As we’ve mentioned there is a special branch in Linguistics- Ethnolinguistics which studies the connection between a language and the people speaking in this language, linguistic and other factors linked with ethnos. Ethnographisms is the object of study in Ethnolinguistics. On the one hand every country has its customs, food and meals, but they have national-ethnographic peculiarities and national dishes, on the other hand. The famous scholar K.Mambetov says the following about Karakalpak national dishes: ”Karakalpak cookery has its own peculiarities in difference from the cookery of other peoples of Central Asia. People meeting each other, say ”I’m well, my clothes are good, the stomach is full. All the food is divided into five types: 1) farming; 2) agricultural; 3) hunting; 4) fishing and 5) fruit and vegetables” [3].
The people have various views on the origin of food of ancient times, but most of them think it was “wild food”. Wild food doesn’t require the physical labour. The Karakalpak people have many types of wild food: karamik, jigildik, juua, sutilmek and others. Besides they were used as food, most of them are herbal and are used in medicine. Some types of wild fruit were used as food throughout the whole seasons. For example, sutilmek – a milk fruit, is eaten as soon as it ripens, when it blooms, its stamen is eaten, when it gives fruit, it is eaten as food. Juua’s leaves, then its fruits are also eaten. The poet mentions about this fruit in his poem “It’s my country”:
Ядыма түскенде кеўилим өскен,
Көзим көрмегенше көкейим кескен,
Жылында мийўелеп үш ирет пискен,
Аты сүтилмектей жемисим барды…
I remember it with pleasure,
It ripens thrice a year.
This fruit is sutilmek,
Grown easily without work… [1, 33].
Сәрҳаўыз бойында саялы терек,
Жесең тил үйирген әселиў-пәлек,
Кырында қызарып пискенгеўирек,
Қаўындай мазалы жемисим барды…
On the bank of the river a shadowy tree
Gives fruit tasty like honey.
When ripen it gets red, it’s tasty,
Like a melon the fruit is tasty… [1, 33].
Karakalpakstan has been rich in various sorts of fruit and vegetables since ancient times when they lived with the relative people from Khorezm. Here are apricot, peach, plum, apple, pear, cherries, grapes, anjir and others. Ajiniyaz writes about it:
Бағларымда бисяр алмайыў—анар,
Ҳесапсыз мазалы мийўеси барды…
Gardens are full of apples, pome-granates here,
And a lot of other tasty fruit here [1, 34].
Besides wild fruit as sutilmek, karamik, juua, the people grew melon, water-melon and pumpkin. Emphasizing the rich nuitritial food of the Karakalpaks, Ajiniyaz writes:
Үш ай шабағы бар, үш ай саўыны,
Үш ай қабағы бар, үш ай қаўыны,
Төрт мәўсимге йетәр аның таҳамы,
Небир шийрин-шийрин жемиси барды…
For three months fish they eat,
For three months milk they drink.
For three months a pumpkin they eat,
For three months a melon they eat.
For four seasons food is enough to eat,
All the year round tasty food they eat… [1, 20].
As other peoples, the Karakalpaks have their own national traditional dishes. For example, palov is one of such national dishes, it is also used in the poems:
Сүйлинли палаўды жедик дем берип…
We have eaten palov, having a rest… [1, 173].
Шайишип, палаўжесе кеўили жай…
He enjoys drinking tea and eating palov with me… [1, 188].
The Karakalpak people were occupied with cattle-breeding too. They cooked some dishes from the cattle’s meat and milk. Dairy products made of milk have been considered to be the kinds of dishes and useful for treating different diseases. The famous Karakalpak ethnographer A.Jdanko says that the Karakalpak people were occupied with farming and consequently they used successfully milk and dairy products [2, 120]. The names of dishes made of milk are mentioned in the poet’s works:
Кимди айырар майдан, кимди торақтан…
Something is made of butter,
Something – of milk cheese… [1, 162].
Сүт ишәрдә тилиңни қол билә тутмақ керәк…
When drinking milk,
Keep the tongue by hand [1, 56].
The Karakalpak people inviting somebody to guests say “Help yourself with some tea, please”, “Help yourself with bread, please”. The words bread, tea are often used in the works of Ajiniyaz. For example:
Яқшы болса ғош жигитниң ашнасы,
Шай—шекерге толы болар қалтасы…
A good, skillful fellow with pocket full of money,
Can provide with tasty things like tea-honey [1, 82].
