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Sacrifice Dilemma: To Whom is the Animal Sacrificed?
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- 259 Privratsky, p. 133.
- 260 Ibid., p. 119. 261 Ibid., p. 128.
- 262 Ibid., p. 130. 263 Ibid., p. 138. 264 Ibid., p. 139. 265 Ibid., p. 124. 266 Chotonov, pp. 232-233.
- Significance of Ash
- 267 Among the Uzbeks, osh has a different connotation. Only men are invited for osh and it is held early in the morning.
- 269 It is important to mention that among the contemporary Kyrgyz, after the kirki, close family members
- fortieth and ash.
- 272 Is is sausage made from the yellow and thick mane fat o f the horse.
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Sacrifice Dilemma: To Whom is the Animal Sacrificed? In his thorough study of Kazakh domestic religious rites, Bruce Privratsky notes that Central/Inner Asian nomadic culture, “oil (fat) and smoke were/are symbols of prosperity.” The occasional rite of j'it/is chigaruu (Kyrgyz) or iyis shigaru (Kazakh) by frying boorsok/jeti nan/shelpek pastries in hot oil and producing smoke from oil is a 259 Privratsky, p. 133. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 25 9 common in Central Asian families. On some Thursdays or Fridays, women fry these pastries and dedicate Quran to the spirits of all deseeded relatives and ancestors in general before eating them. If they do not observe this practice, people fear that they are not properly honoring their deceased ancestors whose spirits “come in dreams as a reminder.”260 The recital of the Quran serves a “link between the pure way of Islam and the Kazakh ancestor cult.”261 During regular days and after regular meals, people all say amen and “brush their faces” with both hands. However, after Thursday or Friday meals (if they remember), a male or female elderly member of the family recites a very short passage from Quran. In other words, Quran and Quranic recitations are considered sacred and powerful forces and thus used as verbal tools to honor the deceased spirits. According to Jolbari's Qoja, one of the Kazakh men whom Privratsky interviewed, “animal sacrifice (qurbandi'q) is offered to God” whereas, qudayi (Pers. a holy thing), another common religious practice, which involves a sacrificing of an animal (usually a goat) is offered to ancestor spirits. The native Kyrgyz term for the practice is called tulod, which is mostly used among the northern Kyrgyz. It should be noted that kudayi, is not just offered for ancestor spirits, but for various purposes as well, such as when a family member sees an unusual dream (often involving deceased ancestors), upon one’s safe return from a far away place (all Central Asian families hold a kudayi feast when their son(s) return from the army or when their student children come back from abroad), or if one survives a potentially deadly accident. The family who is offering the kudayi invites relatives and neighbors for meal(s) prepared with the slaughtered animal’s meat in addition to the above-mentioned pastries. Privratsky tries to demonstrate that the origin of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 6 0 many of these major religious practices and beliefs, including the ancestor cult, observed by Kazakhs goes back to Islamic/Sufi religion. He concludes by saying: “So the Kazakh domestic cult is linked, first to the funerary tradition of Muslim pilgrimage and the cult of the spirits associated with it, and is consistent, secondly, with a more generalized Islamic concept of the days of the week.”262 At the same time, however, he cannot deny their pre- Islamic existence. He states “whatever hearth ritual may be said to have existed in Inner Asia before the coming of Islam, it has undergone substantial Islamization.”263 He further acknowledges the fact that “because similar practices were present in Inner Asian religion before Islam, the assimilation of Islamic funerary laws was easier.”264 In general, scholars of Islam and Muslim clergy say that Quranic recitations can be performed at many rites of passages and for various purposes such as to honor the dead at funerals and memorial feasts, and to cure the sick. According to all four legal schools of Islam, mashabs, reciting the Quran for the dead is not required, but recommended (Ar. “mandub”). It is said that neither of these schools condemn this practice.265 Some purist Muslim clergy, however, in Kyrgyzstan like Chotonov do not tolerate such practices where people recite Quran to honor the dead and the ancestral spirits and ask for their support and help: “It is considered sin to ask for help from the dead and
