“Qara uy” or
Karakalpak yurts”
I think everybody knows what is a yurt if you
don’t know you may find its explanation nearly in all dictionaries. One of them
has this explanation: “Yurt- a large round tent used especially by people in
Central Asia”.
Yes, maybe some people in Europe and America may
imagine yurts when talking about Central Asia. Yurts were used by all the
Central Asian nations in the past as these nations were nomadic and half
nomadic many centuries ago. A yurt was a very comfortable and easy-built house
for nomadic people. Because it doesn’t take much time to built or to pick up
and a camel can carry it.
Karakalpaks
were half nomadic people in the past. Like their neighboring nations, their
main activities were cattle-rising, agriculture and fishing. Karakalpaks had to
move to one place to another as they needed new grasslands for their cattle and
fertile lands to grow crops. At such times yurts were very comfortable living
place. It was cool in summer and warm in winter.
Karakalpaks
used sheep wool to make felt for yurts. It has an open circle roof and it is
called “Shanaraq”. The shan’araq can be opened and closed. The shanaraq of a
Karakalpak yurt is considered to be more solid than that used in the Turkmen or
Qazaq yurt. The word "shan’araq" also has the meaning
"family" in Karakalpak language. Maybe this is because a whole
Karakalpak family lived under that roof “shan’araq”.
In modern
life of Karakalpaks, yurts don’t have actual role as in past. Nearly all
Karakalpaks nearly stopped using yurts as the development of new society in
middle of 20th century. However, there some type of people who still
use yurts to live in. They are herders who herd and look after thousands of
ship, goats, cows, horses and camels. They have to move often to different
places to find new grasslands for their herds. So yurts are still the only
comfortable and compact living place for them.
Yurts also
can be used as an attractive object in hotels, restaurants, cafes etc. for
visitors. Many hotels and cafes offer a delicious Karakalpak dinner table
inside a yurt for guests. There are also yurt camps near historical monuments
like Fortress Ayaz Qala. These yurt camps are organized to make impression of
true traditional Karakalak life for tourists.
