Kazakhstan has a well-articulated

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

based on the nomadic pastoral economy of the inhabitants. Islam was introduced to

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

in the 7th to 12th centuries. Besides

lamb Lamb or The Lamb may refer to: * A young sheep * Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep Arts and media Film, television, and theatre * ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut * ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...

, many other traditional foods retain symbolic value. Kazakh culture is largely influenced by the Turkic

nomadic A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

lifestyle. It also seems to be strongly influenced by the nomadic

Scythians The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

. Because animal husbandry was central to the Kazakhs' traditional lifestyle, most of their nomadic practices and customs relate in some way to

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

. Traditional curses and blessings invoked disease or fertility among animals, and good manners required that a person ask first about the health of a man's livestock when greeting him and only afterward inquire about the human aspects of his life. The traditional Kazakh dwelling is the ''

yurt A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia ...

'', a tent consisting of a flexible framework of

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

wood covered with varying thicknesses of

felt Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...

. The open top permits smoke from the central hearth to escape; temperature and draft can be controlled by a flap that increases or decreases the size of the opening. A properly constructed yurt can be cooled in summer and warmed in winter, and it can be disassembled or set up in less than an hour. The interior of the yurt has

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...

significance; the right side is generally reserved for men and the left for women. Yurts are also frequently used as a decorative motif in restaurants and other public buildings.

Modern Influences

Today's

is a modern culture, thriving in the post-Soviet era. The traditional Kazakh lifestyle has blended with influences from Western societies, as well as those from Kazakhstan's Russian and Chinese neighbors.

Religion

Islam is the largest religion in Kazakhstan, followed by

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. By tradition the Kazakhs are Sunni Muslims, and the

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

are Russian Orthodox. Approximately 70% of the population is Muslim. The majority are Sunni of the

Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...

school, including ethnic Kazakhs, who constitute about 60% of the population, as well as by ethnic

Uzbeks The Uzbeks ( uz, , , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak mino ...

Uighurs The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghu ...

, and

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

.Kazakhstan - International Religious Freedom Report 2008
U.S. Department of State. Retrieved on 2009-09-07. Less than 25% of the population is Russian Orthodox, including ethnic

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...

, and Belarusians. Other religious groups include

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

, the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...

Hare Krishnas The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktived ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

, and

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

Cuisine

Traditional

Kazakh cuisine Traditional Kazakh cuisine is the traditional food of the Kazakh people. It is focused on mutton and horse meat, as well as various milk products. For hundreds of years, Kazakhs were herders who raised fat-tailed sheep, Bactrian camels, and hors ...

revolves around

and

horse meat Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many countries, particularly in Eurasia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.3 million horses a year. For the majority of humanity's early existen ...

, as well as a variety of dairy

milk products Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items in th ...

. For hundreds of years, Kazakhs were herders who raised

fat-tailed sheep The fat-tailed sheep is a general type of domestic sheep known for their distinctive large tails and hindquarters. Fat-tailed sheep breeds comprise approximately 25% of the world's sheep population, and are commonly found in northern parts of Af ...

Bactrian camel The Bactrian camel (''Camelus bactrianus''), also known as the Mongolian camel or domestic Bactrian camel, is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Central Asia. It has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped dro ...

s, and

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

s, relying on these animals for transportation, clothing, and food. The cooking techniques and major ingredients have been strongly influenced by the nation's nomadic way of life. For example, most cooking techniques are aimed at long-term

preservation of food Food preservation includes processes that make food more resistant to microorganism growth and slow the oxidation of fats. This slows down the decomposition and rancidification process. Food preservation may also include processes that inhibit ...

. There is a large practice of salting and drying meat so that it will last, and there is a preference for

sour milk Soured milk denotes a range of food products produced by the acidification of milk. Acidification, which gives the milk a tart taste, is achieved either through bacterial fermentation or through the addition of an acid, such as lemon juice or vin ...

, as it is easier to save in a nomadic lifestyle. In recent years, there has been an influx of young westernised Kazakh chefs into the heart of

Nur-Sultan Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

, including the now famous Rania Ahmed who spent her early years training in West

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

's Michelin Star restaurants. This has resulted in a new breed of cuisine which blends traditional savoury Kazakh dishes with

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an fast food, such as '' betinjantabs'', proving very popular with younger generations. '' Besbarmak'', a dish consisting of boiled horse or lamb meat, is the most popular Kazakh dish. Besbarmak is usually eaten with a boiled

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, ar ...

sheet, and a meat broth called '' shorpa'', and is traditionally served in Kazakh bowls called '' kese''. Other popular meat dishes are '' kazy'' (which is a horse meat sausage that only the wealthy could afford), ''

shuzhuk Sujuk or sucuk is a dry, spicy and fermented sausage which is consumed in several Balkan, Middle Eastern and Central Asian cuisines. Sujuk mainly consists of ground meat and animal fat usually obtained from beef or lamb, but beef is mainly u ...

'' (horse meat sausages), ''

kuyrdak Kuurdak ( ky, куурдак, kk, қуырдақ, Qýyrdaq, tk, gowurdak; Говурдак, , uz, qovurdoq, mn, Хуурдаг), transliterated with various spellings, is a traditional meat dish made in Central Asia. The name comes from a no ...