Сийсери жылытпа ишип, бел-балталарды сайлап ал,
Шайды қой, пәтирди қой, қолыңа айры, арқан ал…
hoose a spade and an axe
Make the tea, lay the table,
Put the bread on the table
Take a lasso in your hand, relax… [1, 163].
Қантыў—набат және тахта чай алып,
Қоңырат яраныны тойға шақырып,
Кийеў мениң сарпай пулым бер дейип…
Having bought sugar, sweets and tea,
To Kungrad to the wedding they invited me.
Some money they asked me… [1, 169].
Tea is grown in India, Shri Lanka, China and Indonesia. Some sorts of tea are grown on the coast of the Black sea in Turkey and the Caucasus. But since ancient times Karakalpaks had used the plants of juusan and grass instead of tea. Ajiniyaz writes the following about it:
Жегени майлы палаў, ишкени шай,
Шай ишип, палаў жесе кеўили жай,
Қолында шыны кесе, шыны шайнек,
Ишеди қантлы суўды қарасуўдай…
He eats oiled pilov, drinks tea,
He enjoys eating pilov, drinking tea
Having a cup and a tea pot in his hand,
Drinking sweet tea as usual water from the land [1, 187].
Some words used in the works by Ajiniyaz many years ago became historisms, they present a literary layer in the vocabulary of the Karakalpak language that gives us valuable information about the social-economic life of the people, conditions and way of life and household means.
National traditions and peculiarities of the Karakalpak people have been kept well in their clothes. One of the important tasks of ethnographical words is to renew and transfer these national values to future generations. The fulliest information about Karakalpak national clothes and items of clothes is given in the Karakalpak Dictionary of Arts by A.Allamuratov, O.Dospanov and G.Tleumuratov [4]. The people of every country are distinguished from other peoples by their national clothes. In the book “The ethnographic history of the Karakalpak people” K.Mambetov writes, “Some peoples developed their traditions and awoke the peoples’ interest to them all over the world. The peculiarities of clothes are considered to be the national peculiarities. Many peoples keep these traditions” [3, 113-114].
In the poetic works by Ajiniyaz we come across many ethnographic words describing clothes of men and women. Let’s study some of them.
Kalpak (a cap)- it is a head cap of different forms for men worn usually in summer [9, 110]. In the poem “It’s my country” Ajiniyaz writes:
Сорасаң елимди Хожбан бизлерден,
Қалпағы қазандай еллерим барды…
If you ask me Kojban about my country
It has a cap like a cauldron, my country… [1, 11].
Kiymeshek – is women’s head cap, one of the types of clothes of the end of the XIX-th and the beginning of the XX-th century [7, 347]. In the book “Karakalpakstan” published in 2011 there are the following points of view about kiymeshek: « National clothes exhibited at the museums today are good samples of our national culture that is being forgotten. They are called kiymeshek – women’s item of clothes embellished richly on the breast, they focus the people’s attention. In the past young women wore red kiymeshek and old women wore white kiymeshek [6, 92]. K.Mambetov writes: ”Young women wore kiymeshek to weddings, it was made on a triangled pattern. This item of clothes is rich in bright embroidery. It is made of broadcloth and a kerchief is made of silk. The embroidery is various, there are a five-embroidered or nine-embroidered kiymesheks» [3, 145]. For example:
Киймешегин киймей үйине қойып.
Лолы яға етип кийсә керәкти…
Not wearing a kiymeshek,
Leaving it at home… [1, 77].
Another peculiar Karakalpak tradition was ”wrapping a head”. Every woman should have been skillful and teach young girls the way of wrapping a head.Usually a silk scarf was used for wrapping a head. The Karakalpak women wrapped their heads as a turban and threw the end of the turban on the shoulders. Ajiniyaz writes about it:
Сәҳәр турып өзи зүлпин тараса,
Ҳайўанқашлап қыя салып ораса…
At dawn getting up early,
She wrappes her head carefully… [1, 35].
Turme — is a silk embroidered cloth of 30 sm. in width and more than 10 metres in length. Turme was a silk scarf used for wrapping a head of women and girls. As it is stated in a folklore song:
Кир дегенде қызлар турмаң уялып,
Турмеңниң сыртынан айдыллы шалып.
Embellished in turme, don’t be shy,
Enter the girls without asking why.
