Kalja and Its Importance in the Kazakh Culture

KAZAK KÜLTÜRÜNDE KALJA VE ÖNEMİ
Mustafayeva A. Abdikadyrova Z. Aubakirova Ü.K.
2023 Milli Folklor Dergisi

Milli Folklor
2023 #18 Issue 139 132 - 140 pp.

Important events occur in a life from the moment of birth until death. Celebration of these events such as birth, marriage, death and the festivities accompanying them are a significant part of the Kazakh people’s culture. There are some customs related to the child, including shildehana ‘a celebration of childbirth’, besikke salu or besik toi ‘an event of putting the newborn into the cradle’, qyrkynan shygaru ‘a ritual on the fortieth day’, tusau kesu or tusaukeser ‘cutting the fetters when the baby takes the first steps’, as well as related to marriage, particularly the daughter-in-law: syrga salu ‘the fiancé’s mother wears earrings to the future daughter-in-law ’, kelin tusiru ‘meeting the bride in the groom’s house’, betashar ‘the ritual of opening bride’s face’, kelin shai ‘tea from the hands of a dauther-in-law’. In this article we are going to consider the custom, focusing on a woman who recently gave birth or a new mother and her child, called kalja or kalja beru ‘giving kalja’. In the Kazakh tradition kalja is a kind of dish prepared specially for a new mother usually from roast lamb. Kalja as a tradition has social, spiritual, medical and cultural importance. Since this tradition is not related to a religion, it has not lost its functioning even in the Soviet period when religious events were banned. The custom of sacri-ficing aqiqah, which was common among Arabs in the pre-Islamic period and later legitimized in Islam, is different from kalja. The former is an event where the meat is cooked and shared, while the latter is more as an indication of the concern about the new mother who is physically and mentally worn out from childbirth. Kalja helps to improve the health of a woman and her child. Kalja, as well as other traditions of the Kazakh people, is an integral part of the culture transmitted from generation to generation and requiring its complete safeguard-ing. This tradition, was known among the Turks in the Middle Ages, has continued to this day among some Turkic peoples. Kalja as an object of this study in its various forms is used in some Turkic languages as a kind of food. In Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Nogai, qalja is used in the meaning of special food for the new mother. The Uzbek atala and Bashkir botka also became an integral part of the new mother, renewing her strength and energy after childbirth. Unlike other Turkic peoples, where a special dish is being prepared for the woman after giving birth, the nominativeness is more important in the Kazakh (also in the Kyrgyz) culture. The dish from broth and lamb prepared on a daily basis or on other equally important events cannot be called kalja, since before starting preparation it is necessary to name, dedicate and not to use for other purposes and events. With the advent of this tradition in the Kazakh language, there appeared such concepts as kalja koiy (lamb for kalja), kalja sorpasy (broth for kalja), kalja teri (kalja sweat), kaljalau (preparation for kalja), kalja beru (to give kalja) and kalja jegizu (to eat kalja). In the Kazakh society, this tradition has become obligatory, regardless of the material status of the family, it was even considered a good deed to give qalja to the family in need. Today, kalja is brought by the mother of the woman who gave birth, and the ceremonies that are performed later on, especially the kalja teri, the responsibility of her mother-in-law.

birth , Kalja , Kazakh culture , tradition , woman

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El-Farabi Kazak Milli Üniversitesi, Şarkiyat Fakültesi, Almatı, Kazakhstan
Doktora Öğrencisi, El-Farabi Kazak Milli Üniversitesi, Şarkiyat Fakültesi, Almatı, Kazakhstan
Kızılorda Korkut Ata Devlet üniversitesi, Yabancı diller bölümü, Kızılorda, Kazakhstan

El-Farabi Kazak Milli Üniversitesi
Doktora Öğrencisi
Kızılorda Korkut Ata Devlet üniversitesi

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