Narus (Kazakh New Year)

On the 22nd March we observed some Kazakh New Year Celebrations.
I am really not sure why they choose this date to celebrate New Year but I have a feeling that it has something to do with the change in the weather. Before the end of March things are cold and icy and not much happens. As soon as spring arrives things start to warm up and people seem to warm up a little as well.

We went to the hipodrome (not sure of the spelling), which was a paddock with grand stand seating on one side. This is where some of the traditional activities take place. What we watched was kind of like a game of polo (the horse back variety) but they had no mallets. The ball they used was the body of a sheep. Its head had been removed and its legs had been removed. Rumor has it that the body had been filled with sand. The object of the game was to get the dead sheep and carry it on horse back to your goal at one end of the paddock. Most of the time the riders smashed their horses into the opposition player's horses to try and prevent their opponent from getting the sheep. It made me feel somewhat sorry for the animals!

We left after an hour but got the general idea of the game. Later on in the day they had a couple of other games. One involved a man and a woman on seperate horses. The man's objective was to catch the woman and kiss her. If he failed she got to whip him all the way back to the other end. Another game involved a rabbit being let loose and an eagle being let loose to catch its dinner. The final game involved a pigeon and a hawk. In this one the pigeon flew free to live another day.