KYRGYZSTAN: Kyrgyz festival organisers try to revive traditional hunting arts

Record ID: 605657

  • Title: KYRGYZSTAN: Kyrgyz festival organisers try to revive traditional hunting arts
  • Date: 8th March 2011
  • Summary: TWO DOGS ATTACKING WOLF ON ARENA, DOG OWNER CHEERING DOGS VIEWERS STANDING NEARBY ANOTHER PAIR OF DOGS ATTACKING WOLF PEOPLE RUNNING AWAY FROM FIELD
  • Embargoed: 23rd March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan
  • Country: Kyrgyzstan
  • Topics: Entertainment,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAB83EUHRBDZ20DTQUF6BZSDXL0
  • Story Text: Annual festival of Kyrgyz archery, dog and eagle hunting begins on the shores of Kyrgyzstan's Issyk Kul lake, seeking to revive national traditions.
    Some 250 km east of Bishkek in the village of Baktuu Dolontu, Kyrgyzstan held its annual Salburun hunting festival on Saturday (March 5) - a celebration designed to revive the popularity of Kyrgyz traditional hunting customs.
    Featuring arrow, dog and bird of prey hunting contests as an alternative to rifle hunting, the contest drew competitors from across the country and filled the village's hippodrome stands with crowds of traditional hunting enthusiasts.
    Twelve golden eagle hunters from the Issyk-Kul lake district where the contest was held brought their birds of prey to the event, setting them in contests to attack foxes and wolves.
    Baktybek Bozumbayev, a golden eagle huntsman, explained how his raptor hunted.
    "The bird sees prey from a long distance. We release them only in open spaces, like fields or canyons, so that the golden eagle is not able to hide in bushes. This golden eagle is an experienced one. As soon as it reaches the prey, it grabs it by the neck and sits on its back. It can kill with its claws," Bozumbayev explained.
    Kyrgyz traditional hunting methods during fell out of practice for close to 100 years, throughout the Soviet period and afterward. Festival organizers hoped to popularise Salburun and revive interest in Kyrgyz hunting traditions.
    "The goal [of the festival] is preserving and developing [hunting arts] because this type of complex hunting - Salburun - with hunting birds, bows and Kyrgyz Taigan hounds, is disappearing. It has not even been mentioned anywhere for 100 years, people have forgotten the term 'Salburun'," Almazbek Akunuv, who has been organizing the Salburun festival for the past five years, explained. "We had an idea to present this complex hunting to people as a type of sport. We, nomad people, Kyrgyz people, have it in our blood, in our genes. We are hunters by birth."
    Also featured at the festival were arrow shooting contests, and competitions featuring a national breed of Kyrgyz Taigan hunting dogs. The dogs, known for their ability to work in high altitudes with no fear of wolves, were showcased in a number of contests including wolf-fighting and hunting demonstrations with fox pelts dragged at high speeds behind cars. The canines, similar in shape to greyhounds, are a national Kyrgyz symbol. Salburun festival organisers hope the contests will increasingly bring the world's attention to the unique breed.
    Other participants in the hunting festival included contestants from the Kyrgyzstan cities of Cholpon Ata, Bishkek, Talas and the Naryn region.
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