Culture of Kazakhstan

“Culture is a process for identity of living creatures and cultural evolution raises the identity of society, benefit goes to its individuals. Culture is the domain of human activity associated with self-expression of a person, a manifestation of his subjectivity. That’s why every culture has additional features, as related to both the `creative person, and everyday practice, communication, reflection, generalization, and his daily life” (Religious Studies:Textbook / Ed. MM Shakhanovich. – St. Petersburg. Peter, 2006). On our planet, there are so many different countries with their own traditions, customs and culture, The relationship between these cultures and people rather strained, so there are national characteristics, specific to each nation. Actually, it’s not a secret that, traditions that are normal for Europeans, is totally unacceptable for Asian people. After the failure of etiquette, tradition and cultural heritage of the country, can lead to various conflicts. The uniquences of individual nation, lies precisely in its cultural characteristics that are unique to him. ( Every culture 2011) “Kazakh ethnic group, held a long period of formation, in which participated many tribes and nations, has an important place in the history of Eurasia, and one of the oldest ethnic groups. It is the successor to the cultural heritage of all nations who took part in its formation, so that the Kazakh people – one of the richest nations in cultural terms. Kazakh culture until the twentieth century was a nomadic”. (Every culture 2011) According to the Kazakh traditions, guests are treated to the Kazakh national cuisine for dastarkhan (dinner table) in yurt.

Yurt, adapted to nomadic life and a very effective tool in the process of nomadic meets all the requirements of the nomadic lifestyle can be easily disassembled and quickly installed a new location. Kazakhs have a lot of different traditional events, like Nauryz, or Spring Festival, Shildehana and so on. Nauryz falls on the vernal equinox. On this day, every woman cook a special dish, “Nauryz kozhe”, which consists of seven types of products: Siberian millet, wheat, rice, barley, millet, meat, and kurt.

People go from village to village, eat this food, sing the song “Nauryz”, hug, congratulate each other a Happy New Year and wish a good offspring in the new year and prosperity at home. “Shildehana” – celebrated on the birth of son, wealthy people inviting people and organized contests of singers, trick riding on horseback. Also Kazakhstan like all countries where the spread of Islam, it was customary to  religious holiday – “Eid”. In this celebration, the sheep and lambs are sacrificed in the name of God..

The meat is given to the poor, and partly used for the family. An obligatory ritual of the holiday is a common prayer in the mosque prior to sacrifice. In this day of celebration in every home preparing a meal, all congratulate each other. At that time, “the more you learn about French traditions and culture, the more you will be interested in. France has a long and varied history to draw upon, and countless legends and customs have been passed from generation to generation. In addition, each region of France is quite unique”. Easy-french 2011) They expect guests and foreigners to behave in the same manner that they do. The French are all about preserving their culture and being individualized. “France is culturally vivid and varied phenomenon. Various times, manifest in the architecture of France, calling each other, also appear the picturesque outline of the locks, bridges, towers” (Everyculture 2011). When the French come off the art, they are happy to deal with such sports as football, rugby, basketball, cycling. Bycicle race tour in France popular all over the world.

Traditional games such as bowls, are also very popular. “France is a secular state. The main religion is Roman Catholicism, but it doesn’t play a leading role in public life and experiencing a relative decline. Islam is the second most common religion, followed by Protestantism and Judaism” (Yakovlev, EG Aesthetics: A. Tutorial. – M. : Gardariki, 2003). So, people can notice, there are a lot of differences and similarities between European and Asian countries. In general, the greeting in both countries absolutely different.

For instance, in France, “when people greet each other, they shake hands or embrace with a kiss on both cheeks . Kissing is only done when two people are close friends or relatives. For the most part, the embrace is done only the first time in a day in which one sees someone and is not repeated again until one says good-bye” ( Every culture 2011). Likwise in Kazakhstan, if you know the person very well, you should greet with a kiss on one cheek once and shake hands. Notably, in both countries, almost the same greeting.