from being Muslim.”266 262 Ibid., p. 130. 263 Ibid., p. 138. 264 Ibid., p. 139. 265 Ibid., p. 124. 266 Chotonov, pp. 232-233. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 261 During my interview with Abdi'shiikiir Narmatov, the former president of the Institute of Islam in Bishkek, he gave the following clarification about the dedication of Quran:
Elm ira: When I ask people about to whom they dedicate the animal; they usually say to make the deceased’s spirit content. Narm atov: Yes, they say so. They also say: “I kill this animal in the name of God.” The right way is to say: “I sacrifice this animal for my father’s spirit in the name of God.” Elm ira: Why do you think the Kyrgyz respect the arbak [deceased’s
In the beginning the Prophet also prohibited people’s visits to graves, because people had very little knowledge about religion. Later, the Prophet himself would visit gravesites and tell: “Oh, my friends, sahabas, and Muslims! I used to tell you not to visit graves before. Please do visit them, but don’t ask the spirits of the dead for help. It is every person’s sacred duty to recite Quran in dedication to them. However, its difference from the religion is this. Whenever I go to my home village, I visit my older brother’s (who died at the age of forty seven) grave and recite Quran. It is my sacred duty as a sibling and as a Muslim. I should not forget him. However, there are some people who go to gravesites asking for something, e.g., asking for a child if they do not have children. This is outlawed in shari’a, because when we pray five times a day we say the
stayin’’ meaning “I only worship You and ask from You.” We must ask for kindness and evil from God. Arbaks cannot help us. On the contrary, they are in need of our kind work. We do not need their help. Elm ira: How about the popular/traditional blessing among the Kyrgyz:
No, that is incorrect to ask for their protection. Where do these blessings come from? It is because they do not understand the religion more deeply. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 26 2 Saying that one’s grandfather’s spirit should bless or protect one is not in our religion [i.e., Islam], When I asked my great uncle Anarbay’s opinion about the tradition of reciting Quran in honor of the deceased he spoke very defensively about it: No, that is nonsense! Now, on Thursdays and other days as well, we do tilavat [recite Quran) after the meal saying: “We dedicate the prepared meal’s soop [merit] to my father’s or mother’s spirit. This is our ancient Kyrgyz tradition. This tradition of worshipping and respecting the ancestral spirits came to existence before mullahs. Mullahs are not able to ban this belief. Mullahs just pretend pitying the poor. We say that if a person cannot afford to carry out all the funeral rites, let him do as much as he can, no one forces him to do everything. However, as I said earlier, relatives usually help that person by gathering money. What is the use of him, if he cannot find one horse or cow to slaughter in honor of his parents who raised him/her carrying him on his/her back! For the nomadic peoples of Eurasia, as Ibravev noted correctly earlier, killing an animal for special events came out of real life necessity of feeding large number of people, who come from a far. In the past, the nomadic Kyrgyz did not have much choice accept meat to serve their guests. People usually waited for major feasts as memorial feast to be held in autumn when all the animals are fat. The legacy of food culture stemming from their nomadic past never seems to end. People killed an animal even during the Soviet time, but they were afraid to kill more than one and to feed many people. Today, due to the Islamic revival triggered by the outside influence, local Muslim clergy is problematizing the animal sacrifice for funerals and memorial feasts as “wasting” and “showing off.” Killing more than one mare is not wasting, but feeding all the people. Wasting any food is never allowed in Kyrgyz culture. All that meat are eaten Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 263 by people and even the dogs get to indulge themselves by eating the bones filled with best fat. When outside religious and cultural values are imposed on local Kyrgyz values, people become very defensive of their customs, and they become the site of contestation between promoters of Islam and of "our ancient customs" or other ways of talking about Kyrgyz things. Significance of Ash The offering of ash (Kyrgyz) and as (Kazakh) (lit.: food), the last memorial feast for the deceased, is a major and mandatory tradition among the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs.267 Or, as