Camel Calves
solto-bolokbai
In winter, the rams are driven into the gorge, while the horses graze in the steppe near the wintering area. There is little snow in the winter pasture. At night (during the three-month winter), the rams are kept in a pen prepared somewhere under a rock.
People (herders) trample a path for the sheep over the pass. The condition of the snow is quite indifferent to them; the depth is what hinders them.
In winter, the koyshi along with the owner's son go to graze the sheep in the gorge. Their wives accompany them. They take all necessary utensils and food with them. They live in a site called "ala-chik" and have contact with the wintering area every 15-20 days. Meanwhile, the horses remain in the steppe at the wintering site. The young are born in the koktem. A month after this period, people migrate from there.
Talas
kainazar
Kysrak bolmo20 — in spring, they gather young and barren mares and lock them together with a young stallion in a kuран (pen) for more than a day so that they get used to herding together. Then they are driven into a separate gorge to prevent the herd from mixing with others.
Tubie — a well-fed mare, barren, without a foal, but has given birth before, has not been in heat, or has lost her foal.
Kysrak — a young barren mare. They do not milk the sheep in summer.
Chong Koshoy
The foals have a permanent place in the желе. Where they usually start milking, the foals of low-yield mares are placed, and at the end (ayak), the foals of those mares that give a larger quantity of milk are placed. The first ones are harder to milk, as their udder is firmer, and more effort is needed to make them release milk.
Chonkur-Talas
For newborn lambs, they set up shelters made of chiy. In spring, they milk the sheep and use the milk.
Osh Region, Aktor Kumbel
Depending on the amount of snow in winter, the horses graze in the steppe or are kept in the stable. When the foals are tied for the first time, a man or woman smears the mallet and the stake of the желе with oil21.
Belbashat (near Cholkund)
The breeds of camels raised include: ayre, nar, lek (with closely set humps).
Asy — a horse five years old, ekk asy — six years old and older22.
Horse colors: chaар — white spotted; ala (kar-, tor-, cap-) — piebald (black piebald, bay piebald, gray piebald); kyzyл — gray; zhiyirde — red; toori — bay; buurul — spotted (silver-red); kara-gir — dark bay23; ker — light bay24; bos — gray.
Each foal has its specific place in the желе, making it easy for mothers to find them.
To tie the foals, a more or less long rope is stretched between two stakes — желе, from which the required number of loops (zhikta25) branches off one after another (according to the number of heads). The foals are attached to the loops by their halters (nokto), with a stick (tiyevo26) inserted in the lower end, serving as a sort of button.
For lambs, a rope (kёgon) is also stretched, to which short ropes are threaded at a certain distance from each other, with two ends sticking out for tying around the lamb's neck — buurchak.
Calves are tied to a stake or rope simply by the rope at the lower end of the halter (dzau-nokto).
Young livestock (calves, lambs, kids) are often tied inside the yurt to the left of the entrance during the midday heat to protect them from the sun's rays.
Salt is given to the sheep in an ash-too27 — a narrow trough carved from a long thick piece of wood, the ends of which are thickened horizontally, drilled, and mounted on a pair of stakes so that the trough does not tip over during feeding.
Foals are castrated in several ways. A pair of sticks serves as a clamp. Grabbing one testicle (from behind), they make a longitudinal incision, then squeeze it out. Alternatively, they tie a string and leave it so that the testicle dries out by itself; or they burn the ducts with heated iron; or they tie the exposed testicles, grabbing them with another pair of sticks.
Horses are tamed at the age of two, when the foal is simply taken by the ear, saddled, and ridden. There are no adult untamed horses.
Wealthy people milk mares two times a day.
Teerdек — a saddle blanket (for the back), maamy — a hitching post, kёрпёчё— a riding blanket, zhorgo — a pace horse, zhurmёl28 — a small pace horse, kulun — a runner, buila — a rod passing through the nasal septum of large cattle, atan-tёё — a castrated camel, ingen-tёё — a female camel, buura-tёё — a male camel, tai-taylak — a two-year-old male camel, buurzhun — a two-year-old female camel29, kunan-taylak — a three-year-old male camel, kaymal-tёё — a three or four-year-old female camel (kaymal — "playing," as females start to play at the third or fourth year)30, byshty — a four-year-old male camel31.
Camel Calves
Chonkur-Talas
kainazar
When a camel calf is born, they scratch its sole, bite off the tip of its tail, thread a string with beads (blue) through its ears and nasal septum, saying: "Ata-enengding jёrёlgёsu!"32. They pour melted butter into its mouth to help expel the remnants of feces from its intestines.
Sarybulak
bugu
At birth, they cut off the very tip of the camel calf's tail, calling it kindik, thereby likening it to the umbilical cord. After seven to eight days, the camel calf becomes strong enough to suckle from its mother; until then, it is fed by a person. At birth, it is given melted fat through a nipple, feeding it like an infant. They make a zhentek and receive korumduk, as at the birth of a child, and show it. However, not everyone shows it, fearing the evil eye. After making a hole in the ear, they thread a string with a kok monchok and tie owl feathers to the ear.
