Posted on 02/17/2003 9:54:30 AM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
ISSYK, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - The zigzagging fox makes a last, desperate dash across a snow-covered valley, trying to reach some rocks. Above glides a golden eagle in ever narrowing circles.
The red-furred fox then stops for a moment to look up to see, too late, the eagle hurtling toward it.
Cheers burst out from the hundreds of people watching the hunt from a nearby slope as the judge announces the name of the winner.
The hunter, on horseback, rides slowly over to his eagle whose talons have already ripped apart the fox, blood darkening the snow in the foothills of Central Asia's stunning Tien Shan mountains.
It may not be a welcome sight for sensitive urban dwellers or environmentalists.
But on the vast steppes of once nomadic Kazakhstan, the age-old sport is being revived with pride in a country whose wealth these days comes from its giant oil fields.
Makpal Abdrazakova, then 15, was named overall winner in her first eagle-hunting contest last year, defeating much older and more experienced men.
Accompanied by her father, the shy girl covered hundreds of miles in a dilapidated bus to get to this tiny town outside the commercial capital Almaty from her village in the far-flung Karaganda region in central Kazakhstan.
"My father taught me the art of eagle hunting. This is not only for men," said Makpal, who like other "berkutchi" (golden eagle hunters) was wearing a long, richly embroidered "chapan" overcoat and a traditional "malakhai" hat of fox fur.
"This sport means the revival of our ancient Kazakh traditions, and I would like many girls to follow suit," she said, tenderly stroking the 4-year-old eagle that sat on her right arm, screeching menacingly at passers-by.
Makpal failed to win this year because her golden eagle missed one of the animal targets.
But, soothed by one of the other contestants -- her father -- she appeared unruffled. "Beginning something new is always an arduous job to cope with."
PART OF LIFE
About a dozen hunters, all on horseback, prepared for the annual event in biting frost, as the audience wolfed down Kazakh horsemeat delicacies, grilled mutton and strong tea with milk served in a traditional "yurt" felt tent.
"I will be brief -- this (eagle hunting) is our tradition, and we, Kazakhs, simply can't live without it," said Zhanar Satylganov, the 49-year old chairman of an eagle hunting club from the southern Dzhambul region.
"They say it's a sport, but this is wrong. It is an art, it is in our veins," said Satylganov, who in Soviet times graduated from the prestigious Moscow Aviation Institute. "If we don't preserve this art, we will forget our ancestors."
The falcons, harriers and golden eagles get through their first exercise quickly -- chasing down hares that are released one by one into the middle of a barren snow-covered landscape.
The foxes prove tougher prey.
The first fox escapes to freedom, running down to a busy road before disappearing into reeds on the other side.
But half a dozen other foxes had no chance, though on one occasion it took five birds to catch a single one.
BACK TO ETHNIC ROOTS
Prizes -- a Kazakh handicraft, diplomas and symbolic sums of money -- are handed out but for contestants, official support could be a lot more enthusiastic.
"I am happy I have won," said Ablaikhan Zbasov, 25, one of the winners. "This sport is Kazakhstan's heritage, but we haven't yet seen enough interest paid to it by senior state officials."
In ancient times, eagle hunting was largely the domain of khans who ruled these endless steppes.
But the sport was almost forgotten under harsh Soviet rule.
Millions of Germans, ethnic Ukrainians, Koreans and Caucasians -- whose loyalties to Moscow were deemed uncertain -- were exiled to the steppes, turning Kakazhs into a minority in their own homeland. Even their language started to disappear.
Kazakhstan, which gained independence after the Soviet Union's collapse in late 1991, has been trying to bring back some of its lost past.
It made the revered golden eagle its national symbol and put it on the country's sky-blue flag.
But a booming economy on the back of Western investment in Kazakhstan's oil and mineral industries, has meant townsfolk tending to prefer foreign brand names to ancient traditions, including the national sport of falconry.
"All of us are enthusiasts and we don't ask for money," said Zbasov. "But the moral support from the state could at least guarantee that the ancient art will not be forgotten again."
Are you a falconer or am I thinking of another FReeper and got the names mixed up?
Well,whichever,bump.
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