'' (also spelled ''kuirdak'', a dish made from roasted horse,

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

, or

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

offal Offal (), also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, is the organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but usually excludes muscle. Offal may also refe ...

, such as heart, liver, kidneys, and other organs, diced and served with

onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

and

peppers Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

), and various horse delicacies, such as ''

zhal Horse meat forms a significant part of the Culinary arts, culinary traditions of many countries, particularly in Eurasia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.3 million horses a year. For the majority of humanity' ...

'' (smoked lard from horse's neck) and ''zhaya'' (salted and smoked meat from horse's hip and hind leg). Pilaf (''palaw'') is the most common Kazakh

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

dish, with

vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems ...

( carrots, onions, and/or garlic) and chunks of meat. The national drinks are ''

kumys ''Kumis'' (also spelled ''kumiss'' or ''koumiss'' or ''kumys'', see other transliterations and cognate words below under terminology and etymology – otk, airag kk, қымыз, ''qymyz'') mn, айраг, ''ääryg'') is a fermented dairy p ...

'' (fermented

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...

's milk) and

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

Traditions

Kazakhs are known for their hospitality, and so many Kazakh traditions are based on this ethnic feature. Some traditions have been lost, but some have been rediscovered. Below are some of the traditions that continue to play a role in the modern Kazakh society: Konakasy ( Kazakh: қонақасы; "konak" - guest, "as" - food) - a tradition to welcome a guest and make his stay as enjoyable as one can by providing food, lodge, entertainment. Depending on the circumstances under which a guest had come from, he is either called "arnayy konak" ( Kazakh: арнайы қонақ) - a specially invited guest, "kudayy konak" ( Kazakh: құдайы қонақ) - a casual traveller, or "kydyrma konak" ( Kazakh: қыдырма қонақ) - an unexpected visitor. Korimdik ( Kazakh: көрімдік; "koru" - to see) - a tradition of presenting a person with a gift to congratulate him on a gain in his life. The custom is called ''korimdik'', if a gain is related to a person or an animal (e.g. seeing a person's daughter-in-law or a newborn animal for the first time), and ''baygazy'' ( Kazakh: байғазы), if the gain is material. Shashu ( Kazakh: шашу - to scatter) - a tradition to shower heroes of an occasion with sweets during some festivity. Kazakhs believe that collected delights bring luck. Bata ( Kazakh: бата - blessing) - a form of poetic art, typically given by the most respected or the eldest person to express gratitude for the provided hospitality, give blessing to a person who is about to enter a new phase in life, go through a challenging experience or travel. Tusau kesu ( Kazakh: тұсау кесу - to cut ties) - a tradition to celebrate the first attempts of a child to walk. The legs of a child are tied with a string of white and black colors symbolizing the good and the bad in life. The tie is then cut by a female relative who is energetic and lively in nature, so that the child acquires her qualities. After the string has been cut, it is burnt. Kyz uzatu ( Kazakh: қыз ұзату) - the first wedding party organized by the parents of a bride. The literal translation is "to see off a daughter". Betashar ( Kazakh: беташар; "bet" - face, "ashu" - to open) - the custom (often done at the wedding) to lift a veil from the face of a bride. Today it the mullah who is invited to perform an improvised song, in which he mentions relatives of the groom. During his performance, a bride has to bow every time she hears a name. After the song, the mother of the groom lifts the veil. Shildehana ( Kazakh: шілдехана) - celebration of a birth of a child. Suinshi ( Kazakh: сүйінші) - a tradition to give present to someone who has brought good news.

Languages

The official language is Kazakh, a

Turkic language The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic languag ...

closely related to Nogai and Karakalpak. Another widely spoken language is

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

. The recent language policy suggests trilingualism as an important factor for future development of the country.

Literature

Abay Qunanbayuli Ibrahim (Abai) Qunanbaiuly ( kk, Абай Құнанбайұлы, ; russian: Абай Кунанбаев; ) was a Kazakh poet, composer and Hanafi Maturidi theologian philosopher. He was also a cultural reformer toward European and Russian cultu ...

was a great Kazakh poet, composer and philosopher.

Art

Each year Kazakh artisans participate in the "Sheber" competition. The competition is part of the program "Development of crafts and the revival of folk arts and crafts in Kazakhstan", which began in 2006 to increase the competitiveness of Kazakh artisans’ products domestically and internationally. This program is conducted by the Union of Artisans of Kazakhstan, "Chevron", the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia, Kazakh Ministry of Culture and Information and the UNESCO Cluster Office in Almaty.

Movies

In September 2006, the government announced that it is funding distribution of a multimillion-dollar movie called ''Nomad'', about the new-created by Kazakhstan government history of the nation. The movie started in 2003, and was plagued with multiple development problems, finally released in 2006. Since that time such movies like ''Mongol'', ''Tulpan'', and ''Kelin'' have been released. All three films were submitted for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Languages Film. The movie '' Tulpan'' won the at the

2008 Cannes Film Festival The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2008. The President of the Official Jury was American actor and director Sean Penn. Twenty two films from fourteen countries were selected to compete for the ''Palme d'Or''. The awards ...

