First of all sorry I'm so behind on my blog... It's never been something I've been great at, but I'll try and keep up better! Several weekends ago was one of the biggest holidays of the year in Kyrgyzstan, Noruz (Norooz, hard switching it from cyrillic). Noruz is the Kyrgyz New Years and has some traditional activities as well as a giant air of festivity! The special food for Norooz is called Somolok. The whole day before families and friends gather to make this wheat based dish that takes 24 hours to cook! In a huge pot (or I feel like I should be saying caldron?) wheat and water are heated over a fire. Meanwhile it must be stirred continuously for 24 hours. Each stir of the broad ladle gives the stirrer a chance to make a wish, so the honor of stirring is in hot demand. In addition to stir-wishes, rounded pebbles and a bright orange rock candy are also added to the pot, each also granting a wish. My friend Rebekah (an ETA Fulbright here) was invited to a Somolok making party, which, other than the marriage proposal she received, was apparently quite fun. She showed up very tired the next day though! The morning of Noruz we tried Somolok that Rebekah brought back. It's sort of a grey brown sludge and looks utterly unappetizing, yet has a malty sweet flavor that is actually quite good! Traditionally it is eaten with the pinky finger dipped into it and you do this three time. Each time you make a wish of course!
Kyle trying some of the Somolok, see? He's smiling, can't be that bad!
After “breakfast” Kyle, Rebekah, and their Portugese couch surfer Sophia, and I met up with an Australian couch surfer Ciaren and our wonderful Kyrgyz guide Bakit to go to the hippodrome. The hippodrome is at the southern end of the city, so we all squished into a cab. I was so thankful to have Bakit to help us, as I don't know if we would have managed to get in to the event otherwise. The place was mostly full with many people vying for the few remaining tickets at the gate. Bakit bought us tickets (200 som) and told us to link arms as we shoved our way through the crowd. There were two sets of large bleachers overlooking a muddy playing field, with a stage opposite. The stands were totally packed, so we opted to stand behind the row of fuzzy-hat-clad police officers. While the police are sometimes a little interesting here, it seemed the better alternative both for having a view and for the fact that apparently women don't go to the hippodrome... Other than us foreigners and one Kyrgyz woman I saw the rest of the audience, hundreds of people, was men. Across the field (muddy from the rain the day before) a singer started. This is the national sport of Kyrgyzstan, called kok Baru. Despite not understanding, I do love hearing the lilting sound of Kyrgyz folk music. Soon the horses begin to enter to ring for the match we got to watch (the “green” vs the “red”). There were about 8 players per team, each mounted on a horse. The field was about 150m long with a large cement trough at each end. In the middle the referee brought out a headless sheep or goat. I read it's supposed to be a goat, but this one was very wooly. At his whistle the games began! There was much scrumming to actually get the sheep.
Leaning far out of the saddle, it was very difficult to pick the thing up from the ground. Opposing players would ram their horses into the one trying to get the sheep to prevent a pick up. Once the sheep was grabbed, the player would madly take off for the other end of the field to try and score a goal, all the while racing and dodging the other team. There were several goals scored, including one incredible break away. We didn't know what either team was, but we cheered loudly with the rest of the crowd! At the end the match switched to a shoot-off style.
One rider got the sheep all situated and a rider from the other team waited a few steps behind them. At a signal they took off racing for the goal on the other end. This was repeated several times and was so exciting! The horses were very fit and mostly in a very nice condition, although there was one one chestnut who came up lame about halfway through the match. At the end of the match we opted to head out rather than watch the racing and another later match. We took an incredibly crowded bus/van back to the city center and went to Ala-Too Square. It was filled with people.
A stage was going at the far end with dancing and singing and venders were everywhere. All the men had the traditional Kolpak hats on and many people were clearly dressed up a bit. We met up with some other Kyrgyz friends and had lunch in a cafe. The food was good the coffee terrible... Kyrgyzstan!