Chambers at Large in Kyrgyzstan: Building a Yurt, Making Felt, Baking Bread and Hunting with Eagles.
Kyrgyzstan proved to be far more modern than I anticipated, but traditions are alive and well, and I was delighted to be shown how a yurt is built by a young couple with the help, or hindrance, of their two-year-old son. (I later stayed overnight in one, but that experience is for another blog.)
What struck me first about a yurt was how decorative, spacious, but cozy it is. A fire can be made in the centre and smoke released through the roof, but the day my fellow travellers and I we were shown how to construct a yurt with a central crown in the shape of a tündük which is within the sun on the flag of Kyrgyzstan.
Willow is used to create the framework and traditionally it is the man who holds up the crown or “keystone” of the frame, whilst the woman inserts curved branches to form the roof and sides. Willow is used as it is strong and flexible, and the long canes are shaped by hand.
Layers of felt are then wrapped around the wooden mainframe, inside and out, then tied in place by thin strips of felt. It was at this juncture the toddler wanted to “help”. He was hungry and wasn’t impressed with tourists stopping his mother from providing him with lunch!
Apologies to the young man for interrupting his routine, but it was great fun watching the construction that is still in use today, although yurts are becoming more an attraction for holiday makers than a permanent residence for the Kyrgyzs.
Having said that, in spring, shepherds who are charged with taking sheep up to graze on the pasture of the mountainside take the makings of a yurt with them via camel, horse or donkey as the whole kit and caboodle weighs an incredible 240 kilos!
The following day at the FELT ART STUDIO, a business set up by women and run by women, my fellow travellers and I learned how felt was made beginning with the washing of fleeces from local sheep. The fleeces are laid out on straw matting and soaked with warm water to preserve the lanolin. It is that which keeps the yurt waterproof.
The wet fleece is then rolled up in the matting and compressed into a bundle by wrapping it in canvas. The bundle is then struck many times. A machine has been constructed to do this at 120 strikes per minute, but the process was once done by hand.
When the bundle is fully compressed it is opened out and dried in the sun, then dyed and cut to size. A pattern for the covering of a yurt was drawn on the ground outside, but there are smaller patterns for clothes and the women create numerous works from the felt they make.
I was thrilled to purchase a very practical piece that will hold my keys. It was made by the mother of our hostess and I’d like to thank her for her hospitality and wish her and all the women good luck in their future endeavours.
However, before leaving our hostess was keen to show us how to bake the small pieces of bread that I’d grown quite fond of and she and her fellow workers had prepared a delicious lunch.
I’m a terrible cook and left the ladies and some gents to roll out the dough, cut it and fry it in oil over fires fuelled by wood or dried cow manure. The same fires used to heat the water for washing the fleeces.
Having learned how to construct a yurt, make felt, and cook bread, all that was left to learn of a Kyrgyz’s traditional way of life was how to hunt with an eagle! This had to be the biggest treat of the day!
The eagle, named after a nearby mountain where she was born, was in the charge of a hunter who was teaching his son. I state the eagle was in the charge of the hunter as eagles do not belong to anyone. If the eagle wanted to fly off, she would fly off. She stays because she is rewarded for her work (well fed), watered and it was quite apparent she and the other animals were truly loved.
The hunter on horseback showed us how he would drag a pelt along the ground and encourage the eagle to swoop down on the prey. Eagles kill with their talons, not their beaks, which are only used for eating. Feeding the bird a favoured treat of lamb’s lung allows the hunter to distract it from its recent kill and purloin the fresher prey for himself.
To my surprise my fellow travellers and I were allowed to hold the majestic bird, who weighs about 10kg, the glove weighing almost as much! Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but coming face to face with an eagle isn’t something that happens every day and I have to say I loved the experience. I wish to extend my heartiest thanks to my guide, Ermek, for arranging our meeting with the hunter, his son, his fine horses and his beautiful dogs.
Kyrgyzstan may be modernising by the minute, but it’s good to know some traditions are being kept alive as, if the lights do go out, we will all need the basic skills of creating shelter, hunting, gathering, and cooking to ensure our survival.
And on that happy note I will leave you until next time, when I’ll be wondering what it must have been like to travel the Silk Road through Kyrgyzstan at its zenith.
Happy travels and thanks for reading.
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To catch up with my first blog of my journey along the Silk Road, please click on the link.
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