In the poems by Ajiniyaz we come across these ethnographic words:
Үстине кийгени атлас қамқады,
Башда түрме, әлде пәрең румалы…
Dressed in silk and brocade,
A silk kerchief in hand, a turme on the head… [1, 104].
Түрмесиниң шашақлары қырмызы…
Her turmeis fringed with red… [1, 36].
Хәрир атлас кийген кимниң ялғызы…
Who is she dressed in silk turme? [1, 206].
Bashbent — (beshbent) is a jacket with sleeves and a reversed side that is put on after a dress by women and girls [5, 252]. Bashbent is made of a velvet or other types of cloth. It has a lot of embroidery from top to toe and around pockets. Girls made such embroidery with the help of their sister-in-laws. For example:
Үстиңә кийгәниң бәшбент—падшайы,
Таўыс бир көйлекиң гүлгүн дарайы,
Белбәўиң түрмәдән, зерли қалайы,
Хабарың бер, пәрийзадым, йол болсун…
You wear a jacket-bashbent,
Embroidered with flowers,
The belt is silk.
Call me my beauty, you,
A good journey to you… [1, 100].
We can call Ajiniyaz a talented poet-ethnographer of the XIX-th century, because he paid much attention on the description of ethnographic peculiarities of the Karakalpak people. The following examples from the work “A song-contest between Ajiniyaz and KizMenesh” prove this statement:
Қыз Меңеш:
Көшкенде қызларыңыз не минеди,
Айтта-тойда қызларыңыз не кийеди?
Kiz Menesh:
What do your girls ride on,
Moving anywhere?
What do your girls put on,
Going to weddings anywhere?
Әжинияз:
Көшкенде көлеңкели бар күймеси,
Көйлеги дарайыдан, он түймеси,
Шылдыры, өңирмоншақ бар жәнеси,
Билезик, жүзик, сырға, көпнемеси,
Бели қылдай, өңириндеҳәр түймеси,
Кийинип ҳайтлап шықса оны-беси,
Ҳеш айланбай кетпейди көрген киси,
Көринер ишкен асы тамағынан,
Сен түгил ҳүрлер менен барды бәси,
Арқадан бирли-жарым қазақ барса,
Бир көргенниң қалады аўып еси…
Ajiniyaz:
When moving they put on dress
Made of silk with fringes.
They embellish themselves with beads,
A bracelet, a ring and earrings.
Their waist is as thin as a reed,
They are dressed smart,
When in groups to the parties they start.
When seeing everybody turns to them,
If Kazakhs see them,
They’ll also fall in love with them [1, 188].
When KizMenesh asks Ajiniyaz about Karakalpakdjigits (fellows), he gives her the answer, describing them.
Қыз Меңеш:
Қосылса еки жақсы балдай болар,
Биреўи тән, биреўи жандай болар,
Хожеке, сеннен мен бир сөз сурайын,
Жигити сизиң елдиң қандай болар?
Kiz Menesh:
If two young marry
In a couple, they will be like honey.
Khojeke, tell me please without hurry,
What are the djigits of your country?
Әжинияз:
Жигити бизиң елдиң болар ғошшақ,
Белинде тиллә кәмар, алтын пышақ,
Жигити бизиң елдиң мине сондай,
Пашшайы сымлы балағы жипек шашақ,
Мингени арғымақ ат, мойны қуўдай,
Үстинде ақбаслы ер, басы шошақ,
Басында алтын жүўен, қоссийнемент,
Көйлекешесиниң шашағы қушақ-қушақ,
Өткерген қуйрығына алтын ғубба,
Жалы менен кекилинде маржан моншақ…
Ajiniyaz:
The djigits of our country
Are brave and bold.
On the waist they wear a sable of gold.
The trousers are silk-fringed.
They ride on fast horses
With nice white saddle high,
The fast horses with white neck nigh.
With double straps, a bridle made of gold
Under the tail there’s a box of gold.
On the mane and comb beads of pearl,
Like the beads of a girl… [1, 189].
Thus, we can make a conclusion that the national clothes of the Karakalpak people have some peculiar features that differ them very much from the clothes of other peoples.
Thus, in conclusion we state that there are many ethnographisms in the poetic works by Ajiniyaz and their investigation is of a great theoretical and practical importance. Ethnographic words reflect the history of the country, culture, folklore, traditions, customs of the people and their relations with the peoples of other countries. Ajiniyaz poetry has a cognitive meaning, it remains popular today and focuses the attention of many readers and scholars.