Kazakhs are hospitable and like to meet guests. If you come home to a Kazakh unexpectedly he will be glad as if you were invited. Respect to guests, older people, peacefulness and tolerance, brought up from childhood, are the national features of Kazakhs, that is why in Kazakhstan there were never national and confessional conflicts. Traditionally every guest is offered national Kazakh cuisine at dastarkhan (laid table) in a yurt.

The yurt is one of the most sensible kinds of movable house. It is a comfortable and practical home, ideally suited to local nature and way of life – one of the greatest inventions of Eurasian nomads.
It is easily knocked down (it is said that a Kazakh woman can do it in half an hour) and carried on horses and camels. The yurt consists of three main elements: extensible trellis basis «kerege», dome poles «uyk» and a round top «shanyrak».

In ancient times Turks were called the most skillful people in making felt. Nowadays Kazakhs use it making yurt covering and its internal decoration, as well as carpets, dresses and shoes. The Kazakhs live in the world of ornaments. They richly decorate their yurts with wall carpets and multi-coloured embroideries.
Everyday items – harnesses, felt mats (tekemets), articles made of wood, bone and metal – are lavishly decorated. Headdresses, dresses, bags and saddle-cloths are beautifully embroidered. Ancient Craftsmen fashion cups, large bowls and ladles for kumys (fermented mare’s milk) out of wood and decorate them with carving.
Horns of mountain rams and goats are used to ornament beds and caskets. Leather is used to make quivers, belts, harnesses and flasks (torsyks) for water and kumys. Kazakh artisans are very skillful in making jewelry.

Kazakh’s national dress varies by regions. The chapan is men’s garment like a dressing gown with a belt, made of velvet and richly embroidered. Men cover their heads with a soft skullcap (tobetai), a tall felt cap (kalpak) or a fox-fur hat with earflaps (malakai).
The women’s national costume consists of a white cotton or coloured silk dress, a velvet waistcoat with embroidery and a cap or a silk scarf. Elderly women wear a kimeshek, a hood made of white cloth with a hole for the face. Brides wear a tall pointed, richly decorated hat, topped with feathers (saukele).

Music and musical instruments. The Kazakhs value the art of words and honour their akyns – poets, who improvise at public competitions (aitys) accompanied by the national musical instruments: the closed two-stringed dombra or the open stringed kobyz.

Nauryz (New Year) is one of the biggest holidays in Central Asia. It is celebrated on the day of spring equinox of March 22. On that day, streets of villages and towns look transformed. Guests are met in beautiful yurts with a ritual dish Nauryz kozhe made of seven traditional ingredients. People respecting this nearly month-long holiday forgive each other debts and offences.
National games are held: Kazaksha kures (Kazakh wrestling), baiga (horseracing over long distances – 25, 50 or 100 km), kokpar (riders try to seize a goat from each other), kyz-kuu («catch the girl») and alty bakan (six poles swing).

National music instruments

Kobiz

Dombra