Russia is |
Peoples of Russia
Kazakhs
Their self-designation is Kazakh. Their obsolete name is Kyrgyz-Kaysak or Kyrgyz. They are the majority of the population of the independent state of the Republic of Kazakhstan and also live in Uzbekistan, China, Turkmenistan, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan.
Language
The Kazakhs speak the Kazakh language of the Kipchak-Nogai subgroup of the Kipchak group of the Turkic branch of the Altai language family. The writing system was in existence since the second half of the 19th century on the basis of the Arabic script. Since 1929, it was based on the Latin alphabet. Currently it is based on the Cyrillic alphabet. The Kazakhs in China still use the Arabic script (altered).
Society
The Kazakh people are traditionally divided into three ethnoterritorial formations called zhuz. Each zhuz has its own traditional area: Semirechye and the Southern Kazakhstan for the Senior zhuz, the Central, Eastern and Northern Kazakhstan for the Middle zhuz and the Western Kazakhstan for the Junior zhuz. The kinship groups of a zhuz are interrelated. Outside of the zhuz are the groups of tore (Chingissids), kozha (the descendants of the Sahabah of prophet Muhammad and other Arabs from Central Asia) and tolengit (the caste of the former Oirat prisoners of war, which constituted the Khan bodyguard corps). The modern Kazakhs do not always know from which zhuz and kinship group they originate. The family is traditionally nuclear, including parents and underage children.
Dwellings
The nomad Kazakhs lived in yurts. Presently yurts are used as temporary dwellings, during the festivities also as service areas. The Kazakhs who lived near settled peoples started using wooden buildings, buildings woven from branches and even stone ones, which reminded a yurt in their shape (shoshala), for example in Altai, in Western Siberia. After Kazakhs became settled, adobe, wooden and stone buildings became widespread.
Food
The Kazakh diet is mostly a dairy one (cheese, qatiq, kumis); they also ate baked articles and millet dishes. In winter, they ate meat and plant products.
Occupations
For a long time Kazakhs, like all the nomads from the Great Steppe, practiced nomadic cattle breeding. Since the 18th century, agriculture started developing (the crops were millet and wheat). Hunting was important. The developed crafts were: wood carving, wool spinning, carpet weaving, feltmaking, metalwork, leather embossing.
