Kazakh Craftswomen of Mongolia’s ‘Rich Cradle’
The Altai Mountain Range straddles Western Mongolia where the country meets with Russia, Kazakhstan and north-western China. This area is characterised by deep-green alpine lakes, glaciers and the highest mountain peaks in Mongolia. For almost 200 years, a considerable Kazakh Diaspora has inhabited this harsh western-most province of Mongolia, its ‘Rich Cradle’, Bayan-Ölgii, or Bai Besik as the province is known in Kazakh.
Most Kazakhs living in Bayan-Ölgii are either directly or through family networks engaged in pastoral nomadism and during the warm summer months live in yurts (kiiz yi, literally ‘felt house’). The yurt is richly furnished with textiles made by women and young girls in the course of everyday life. Large, densely-embroidered wall hangings, decorative panels, woven ribbons and bands and storage bags decorate the yurt, and large felt carpets are used to seat respected guests on, to pray on and to carry the dead to the grave.
In Kazakhstan itself, these ‘traditional’ crafts are no longer widely made as part of daily life, and Bayan-Ölgii’s Kazakhs are in important respects unique in this particular area of domestic crafts production. In Bayan-Ölgii, domestic crafts production persists today as a living tradition that has relevance in everyday life. This is partly due to the livelihood strategies engaged in and partly because the crafts are integral to social forms of organisation and traditions such as wedding-related gift-exchanges.
The Kazakhs form the largest minority in Mongolia and live mainly in the western-most province of Bayan-Ölgii, meaning ‘Rich Cradle’ in Mongolian. Most Kazakhs in this remote, mountainous region are dependent on domestic animals for their livelihood. Many move up to several times a year with their herds between fixed seasonal settlements. Other families with smaller herds stay closer to their winter house during the summer but will nevertheless set up a yurt (kiiz yi, meaning ‘felt house’).
The summertime yurt (and to a lesser extent the winter house) is richly furnished with embroidered, felt and woven textiles. These textiles are made of a mixture of raw materials derived from local herds (for instance sheep’s wool and camel hair), but also integrate new materials, colours and designs. New tools and techniques are also developed by the craftswomen, resulting in changing styles and fashions in textile production. The exhibition focuses on these craftswomen, painting a picture of their creative practices and lives.
Music has for centuries been integral to the social and cultural life of the Kazakhs, a Turkic people of Central Asia. Rooted in the ancient traditions of nomadism, a migratory lifestyle, oral culture, and animistic-shamanic worldviews, Kazakh music derives its unique identity, meanings and roles from the nomadic social and cultural universe. In the past and still nowadays among semi-nomadic Kazakh communities in Altai, northwestern China and western Mongolia, music-making, performance and learning have been centred around the migratory settlement, auyl. Here, at the heart of nomadic life, musical knowledge, skills and repertory have been passed down through lineages of resident tribes and clans. The auyl has been the venue for inter-tribal events, too, where singing and instrumental playing are interwoven with storytelling and conversation, forming an important means of social interaction and exchange.
The Altai Mountain Range straddles Western Mongolia where the country meets with Russia, Kazakhstan and north-western China. This area is characterised by deep-green alpine lakes, glaciers and the highest mountain peaks in Mongolia. For almost 200 years, a considerable Kazakh Diaspora has inhabited this harsh western-most province of Mongolia, its ‘Rich Cradle’, Bayan-Ölgii, or Bai Besik as the province is known in Kazakh.
Most Kazakhs living in Bayan-Ölgii are either directly or through family networks engaged in pastoral nomadism and during the warm summer months live in yurts (kiiz yi, literally ‘felt house’). The yurt is richly furnished with textiles made by women and young girls in the course of everyday life. Large, densely-embroidered wall hangings, decorative panels, woven ribbons and bands and storage bags decorate the yurt, and large felt carpets are used to seat respected guests on, to pray on and to carry the dead to the grave.
In Kazakhstan itself, these ‘traditional’ crafts are no longer widely made as part of daily life, and Bayan-Ölgii’s Kazakhs are in important respects unique in this particular area of domestic crafts production. In Bayan-Ölgii, domestic crafts production persists today as a living tradition that has relevance in everyday life. This is partly due to the livelihood strategies engaged in and partly because the crafts are integral to social forms of organisation and traditions such as wedding-related gift-exchanges.
The Kazakhs form the largest minority in Mongolia and live mainly in the western-most province of Bayan-Ölgii, meaning ‘Rich Cradle’ in Mongolian. Most Kazakhs in this remote, mountainous region are dependent on domestic animals for their livelihood. Many move up to several times a year with their herds between fixed seasonal settlements. Other families with smaller herds stay closer to their winter house during the summer but will nevertheless set up a yurt (kiiz yi, meaning ‘felt house’).
The summertime yurt (and to a lesser extent the winter house) is richly furnished with embroidered, felt and woven textiles. These textiles are made of a mixture of raw materials derived from local herds (for instance sheep’s wool and camel hair), but also integrate new materials, colours and designs. New tools and techniques are also developed by the craftswomen, resulting in changing styles and fashions in textile production. The exhibition focuses on these craftswomen, painting a picture of their creative practices and lives.
Music has for centuries been integral to the social and cultural life of the Kazakhs, a Turkic people of Central Asia. Rooted in the ancient traditions of nomadism, a migratory lifestyle, oral culture, and animistic-shamanic worldviews, Kazakh music derives its unique identity, meanings and roles from the nomadic social and cultural universe. In the past and still nowadays among semi-nomadic Kazakh communities in Altai, northwestern China and western Mongolia, music-making, performance and learning have been centred around the migratory settlement, auyl. Here, at the heart of nomadic life, musical knowledge, skills and repertory have been passed down through lineages of resident tribes and clans. The auyl has been the venue for inter-tribal events, too, where singing and instrumental playing are interwoven with storytelling and conversation, forming an important means of social interaction and exchange.
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