We organized our second Kyrgyzstan Heritage Weekend to take place over Memorial Day weekend near Washington, DC. Families with children adopted from Kyrgyzstan came from all corners of the United States to participate, and a fabulous group of enthusiastic volunteers came to lead numerous Kyrgyzstan-related cultural activities.
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- Families with children from Kyrgyzstan came from around the U.S. to participate in the weekend.
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- Volunteers came from as far away as Mississippi and New York to share Kyrgyz culture with the children.
Friday Afternoon
Reception at the Kyrgyz Embassy
To start off the Kyrgyzstan Heritage Weekend, on Friday, the Embassy of Kyrgyzstan held a wonderful reception for the families with children adopted from Kyrgyzstan. Ambassador Djumaliev and staff were on hand to meet with families and show the children the Embassy. There were balloons and gifts for the children, and delicious refreshments.
Saturday
Saturday morning activities included Kyrgyz felt crafts, Kyrgyz language and games, and music and folklore. The children were organized into 3 groups by age, and each group had 2 counselors (high school students) who stayed with them throughout the morning.
Crafts
Aynoor and Gulya helped the children put together some beautiful Krygyz felt designs.
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- Counselors Sandra and Aijamal assisted the youngest children with their projects.
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- Aynoor explained how shyrdaks are made, and how the natural colors are derived.
Kyrgyz Language
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- Ainura taught the children some words in Kyrgyz.
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- The parents enjoyed the classes too.
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- Counselors Kama and Uyanga assisted the children.
Kyrgyz Culture and Traditions
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- Talking about Kyrgyz holidays and customs.
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- Discussion of the famous hero Manas.
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- Marat sings sections from the Manas epic.
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- Aisuluu shows and discusses the Kyrgyz instrument, the komuz.
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- All the children who were interested had a chance to try playing the komuz.
Boutique
Beautiful Kyrgyz handicrafts were also for sale.
Cooking
The kitchen was also a very busy place on Saturday morning, as delicious dishes were being prepared for lunch.
Just Before Lunch
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- Children decorated the cakes as the Kyrgyz flag using fruit.
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- Girls from Ainura’s Kyrgyz class sang a classic Kyrgyz song.
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- The children were invited to dance to a modern version of the song.
Lunch
Lunch was a delicious feast of dishes popular in Kyrgyzstan, including besh barmak.
Performances
After families were given a chance to go back to their hotel to rest for a couple hours, we reconvened in the late afternoon for several wonderful performances.
The Kyrgyz Ambassador to North America, Muktar Djumaliev opened the afternoon of performances.
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- The first dance was a Kyrgyz dance.
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- The Kyrgyz dance was lively and quick.
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- The Silk Road Dance Company performed a Kazakh dance.
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- An Uzbek dance performed by members of the Silk Road Dance Company.
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- Fashion show of 3 contemporary Kyrgyz dresses.
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- The children enjoyed going up onto the stage to join them!
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- Ainura gave an interesting slideshow about Kyrgyzstan.
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- The award-winning komuz player, Peizat Kopobaeva, came from New York City to perform.
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- Erlan Andashev sang a beautiful Kyrgyz song.
Sunday
Picnic and Games at the Park
On Sunday, families and volunteers met at a local park for lunch that included shashlik!
After lunch, the Kyrgyz volunteers taught the families two Kyrgyz games which were lots of fun for all the participants and for those observing!
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- In this Kyrgyz game, two long lines of people face each other. One side invites one person from the other team to come try to break through the line.
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- In this game, a person runs around the outside of the circle, and whoever the runner drops a scarf behind, that person has to get up and try to tag the person before they sit down.