. ''Kelin'', a movie without dialogue or speech, made the shortlist of the 1982 Academy Awards.

Music

Magic Songs of the Eternal Steppe

Magic Songs of the Eternal Steppe is a series of concerts at Carnegie Hall and

The Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

in celebration of Kazakhstan Cultural Days in the United States. The concerts feature Kazakh folk music and Western classic masterpieces as well as American songs performed by the Kazakh National Kurmangazy Orchestra of Folk Instruments, Kazakh National Baikadamov Choir and a group of Kazakh soloists.

The Symphony Orchestra of the Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory

Symphony Orchestra of the Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory was founded in 1947. The first leader of the orchestra was Professor K. Babayev. The Orchestra has a vast repertoire spanning

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

, Mozart,

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, Saint-Saens,

Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, '' Carmen'', which has become o ...

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

, Franck,

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

, Orff,

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

, and many others.

Sports

Kazakhstan has cultivated a strong interest in

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

, and

extracurricular activities An extracurricular activity (ECA) or extra academic activity (EAA) or cultural activities is an activity, performed by students, that falls outside the realm of the normal curriculum of school, college or university education. Such activities a ...

. Kazakhstan has achieved some success in international competitions in

weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various types of competition; promo ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

, and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

. Kazakhstan won eight medals in the 2004 Summer Olympics, the largest tally for any nation in Central Asia. Football is the most popular sport in Kazakhstan. The

Football Federation of Kazakhstan The Kazakhstan Football Federation (KFF, kz, Қазақстанның Футбол Федерациясы, Qazaqstannyñ Futbol Federatsıiasy; rus, Федерация Футбола Казахстана, r=Federatsiya Futbola Kazakhstana) is th ...

(FFK) is the sport's national governing body. The FFK organises the men's, women's, and

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

national teams. The Kazakhstan Super League is the top-level competition for the sport in the country.

Road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws as ...

is Kazakhstan's most successful sport. Many professional cyclists that compete on the European circuit come from Kazakhstan. Most notable is Alexander Vinokourov, whose achievements include two Paris–Nice victories ( 2002, 2003), third place in the

2003 Tour de France The 2003 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 5 to 27 July, and the 90th edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Anti- ...

, and first place in the

2003 Amstel Gold Race The 2003 Amstel Gold Race was the 38th edition of the road bicycle race "Amstel Gold Race", held on Sunday April 20, 2003 in the Limburg province, The Netherlands. The race stretched 250.7 kilometres, with the start in Maastricht and the finish in ...

. Vinokourov leads , which is supported by a coalition of Kazakh companies. This team is registered as a

UCI ProTeam UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

and competes in major races, including the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

is a popular sport in Kazakhstan, with over 10,000 fans consistently turning up to watch the

Kazakhstan national rugby union team The Kazakhstan national rugby union team, nicknamed "The Nomads", is controlled by the Kazakhstan Rugby Union. Kazakhstan have been participating in international competition since 1994 after their independence from the USSR. In 2007, the fort ...

play. Recent big wins over Sri Lanka and the Arabian Gulf Rugby Team have given the Kazakhstan side the reason to believe that they could have been contenders to qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Kazakhstan has yet to qualify for the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

tournament.

Ruhani Zhangyru

President Nursultan Nazarbayev outlined six specific projects designed to start the spiritual modernisation of Kazakhstan in his keynote article “Course towards the Future: Modernisation of Kazakhstan's Identity," which was released in April 2017. The projects include the following: * a step-by-step transition of the Kazakh language to the Latin alphabet and the New Humanitarian Knowledge * 100 New Textbooks in the Kazakh Language * Tugan Zher * Sacred Geography of Kazakhstan * Modern Kazakh Culture in the Global World * 100 New Faces of Kazakhstan. The program also includes translation of the contemporary Kazakh literature and poetry into the UN's six languages. The official presentation of the Anthology took place in Almaty in April 2019. The presentation of the Anthology translated into English was held at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

in London on September 25, 2019. The

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

along with the British literary translation experts translated and published the Kazakh literature collections in English. An important part of the program is the Seven Facets of the Great Steppe doctrine, which described by President Nazarbayev. The article described the seven facets of the Great Steppe: culture of horsemanship, ancient metallurgy of the great steppe, animal style, Golden Man, cradle of the Turkic world, the Great Silk Road and the land of apples and tulips.

Notes

References

*
Kazakhstan
* Bruce Privratsky, ''Muslim Turkistan'', pages 76–77

External links

Message Board in Kazakh Language

The Musagetes Civic Charitable Foundation for Culture and Humanitarian Sciences Development

{{DEFAULTSORT:Culture Of Kazakhstan pt:Cazaquistão#Cultura

Modern Influences

Religion

Cuisine

Traditions

Languages

Literature

Art

Movies

Music

Magic Songs of the Eternal Steppe

The Symphony Orchestra of the Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory

Sports

Ruhani Zhangyru

See also

Notes

References

External links