Kazakh hair jewelry pieces

Fashion in the old city of kashgar, xinjiang, northwestern china, including tajik, uyghur, kazakh, kyrgyz, uzbek, and more. (Photographer 刘星球)

This fur-trimmed doeskin coat, lined with printed cotton, was likely made by a skilled Uzbek artisan for a wealthy Kazakh man. Such finely embroidered garments, worn on special occasions, could be worth as much as a good horse.

Inside each saukele, there is a three-lobed quilted cap, very similar in shape to the lining under a helmet, which we will explain a little later. An embroidered strip behind the saukele is usually quite long and richly decorated. Some researchers believe that this strip is a nakosnik, a triangular decoration hung on the end of the braid. It’s true that, in ancient times (as the saukele traces its history back to quite ancient times), women had to hide their hair after they got married, ensuring that no stranger could see it. Unmarried girls and women could walk with their hair loose or with braids, but after marriage, they had to hide it. So with time, the nakosnik—which covered the braid behind the saukele—has become an embroidered strip, or a false nakosnik. On the both sides of the saukele, there are surprisingly richly decorated pendants called jahtau. They always include precious stones and beads such as coral, pearls, and glass. Behind the saukele we see a scarf called a jelek. This is a veil that covers the shoulders of the bride, and sometimes her face."

Based on Kazakh folk tales. The youngest son of the herdsman Yerzhan, the kind and brave Yerkenzhe, goes in search of his father and eight brothers, who were turned into stone idols by the evil wizard Tasbol.

A Kazakh artist Dosbol Kasymov, created possibly the first-ever painting of Mary and the Child Jesus as native Kazakhs; it displayed in Kazakhstan’s only Marian shrine.

Milton J. Clark