Decoration of the Bride’s Horse in Qazaq Traditional Culture
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69567/3007-0236.2024.2.180.203Keywords:
Qazaqs, wedding rituals, brides horse, items of horse equipment, protective magicAbstract
In the traditional culture of the Qazaqs, the decoration of the bride's horse was a stable attribute of wedding rituals until the mid-1920s. The girl's dowry included the horse and its equipment, which indicated the property status of her family. Horse decoration items were produced either in the Qazaq environment or on the request of nomads in the craft centers of the agricultural oases of Central Asia, primarily in Tashkent. The reason for the presence of identical embroidered blankets in museum collections is due to this circumstance. Saddles for brides the Qazaqs brought from Bukhara; the most popular type of saddles was qurandy yer / sart yer with a head in the form of two twisted elements. In the eastern regions of Qazaqstan, the influence of local traditions in the design of a wedding saddle was noticeable, namely, the use of silver-plated metal plates with perforated patterns. The features of the Qazaq set of equipment for a wedding horse were using a large three-piece at–turman blanket along with the existence of these parts separately; preference for embroidery in decorating of textile items; the presence of a complex saddle kit, including duffel bags-pillows – boqsha, qus-qalta, qopshik – for transporting valuables from the dowry. One of the universal functions of wedding attributes was the magical protection of the bride. In the items under consideration, protection was achieved by using red cloth and bright floral and solar patterns in embroidery and appliqué, decorative elements of a triangular shape (the image of a tumar amulet), bunches of eagle owl feathers, silver overlays on leather harness straps, beads of assorted colors, silk tassels and fringes. The article introduces into scientific circulation rare museum monuments from the collections of the largest ethnographic museums in Russia - the Russian Ethnographic Museum and the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kunstkamera) (St. Petersburg). We provide comparative data on the cultural practices of various peoples in Central Eurasia to complete and objectively illustrate the existence of wedding horse equipment among the Qazaqs.
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