Steppe In Time

As The World Moves On, Kyrgyzstan’s Nomadic Culture Appears Under Threat. But In Central Asia’s Magnificent Mountains The Old Traditions Still Find A Way To Survive…

- Mark Stratton

A flurry of arrows arced across the emerald-green steppe and thudded unerringly into a straw target decorated as an ibex. The Kyrgyz archers led the way, wearing pointed ak-kalpak hats that peaked like the surrounding snowy mountains. Alongside them were Kazakhs and Tajiks, and Mongolians, too, straining their longbows in the spirit of Genghis Khan, long deel coats ruffled by the dusty breeze.

Swelling the ranks of this multinational force of bowmen were Bashkortostanis, Turkmen in shaggy woollen hats, a quiver of Iranians and a lederhosen-wearing German who looked a little out of place. The third World Nomad Games were proving riotously colourful.

The game’s afoot

This biennial Olympiad of nomadic sports was taking place in Cholpon- Ata, a summery resort town on the northern shore of Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan’s largest lake. During its first two days I watched man-mountain Mongolians and rockhard Russians grappling in alysh (belt wrestling) as well as kok-boru polo teams fighting over the carcass of a headless goat.

However, the games’ real pageantry played out 40km away at Kyrchyn Gorge, where archers and goldeneagle hunters competed while riders limbered up for equine events like er-ernish (horseback wrestling). Elsewhere, traders, craftspeople and performers from across Kyrgyzstan had erected hundreds of yurts and created a carnival atmosphere. Amid the revelry I recoiled at the sourness of kumis (fermented mare’s milk) and ate delicious samsa patties of spiced mutton. I browsed patterned carpets, bought honey, photographed decorated yaks and two-humped camels, and watched a curious game called ordo in which competitors hurled sheep vertebrae in a motion akin to skimming pebbles across water. I ended at the US Embassy yurt where they laid on a good ole country ’n’ western shindig.