#kazakh

[calleido]

kisva

[padurenii]

Kazakh hair jewelry pieces

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

Fashion in the old city of kashgar, xinjiang, northwestern china, including tajik, uyghur, kazakh, kyrgyz, uzbek, and more. (Photographer 刘星球)

[smsomah]

Kazakh; Central Asia; Uzbekistan, second half 19th century. Materials: fur; silk; cotton; leather.

This fur-trimmed doeskin coat, lined with printed cotton, was likely made by a skilled Uzbek artisan for a wealthy Kazakh man. Such finely embroidered garments, worn on special occasions, could be worth as much as a good horse.

[songs-of-the-east]

Kazakh Girl in a Traditional Bridal Headdress Known as a Saukele

"The saukele is a richly decorated headdress, and it was not affordable for all. In the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, it could cost as much as 5000 silver rubles. A saukele had to be ordered in advance of the wedding, usually one or one and a half years prior—after the matchmaking (engagement) was already completed and the girl had become a bride waiting for a wedding. At that moment, her family would order a saukele from the jeweler.

There are no two identical saukele. Each jeweler adorned and decorated this headpiece in their own way. Some saukeles have region-specific characteristics, so, for instance, a western Kazakh saukele is distinguished by the massive, often anthropomorphic metal linings in the central part of the headpiece. In the southern saukele, its textile decoration elements were more visible. And yet, saukeles always had universal elements of design and decor, which were repeated from time to time. For example, the cone-like, high shape of the headdress is a hallmark of the piece and the hats could reach a height of 70 centimeters. They were usually made of white felt because it was considered a good quality and expensive material, and the felt was sheathed on top with other fabrics such as cloth, velvet, or silk, but always red in color. Why red? The red color has always been a symbol of fertility; it is a sign of a woman at the peak of her fertile age, and it signifies a wish of many children for a young bride.

Inside each saukele, there is a three-lobed quilted cap, very similar in shape to the lining under a helmet, which we will explain a little later. An embroidered strip behind the saukele is usually quite long and richly decorated. Some researchers believe that this strip is a nakosnik, a triangular decoration hung on the end of the braid. It’s true that, in ancient times (as the saukele traces its history back to quite ancient times), women had to hide their hair after they got married, ensuring that no stranger could see it. Unmarried girls and women could walk with their hair loose or with braids, but after marriage, they had to hide it. So with time, the nakosnik—which covered the braid behind the saukele—has become an embroidered strip, or a false nakosnik. On the both sides of the saukele, there are surprisingly richly decorated pendants called jahtau. They always include precious stones and beads such as coral, pearls, and glass. Behind the saukele we see a scarf called a jelek. This is a veil that covers the shoulders of the bride, and sometimes her face."

[a-pint-of-j-and-b]

Бойся, враг, девятого сына (The Horseherd's Ninth Son/Beware of the Ninth Son) | Viktor Chuguno and Viktor Pusurmanov | 1984 | The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic

Based on Kazakh folk tales. The youngest son of the herdsman Yerzhan, the kind and brave Yerkenzhe, goes in search of his father and eight brothers, who were turned into stone idols by the evil wizard Tasbol.

[turkicculture]

A Kazakh artist Dosbol Kasymov, created possibly the first-ever painting of Mary and the Child Jesus as native Kazakhs; it displayed in Kazakhstan’s only Marian shrine.