Even though the Kazakhs come from a nomadic tradition, their homes in a yurt were the center of their universe. Naturally Kim’s orientation is around the home being a mother of four children so she has observed that for Kazakhs, life events are very important such as birth, circumcision, weddings and death. She admitted she didn’t know much about that tradition but she knew there were many other Kazakh superstitions. Kim also told me that a specific, significant bone from an animal would be picked clean and hung on the wall. (to my mind, nothing superstitious about that!!!) However, another way Kazakhs warded off evil spirits was to put a knife under the “besik” or swinging bed. A messy place would only invite unwelcome evil spirits to come lodge during the night. Another was to keep the home immaculately clean before going to bed at night. One superstition Kim knew of was in keeping one’s home clear of evil spirits, the Kazakhs would collect a kind of holy grass from the mountains to burn it and shake the smoke around the house. Very different from the big city life of Almaty which is really NOT Kazakh from looking at the outside veneer. Kim, her husband and children used to live in a Kazakh village the first half of their stay and so she knows much about real Kazakh living. My friend Kim confirmed that information by telling me some of the superstitions she has encountered while living in Kazakhstan over a decade. Mukhamet Shayakhmetov wrote in his book “The Silent Steppe” (p.
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