Privratsky notes: “In Kazakh the word as is reserved usually for the feast on the anniversary of death or many years later and is the most elaborate of all calendrical feasts.”268 The deceased is not forgotten after the burial. Many cultures around the world have their own way of remembering the deceased’s spirit. His/her spirit is remembered by close relatives, who have the obligation to offer periodic memorial offerings. These memorials are mostly held in the form of a food offering and animal sacrifice. Among the Kyrgyz, there is a range of small and large memorials, which have to be offered following the death of a person. My great uncle Anarbay gives a short overview of those memorials among the Kyrgyz: The deceased is gone. After three days, his/her clothes will be washed and worn by his children and close relatives. Each Thursday after his death, until his ki'rki [i.e., fortieth-day memorial feast], a sheep will be killed and Quran will be recited in his/her
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 6 4 honor. Relatives will come and prepare ash [rice pilaf] and shorpo [soup] for those who come paying respect to the deceased’s spirit. At his/her kirki', a bigger animal, cow or mare is killed. Relatives do not come with empty hands. Within a year, jildik [a yearly memorial feast] is offered where another mare or cow is killed. The final feast in memory of the deceased will be the ash, which can be offered whenever the family can afford it. That is the end of all memorial feasts. This tradition will continue, because it survived the Soviet period. Ash is one of the main qualities, which make Kyrgyz real Kyrgyz. No one can eliminate these customs, because they were created before Quran, together with the Kyrgyz.
My maternal uncle Askar confirms the significance of ash and talks about his obligation before his late father and people: I myself have been a herder for many years raising livestock. When I die, my many livestock will be inherited by my son(s) and he will have to kill only one mare for me so that my spirit goes content. However, I think those small memorial feasts like beyshembilik [first Thursday memorial] and kirki [fortieth day memorial] at which animals are killed, are extra expenditures, which are not necessary. In the past, the Kyrgyz did not have any beyshembilik. Kirki was a simple custom. However, the ash, a big and final memorial feast was our real custom. Usually, when a man died, a mare was slaughtered with the idea that he will ride it in the other world. When a woman died, a cow was killed so that she can milk it and drink. The soul of the sacrificed mare will go to the other world with the soul of the deceased and the people, who in turn recite the Quran in dedication to the spirit of the deceased, eat its meat. It needs to be noted that in the past the older Kyrgyz like my uncles were not that interested in what is and isn't true or authentic or old Kyrgyz custom. Like many ordinary Kyrgyz, they did not and could not distinguish clearly what is Islamic and what is un- Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
265 Islamic in their religious practices and rites. Due to the outside and local influence of purist Islam, they now consciously talk about with these questions. To commemorate the fortieth day seems to be common in many cultures. Today, most Kyrgyz commemorate the deceased’s beyshembilik (first Thursday memorial after the burial) and fortieth-day memorials, which they incorporated after the adoption of Islam.269 However, among all the memorials, the Kyrgyz consider the latter as their sacred obligation. The offering of ash is a sacred obligation of the deceased’s children, especially his sons and male kinsmen. Without the ash, no funeral rite is complete. In other words, the ash brings a closure to the mourning of the relatives and to the deceased’s spirit to be content forever. As my uncle noted above, the ash can be offered whenever the relatives can afford it. Sometimes, due to various reasons, it takes some families fifteen to twenty years to offer this big memorial. During the Soviet period, many government officials and Party members could not offer ash for their parents and close kinsmen and they only did it after the Soviet collapse. In addition, as Privratsky notes correctly, one of the reasons for a long delay of an ash was due to the financial problems of the family. “In Soviet propaganda the as feasts were railed against as waste
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 26 6 of money, but attending these domestic funerary meals is a basic form of social intercourse everywhere in Kazakhstan and throughout Central Asia.
