Bagged Bread
There's another amulet you'll see in the city that may not be as familiar, but is surprisingly widespread in the Muslim world. That would be a perennial shrubby herb called peganum harmala in science-speak, garmala [гармала] in Russian or adyraspan [адыраспан] in Kazakh. This plant is endowed with serious power throughout the former Persian empire, where its name is often something like aspand, espand, or esfand; adyr is an old word for "hill" in Kazakh, so adyraspan might simply mean "hill-variety aspand." In Muslim countries as far away as Morocco, people burn the dry shrub and whirl the smoke around children to protect them from the evil eye. You'll find this in Kazakhstan too, but people also use adyraspan to alastau [аластау], or fumigate, a room, cleansing the space of bad juju with smoke, and it's hung from the eaves of homes, keeping jyn-shaitan [жын-шайтан; "evil genies") off of the property. That's how, as a roving pedestrian, you'll come across this particular superstition.
One last Kazakh practice you'll find while walking Almaty is actually quite easy to overlook. Especially in the outskirts, you'll find that people take out their trash and hang it on whatever hook is nearby - that could mean on their gate or the telephone pole down the street. But often you won't see just bags of trash, but plastic bags of bread, and only bread. For Kazakhs, actually, bread is considered the most sacred of foods. You're not supposed to play with it or drop even a crumb on the ground. So when bread's gone stale and there's nothing left dignified to do with it, some superstitious Kazakhs will give it a bag of its own and hang it outdoors. But why? One reader suggested it's left for the homeless; another suggested it's for the birds and dogs.
Keep an eye out for these lucky charms around town, but it's up to you whether you want to take pictures. I always felt a little suspicious documenting these talismans. Would it look like I was trying to snag some of the good vibes for myself? Is it my eye that's evil? I definitely don't fancy myself a genie. I'm just a guy with a camera, interested in the little things, often unspoken, of which everyday life is made.
One last Kazakh practice you'll find while walking Almaty is actually quite easy to overlook. Especially in the outskirts, you'll find that people take out their trash and hang it on whatever hook is nearby - that could mean on their gate or the telephone pole down the street. But often you won't see just bags of trash, but plastic bags of bread, and only bread. For Kazakhs, actually, bread is considered the most sacred of foods. You're not supposed to play with it or drop even a crumb on the ground. So when bread's gone stale and there's nothing left dignified to do with it, some superstitious Kazakhs will give it a bag of its own and hang it outdoors. But why? One reader suggested it's left for the homeless; another suggested it's for the birds and dogs.
Keep an eye out for these lucky charms around town, but it's up to you whether you want to take pictures. I always felt a little suspicious documenting these talismans. Would it look like I was trying to snag some of the good vibes for myself? Is it my eye that's evil? I definitely don't fancy myself a genie. I'm just a guy with a camera, interested in the little things, often unspoken, of which everyday life is made.
