Bish-barmak

18:45 1 September 2008

I can now truthfully say that I have eaten sheep eyeballs. Twice. Being in a Kyrgyz family means that I get to experience Kyrgyz culture on a much more consistent basis than I did with my Russian family. I don’t think that I realized how “Western” Russian culture was compared to Kyrgyz. While the two cultures cohabitate relatively fluidly in country, living with a family and in a village where Kyrgyz language is more used that Russian (there are Russians here, and most of the Kyrgyz speak Russian, but in my area of the village, it is almost exclusively Kyrgyz families). Regardless, being in Kyrgyzstan I am happy to be living with a Kyrgyz family and there are a lot of parts of the culture that I really find beautiful.

First and foremost in my mind of things that please me about Kyrgyz culture is the Omin. While I have no evidence, I would venture to guess the Omin shares roots from with the Judeo-Christian “Amen”. As is such, the Omin is a semi-religiously based utterance and gesture. It is used to signify the end of things, primarily eating, and also as a sign of appreciation, thanks, or meaning. While the word is often said, more important is the accompanying gesture. After everyone is finished eating, everyone places their hands palms up in front of them and then simultaneously brings them to cover the face and then downwards together as the Catholic prayer hand form. In addition to after every meal, the Omin is also used when coming to another’s house. As a matter of culture and custom, you will be offered chai (and most likely a full meal) but if you are in a hurry you can request just a taste and they will present you with a piece of bread which you take a tiny bit of, eat it, and Omin, Then you can culturally appropriately leave in a hurry.

The hospitality of the Kyrgyz is an ever-present, extremely important, cultural value. The practice of guesting is one of the primary forms of entertainment, and it is extremely showing of many of the practices and roles within the Kyrgyz social structure, I could go on about that, but there are a lot of interesting articles and studies done on Kyrgyz and Muslim hospitality. I feel my time would better be spent by describing my individual situation. As I mentioned earlier, I have three host sisters. Aijan, the youngest, returned yesterday to Bishkek for her studies with the oldest daughter’s husband. The oldest daughter is remaining home for some time and her three daughters are really adorable. The oldest of them (my host-niece) has really taken to me and loves to spend time with me, playing with my guitar while I play, direct my computer usage, and in general be a five year old. It’s funny because she is in the stage where she knows a lot of Russian and Kyrgyz, but she doesn’t seem to usually realize when she is using one or the other. This makes communication a bit difficult, but usually it isn’t hard t figure out what she wants or is asking.

So back to the initial topic, as I mentioned, guesting is a very important part of the culture here. As a new arrival, the whole neighborhood wanted to meet me and there was a large guesting at our across-the-street neighbor’s house. It lasted seven hours. This means that I was sitting on the floor (which became increasingly uncomfortable as the hours wore on) for pretty much the entire time and ate about my body weight. It also meant that, for the first time, after many other courses of food, I had for the first time Bish-marmak. Bish-marmak is the national dish of Kyrgyzstan and is, in essence, an entire sheep. This sheep is cooked and then all present (after a child comes around with hot water to wash hands) carve the sheep and eat it. Many of the choice cuts are shaved into little bits and then added in with bullion and cut noodles to the centerpiece of the dish. However, while being a vegetarian for 12 years did make dismembering a sheep and being asked to eat it difficult, it wasn’t until the “highlight” of the experience that I felt truly uncomfortable. This is where, after they have been gouged from the skull of the sheep, the eyeballs and other pieces of face-meat are placed in a bowl of bullion and passed around for consumption. No matter how much you don’t want to eat it, this would be truly culturally inappropriate to refuse. So, I placed the eyeball bit in my mouth, closed and swallowed. After they insisted I eat one more piece and I obliged, they were satiated and I was able to conclude my first (of I am sure many) Bish-barmak experiences. Well, for one thing, it surely is a unique cultural experience.