditional sports, cultural events, and art exhibitions. The next […]

Below, you will find several useful phrases and words. To the left is the English and to the above right is an English transliteration of the Kyrgyz translation. Below the English transliteration is a Russian transliteration. In the center of each row is a play button that will play a recorded file of the English […]

In July 2023, as a volunteer on an ethnographic expedition studying the folklore of Old Believers in Eastern Kazakhstan, I was invited to attend and participate in the Ivan Kupala Day celebration. The holiday is a Slavic midsummer event, and this particular celebration is organized by the Russian Ethnographic Museum in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. We attended […]

Using historical and ethnographic studies from previous years, literary data, and his own field research conducted over several years’ time in different regions of Kyrgyzstan, the author explores the place and role of dwellings in traditional funeral and burial rituals of the Kyrgyz people. The yurt, a type of dwelling continually used by the formerly […]

International Women’s Day was first celebrated in St. Petersburg in 1913, declared by activists there and celebrated with rallies that demanded more rights. It did not become an official state holiday and day off, however, until 1965. In that year, March 8th was chosen as it marked the day when, in 1917, women again marched […]

The Talking Phrasebook Series presents useful phrases and words in side-by-side translation and with audio files specifically geared to help students work on listening skills and pronunciation. Each entry below, divided by category, features an English word or phrase in the left column and its Khakas translation in the right, presented in the original Khakas […]

As soon as I arrived in Bishkek, I started asking every person I met where I could find, watch, and play kok boru. I first learned about the sport in researching Kygyzstan before I arrived in Bishkek and was instantly fascinated by it. Kok boru is the wild national sport of Kyrgyzstan. It’s basically polo, […]

A symbol of Tatar culture and a pride of that nation, echpochmak is easily one of most recognizable foods from Tatar cuisine. This savory meat pie has its origins in the nomadic days of the Tatars but the crisp outside and juicy meat filling of the pie have guaranteed echpochmak’s timeless popularity. Today, echpochmak is […]

Kyrgyz Independence Day is celebrated each year on August 31. It marks the date when, in 1991, Kyrgyzstan declared itself an independent republic and left the USSR. One of my fellow classmates at my university back in America, who had studied abroad a year prior, highly recommended attending Independence Day celebrations in Kyrgyzstan, noting that, […]

Sabantuy (Сабантуй) is the traditional Volga (Kazan) Tatar summer festival. It dates back to pre-Islamic, pagan times and originally was a ritual that asked the gods for a plentiful harvest. Today, however, the festival can best be understood as a national Tatar celebration of their culture and traditions. Sabantuy are inclusive, community-building events. In Tatarstan, […]

Kattama is a traditional Turkic pastry. It is buttery, flaky, layered and fried or baked to perfection! The dough is rolled thin, slathered in butter and other filling, and then layered and folded, creating beautiful flaky layers that are both crisp and soft. It can be found throughout Mongol and Turkic cultures in various forms. […]