A Yurt Full of Culture: Immersive Theater Meets Nomadic Traditions at the World Nomad Games
In and amongst the many yurts at the 2024 World Nomad Games Ethnoaul (Ethnic Village), the inhabitants of one particular yurt — not only delight and surprise passersby with boisterous renditions of Kazakh music, dance, and comical stage combat — but they energetically beckon people inside to experience the traditional familial rituals of a nomadic Kazakh marriage proposal. Guests are seated on the floor while segments of the ritual are played out and translated into English by the host, Ernur. The experience is immersive to the point where some of the observers from far-off regions were overheard congratulating the bride-to-be on her upcoming nuptials. Inside the yurt, Ernur set the scene by pointing out the players, among them, the fathers of the future bride and groom, the future bride, her future mother-in-law, and a strumming dombra player. After the union was established, the mother-in-law bestowed her daughter-to-be with gifts of jewelry. As the dombra rhythm accelerated, the fathers-in-law embraced, and the two families exchanged gifts of — in this instance — fur-collared cloaks. The wedding, Ernur explained, would occur in March, the month of the traditional Central Asian New Year (Nauryz). Upward-facing palms aided declarations of goodwill and thankfulness, followed by more music, merriment, and horse-related appetizers. A sense of genuine formality and inclusive pomp was fully realized in under ten minutes. [video width="848" height="478" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/WhatsApp-Video-2024-09-13-at-12.10.55.mp4"][/video] The Mukanov Theater, named after Kazakh Soviet writer and poet Sabit Mukanov, is based in Petropavl, approximately 300 miles north of Astana near the border with Russia. Ernur, the aforementioned host and cast member, has been acting with the twenty-one-year-old Mukanov Theater for a year. Back in Petropavl, the company, which has a 200-seat theater building, performs traditional Kazakh plays, modern plays, and Shakespeare, which Ernur described as “so difficult for us!” 2024 marks the first year that they have performed at the WNG with their debut marriage proposal ceremony. Additionally, the theater company has enacted different nomadic traditions in other yurts around Kazakhstan. Ernur, who said he’d enjoyed his time in Astana, added that the Mukanov Theater was “proud that the World Nomad Games are here [in Kazakhstan].” [caption id="attachment_23140" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Left to right: Brandon, Albert and Jan at the World Nomad Games; image: TCA, K. Krombie[/caption] Three Western traveling companions, who met each other only recently on the backpacker trail of Central Asia, were ushered into the Mukanov Theater yurt. They each provided reviews of the immersive theater experience, and also, their individual opinions regarding the wider connotations of the performance, proportionate to Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet cultural heritage. Brandon, an American from San Francisco, has been traveling the world for nine months and thought it would be “really funny” to come to the Stans for a couple of months. “I was in Turkey, and I was like, you know what, where's the weirdest place I can think of to go to that's not too far from where I am right now? Who's ever been to Uzbekistan, right? Kazakhstan is my last stop...
2 months ago