Kazakhstan Adoption

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Family and Marriage

Foremost in Kazakh custom and tradition are the elements of family and marriage. The family was the cornerstone of nomad society.

A strong family produced a strong society. In nomadic days, the elders of the extended family were tribal leaders. They put down a code of conduct and united with other tribal leaders to forge a unified Kazakh nation. According to the "way of the elders," older persons were honored and respected, their word law. They were put first, whether it be at meetings, during special occasions or festivities, when dividing military spoils, and at funeral ceremonies.

Marriages were arranged to cement tribal bonds.

The Kazakh saying "the matchmaking lasts a thousand years, while the son-in-law lasts only a hundred" signifies the importance of a relationship created between the two tribes. The process of marriage arranging can still be a lengthy and complicated one. Family elders meet a number of times, following a prescribed pattern of the groom's father and selected male relatives going to the bride's house and vice versa. Gifts of livestock are exchanged, be it cattle and sheep and horses, cattle and sheep, or cattle alone, depending on the wealth of the families.

Special foods, such as sheep's liver, are eaten by the fathers and other men of the family, to bind promises and forge bonds. The entire process may last 40 days.  Another element that figures prominently in most Kazakh celebrations is the horse. Kazakhs were, and still are, superb horsemen. Few people know that stirrups and chariots originated with the Kazakhs.  They also perfected the technique of shooting an arrow with surprising accuracy while atop a galloping horse.  In the past many Kazakh children, it is said, learned to ride before they walked. At the center of most Kazakh festivals is the horse in some form, be it the meat on the table, the drink (koumyss), or the entertainment.