For three days, they cover the female camel with a carpet, putting a white scarf on its head and a silver jugdun. If the taiлак falls ill, it is believed to be due to the evil eye, and they perform alastau.
Talas
kainazar
For the news of the birth of a camel calf, a syunche is given. The newborn camel calf is given ooz ondyrmak — the first food: they put bear bile in its mouth and rub it on its tongue and palate33. For two to three days, they let it suck melted fat with milk from a nipple or feed it with a spoon. They arrange a zhentek, slaughter a ram, and treat guests.
The female camel is decorated for the occasion, wearing a silver horse (female) bridle and all camel decorations: toogom34 and others. The head is tied with a scarf. In this form, the female camel remains for one week.
A person sleeps next to the camel calf for three nights. When the calf suckles from its mother, it is supported. Beads on a string are threaded through its ears, and feathers from an owl are placed on its head and ears; a talisman is made from wool in the shape of a triangle, wrapped with black and white threads.
solto-karamoin
Upon the birth of a camel calf, the person who sees this hastens to inform the owner of the event, saying: "Atan, ekan, atan, ekan!"35, and receives a syunche for this. A cover is put on the camel calf and the female camel. For three days, no one is allowed to pass between the mother and son, as otherwise, the female camel may reject (жерип кеткен)36 the calf, not giving it milk.
A chaар monchok — colorful beads and owl feathers are threaded through the ear of the camel calf. The female camel is fitted with a bridle with metal plates (female), similar to an elechek (the owner gives her elechek). At night for ten days, someone sleeps next to the camel calf. In the evening and at midnight, it is fed, taken outside in the arms from the yurt to its mother, while performing alastau, circling a smoldering branch around its head so that it does not fall ill. They help it suckle from its mother. After ten days, the camel calf can suckle by itself. If previous calves of this female camel have died, the tip of the ear of the calf is cut off37. Upon the birth of a camel calf, the owner performs a zhentek.
Neighbors come, feast (depending on the owner's wealth), and express their wishes: "Taylagyndyn boosu bek bolsun" (May the strength of the thread, the thread of life be strong)38. They look at the camel calf.
Comments:
20 Kysrak (кысырак) bolmo — literally, "do not be barren."
21 See note 6.
22 Asy (асый) — at the fifth year, i.e., already adult (for horses, large cattle, camels, reindeer); up to four years, animals have specific names depending on age; after four years, age is counted by asy: zhany asy or bir asy — at the fifth year; eki asy — at the sixth year, uch asy — at the seventh year, etc. (Yudakhin K.K. Referenced work, p. 76). See Abramzon believes that among the Kyrgyz, as well as among other Turkic peoples, there existed a system of naming domestic animals not only using numerals but also by the number of teeth or their shape. One of the proofs of this is the presence of the term asy among the Kyrgyz, which he associates with the canine, molar (Abramzon S.M. Kyrgyz... pp. 84—85).
23 The dictionary of K.K. Yudakhin does not contain the word kara-gir: dark bay, it is translated there as kara-toru (Yudakhin K.K. Referenced work, p. 754).
24 /Ser — (about the color of a horse) bay, karakovy; ker-toru — bay with markings; light bay — kyzyл-toru (Yudakhin K.K. Referenced work, pp. 376, 754).
25 In K.K. Yudakhin's dictionary, the word "chekte" means "to limit, to set a boundary" (Yudakhin K.K. Referenced work, p. 855).
26 Apparently, tuyimb — "button" (Yudakhin K.K. Referenced work, p. 777).
27 Ash too — from ash "food," tabak "dish."
28 In K.K. Yudakhin's dictionary: zhurbml — fast walker (for a person and an animal).
29 According to K.K. Yudakhin, buurzhun — a male producer at the fifth year (Yudakhin K.K. Referenced work, p. 164).
30 According to K.K. Yudakhin, kaymak — a female camel at the fifth year, and a three to four-year-old female camel is kaymalcha (Yudakhin K.K. Referenced work, p. 320).
31 According to K.K. Yudakhin, byshty — this animal (in general) at the fourth year, a horse at the fourth year (Yudakhin K.K. Referenced work, p. 174).
32 "The custom of your ancestors" (this is said, for example, when the bride is first tied a scarf on her head, replacing the maiden's hat).
33 Possibly, ooz ondyrmak — from ooz "mouth," honorodon "to be covered with a coating" (for example, about the tongue). Perhaps they rub bile in the mouth to cleanse it (remove the coating)?
34 This word is not found in K.K. Yudakhin's dictionary.
35 Literally "Atan, it turns out, atan, it turns out!"; atan — a castrated camel.
36 Жерип кеткен — to alienate, not to allow one's offspring to approach (Yudakhin K.K. Referenced work, p. 251).
37 Compare the markings made at the birth of a child in a family where children died. They were most often made to show evil spirits that the newborn (child, camel calf) already has an owner. And in general, the rituals associated with the birth of a camel calf largely echo the rituals conducted at the birth of a child.
38 More accurately: "May the thread of life of your camel calf be strong."
Rituals related to livestock breeding among the Kyrgyz