KZBlog

Finally tracked down the Schedule of Events for Astana Day in English. My biggest disappointment is that it looks like they have replaced the Kazakh horse sports with a show jumping competition. Seriously, I wait all year to go to the Hippodrome and see the kokpar, the races and of course the kyz kui and dzigitovka.

Kyz kui (Catch the girl) is a traditional game where a man tries to catch a woman on horseback. If he catches her, he gets to kiss her. The fun part is that she has a riding crop to beat him off with! And sometimes they do it in reverse where the woman chases the man! Dzigitovka (Manly sport?) consists of show-riding like riding standing up on the saddle or climbing on and off the horse and full gallop. It’s really impressive and derives from hunting and war skills that all nomads had to have to survive in the olden days. The name indicates that it was also a chance for young men to show off and hopefully impress a girl or two. However, it does look like the parks will be full of interesting traditional displays so I’m looking forward to walking around the Festival of Nomad Civilization.

Normally Astana Day (which coincides with the president’s birthday) lasts for a whole week. I assume the financial crisis has forced the government to cut its budget a bit. Still it should be fun.

So what are you looking forward to on the upcoming holiday? Or do you plan to stay home and sleep late?