Welcome back to Kyrgystan! This week, we would like to deep into endangered cultures. Endangered cultures can be defined as “practices, ideas, and customs of people in society that are beginning to die out.”
As globalization has been expanding, centralized power is starting to dominate some regional cultures. For example, we see fast food and fast fashion brands all over the world. It is not a negative effect as we talk about our convenience in life, however, those influences are powerful that some minority traditions and cultures can be weakened.
Cultures in Kyrgyzstan have been influenced by the traditions of nomadic life. Kyrgyz, who are the original tribe in the region always lived closely with nature.
Their housing and clothing are designed to be able to adapt to the changing weather and locations as they move their homes. Horses are important for transportation and war forces. Horse ride is also popular as a sport. It is an essential skill for them and they compete to be better at it.
In Kyrgyzstan, people are proud of their culture. One of the famous things about their culture is the “Epic of Manas”, which is a poem that tells the life of Manas, an epic warrior, and his son and grandson. The original story was told orally and eventually published in the Soviet Union and overseas.
Since Kyrgyzstan had been under the control of the Soviet Union, there are some “ghost towns”, which were operating During the times of the Soviet Union, the Sary-Jaz valley played a big role for the Soviet government. For example, 30 families live in Engilchek town. The buildings were left behind and that is the reason why they are called ghost towns.
Overall, Kyrgystan is a country that still keeps its own culture. They have their own traditions and language. However, rapid globalization could affect their traditions. It is important to live with the traditional way and modern development and culture.
Thank you for following us and I hope to see you here next week.
Best,
by Seira Kitagawa
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