The Concept of Generosity in Kyrgyz Society and in Their Heroic Epics From the Islamic/sedentary point of view, offering of ash among the nomadic Kyrgyz and Kazakhs, is seen as being wasteful and harmful economically for it involves a lot of work and killing small and large many animals. To show the scale of this very large social event it is appropriate to mention here again the famous episode from the Kyrgyz epic Manas, “Memorial Feast for Kokotoy Khan.” Kokotoy’s son Bokmurun offers a splendid ash for his father. Mayutka kelgen el toldu Keng Tashkendin talaaga, Talaada, iiydo orun jok, Dalayi kirdi kalaaga. Atasi iichiin zarp ki'lgan Esep jetkis diiynosiin Ne dese bolor akin Er Bokmurun balaga! Tiindiiguno bee soyup, Tiishtiiguno tay soyup, Jaginaga koy soyup, Olgon kishee toy soyup, Sari' ayakka bal koyup, Kaz'i kertip jal koyup, Jiiz ming ogiiz mal soyup, Judogondbr kark toyup. The people who came to the feast Filled the wide field of Tashkent, No place was left on the field and in yurts, So many entered the city. He spent his countless wealth For his father’s sake, What can one say About this boy, the brave Bokmurun! He killed mares on the north side, Yearlings on the south side, Sheep were killed for day time guests, Offering this feast for the deceased man, He served honey in large yellow bowls, Chopped qazi27X and served ja l272 He killed a hundred thousand oxen, All the destitute people indulged themselves. This excerpt shows a great influence of Muslim funeral customs mentioned side by side with those o f nomadic Kyrgyz. Then Bokmurun gets ready for the big and final memorial 270 Privratsky, p. 144. 271 It is a sausage made from the fat o f the mane and chest o f the horse. It is considered a delicatessen among the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs. 272 Is is sausage made from the yellow and thick mane fat o f the horse. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 6 7 feast, the ash for his father. As the following lines tell, offering an ash was the responsibility of the entire tribe or clan. Bokmurun gathers his people and tells that they need to get ready: Bakard'in siitii koldosiin, Maldi'n baar'f toldosun. Bi'yi'ldan bolok eki ji'l, Uchiinchu ji'lda ash bersek Aga-ini, jurtum amal kil. Kochkordu bakkin, turk bolsun, Kozunu bakkin, irik bolsun. Taylakti bakkin, too bolsun, At bakpagan joo bolsun. Badachi baksi'n siyirim, Bay'itsa kuday kiyirimi, Badachi baksi'n uyunu, Arbisin uydiin buyumu.275
May the milk of cows increase, May all the animals give birth. Two years from now, We will give the ash in the third year, My brothers and kinsmen get ready. Tend your rams, may they be whethers/ Tend the lambs, may they become fat. Tend the baby camels, may they be camels, May those who do not tend their horses be on foot. May the cowboys274 tend their cows, May God increase my wealth, May the cowboys tend their cows, May the treasures of the house increase. Bokmurun tells his kinsmen to take all the necessary things from his treasure house and save their livestock for the ash. Everyone likes the idea and prepares their livestock. When the time for the ash is near, people await the ash eagerly: “Asht'f kachan beret?” - dep, Adamdin baarl buk boldu. Er semirip erikti, “Kiyindar kelse korsok dep”-dep, Kiz-kelinder jelikti. Kishinda buura kiirkurop, Ki'rgi'zdi'n jurtu diirkiirop, Jazinda buka bkiirup, Jaandagi jiirgondor Ash berbeyt dep okiiniip, Ayg'frdin baari kishinep, Akirip teke titirep, Saying: “When will he offer the ash? Everyone became impatient. The young men became strong “We will see who the strong men are” The young women were excited. In winter time, herds of male camel ran, All the Kyrgyz people were in high alert, In spring time, the ox bellowed, Those who were left in the rain Became impatient until he offered the ash, All the stallions whinnied, The male goats’ flesh trembled [from being fat]
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