Kazakh pattern - a bright element of national culture

To understand what the Kazakh pattern is, and what is the Kazakh ornament, it is necessary to clarify what a pattern and ornament in general and how they differ from each other. The pattern is a certain pattern, which is created by a combination of colors and lines. Ornamentation is the same pattern repeating in a certain order or its elements. That is, these two concepts are very intertwined and interrelated.

An integral element of arts and crafts

Each nation has its own distinctive culture, the elements of which are patterns and ornaments. Among them there are very rare, come from ancient times, these masterpieces of decorative and applied art are kept in ethnographic museums.

The Kazakh pattern is unique, like any other. Despite the fact that from Latin the term "ornament" is translated as an ornament, scientists come to the conclusion that in each national pattern some information is stored. Not without reason quite often the ornament is associated with the origin of writing.

Magical Letters

It is connected with magic. Scientists and ethnographers assume that the ornaments contain the representation of ancient peoples about the surrounding reality and the structure of the world. Each people has its own ornamental style, and the Kazakh pattern can be easily distinguished from the drawings of other ethnic groups. The way of life of the people is reflected in national applied art. The Kazakhs trace their roots to the ancient cattle-breeding tribes, the ancestors of this people were the Turks and Huns, Saks and Kings, Kipchaks and Usuns. The ancients believed that the drawn symbols served as amulets, and painted what they thought could save and help in everyday life.

The main group of motifs of Kazakh patterns

It is not surprising that zoomorphic motifs predominate in the Kazakh ornament. In the animal ornament, images of real and fantastic animals are repeated in whole or in fragments. The Kazakh pattern contains images of domestic animals - a horse, a camel or a ram - and steppe, wild - an eagle, a wolf, a falcon.

Very often the ornament consists of separate parts of animals - heads, hoofs, ears and so on. There are specific names for such patterns - "bugu muiz" or "koshkar muiz" ("reindeer horn" or "mutton horn" respectively), "at bass" is translated as "the head of a horse". But not only animal motives exist in the folk-applied art of Kazakhstan, although this is the most extensive group of motifs.

Another of the four is cosmogonic

National ornaments are conventionally divided into cosmogonic, already mentioned zoomorphic, vegetative and geometric. The patterns of many peoples contain these motives. From the name "cosmogonic" it is easy to imagine that the ornament contains the image of some luminary. In the Kazakh version - it's a crescent, or aishik ghoul. "Au gul" ("moon flower") is the oldest ornament. Each element of this pattern can be a crescent of a certain magnitude and direction. There are also solar motifs - "sunrise" ("shikkan kun"), "eye of the sunlit" ("kun kozi") and "rays of the sun" ("kun saulesi"). There are also stellar motifs, which mainly expands the outer clothing - "zhuldyz gul", "zhuldyz ornek", "top zhuldyz" and complex motif "segiz kyrly ornek". It is a star, enclosed in an octagonal socket.

Plant and geometric motifs

Kazakh patterns and ornaments abound with plant motifs, although, as already noted, the dominant are zoomorphic. Water sacred to cattlemen, depicted by a wavy line and called "su", serves to frame ornaments, or intervals. The symbol of the earth, which found its reflection in the ornament "nine hills" ("togyz tobe") is the oldest and is found on artifacts of the Huns and Sarmatians. Geometrical Kazakh patterns and ornaments are characterized by a variety of all kinds of lines - wavy and spiraling, straight lines of different thicknesses and cords, and chains of different shapes are also found. Characteristic for Kazakh geometric patterns is the proportional division of figures and the observance of a clear equilibrium between the individual elements. It should be noted that in almost every group of ornaments there are basic motifs and derivatives. The oldest motif of the geometric group is the image resembling a comma - "alsha". The motif called "alshim bar" is a symbol of luck, prosperity, happiness.

Peculiar and wonderful

Kazakh national patterns are often rightly called writing from the past, because they find a display of even household items, from them, as from a book, you can get information about the life of distant ancestors. The most common in ancient times from this group of ornaments was a "heel" and a "broken heel" ("okshe gul" and "sonar okshe" respectively). In a short article it is impossible even to list the names of the motifs of ornaments, and even to indicate their meaning and to indicate why and where this or that pattern was applied. It can be noted that they are unusually beautiful, the clothes decorated with them are magnificent. A vivid example can serve as a form of Kazakh Olympians and accompanying the team at the Olympic Games in Sochi. Considering patterns, motifs, ornaments, plunge into an amazing, original, bright fairy-tale world. But, as the proverb advises, "it is better to see once". The above are few of the gigantic amounts of patterns of Kazakh patterns.