The Modern Kazakh Ritual of Venerating Holy Sites: The Mausoleum (Kesene) of Kabanbai Batyr Kozhagul-Uly

Author

Dosmurzinov Rustem Kuandykuly

a Ph.D. student, a junior research fellow at the Institute of State History (Astana, Kazakhstan).

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1756-8236

The Modern Kazakh Ritual of Venerating Holy Sites: The Mausoleum (Kesene) of Kabanbai Batyr Kozhagul-Uly

Abstract

The customs of veneration of the sacred places among the Kazakhs are analyzed in the article. The subject of the submitted study concerns the mausoleum dedication ceremony of Karakerey Kabanbay Batyr (1692–1770), located 17 km from the new capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. The main materials for the study consist of the author’s field records, interviews with pilgrims. The method of participant observation has been also used. The holy places are an integral part of the religious (sacred) space as well as also of the political and geocultural landscapes. The rites of honoring them include the following components: the fulfilment of the necessary religious norms before the beginning of the ceremony and in its end, visiting the shrine and the holy place, walking around it, reading prayers, making offerings. Using the interview method, the author of the study has obtained important information about the relationship between various rituals of the Kazakh people and religious beliefs. Visitors to the mausoleum of Kabanbai Batyr Kozhagul-uly become witnesses and participants in the phenomenon of ‘lived religion’, in which personal ‘inner spiritual feelings’ and the religious experience of believers are of the utmost importance, rather than the issues of strict compliance with religious canons. Faith is becoming increasingly individualized, reflecting the peculiarities of contemporary socio-economic relations and the everyday problems of ordinary people who satisfy their religious needs at the monuments honouring representatives of the past and current elite. Various types of interactions between more ancient pre-Muslim views and Islamic worldview traditions are traced in the article.

The author has also concluded that the migration trends in various regions of the republic have changed the nature of political, social and economic processes. Under the new conditions the old spaces are being reinterpreted and subjected to a new sacralization based on ancient religious worldview traditions. The further nature of migration processes and the peculiarities of inner policy will continue to have a comprehensive impact on the development of one of the ancient folk forms of Kazakh religion – the veneration of sacred places associated with well-known political and spiritual leaders.

Keywords

ritual of veneration of holy places, Qabanbai Batyr Kozhagul-uly, religious landscape, political landscape, geocultural dimension, hierotopy, the Kazakhs, Kazakhstan.

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