Kyrgyz Xunying Customs
01 · Historical Records
An eagle's lifespan is roughly 40 to 50 years, but the Kyrgyz generally keep an eagle in captive falconry for only five to seven years before releasing it back into nature to breed.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Falconry is a custom of production and daily life long formed by the Kyrgyz people, and a principal life custom of a nomadic people. The capture of a hunting eagle marks the beginning of the falconry custom. To break the eagle's wildness, herders generally use the method of "aoying" (starving the eagle into submission): the eagle's eyes are hooded and it is placed on a wooden pole suspended horizontally in the air; the pole is rocked back and forth so that the eagle cannot stand steadily, erasing its natural wildness. After "aoying" comes "yangying" (rearing the eagle), which has its own method: the falconer places meat on a leather sleeve on his arm and lets the eagle come and peck at it, while training its ability to swoop down from the air and seize prey.
Taking the wild eagle
Taking a wild eagle by snare or net is the first step; the bird is hooded and carried home at once, never allowed to climb or fly.
Weaning the eagle of its wildness
The bird is hooded and tied to a suspended stick that is rocked back and forth so that it cannot stand steadily, its wildness worn away by sheer repetition.
Feeding and training the swoop
Meat is held in a leather cuff on the forearm, and the bird is trained step by step from feeding to swooping down on prey.
Releasing the eagle
After five to seven years the bird, which may live forty to fifty years, is returned to the mountains to breed; the hunting implement is deliberately set free.
Hunting with the eagle from horseback
The trained bird rides with the herdsman, launches from the saddle and locates game that the rider then chases, completing the cooperation of man, horse and bird.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Kyrgyz falconry is distributed with Akqi County, Xinjiang, as its core, extending to the Kyrgyz settlements of the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture and the Ili region; wherever there are alpine pastures and eagles to be had, almost every village has eagle keepers. Techniques differ little from household to household: eagles are caught with lassos and nets, broken by rocking a suspended pole, fed from a leather sleeve on the arm, and trained chiefly to pounce and seize prey. The moment of release varies by household, usually after the eagle has been raised to the point of hunting on its own and is sent back to the mountains and wilds. In recent years, as settlement projects have been carried out, pastures have shrunk, the supply of eagles has been restricted by law, falconry grounds have mostly moved inside household courtyards, and catching eagles has come to rely more on purchased birds, so the relationship between this custom and people's livelihood has grown delicate.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
As a life custom of the Kyrgyz people, falconry played an important role in obtaining food in the nomadic life of the past. The government is now making great efforts to improve the living conditions of farmers and herders, vigorously promoting herder settlement and earthquake-resistant housing in every township of the county, which is bound to affect the nomadic life of the Kyrgyz; moreover, the eagle is a second-class state-protected animal and may not be caught at will, and modern means of hunting have also changed greatly—all of which come into conflict with the traditional custom of falconry, leaving this traditional life custom on the verge of being lost. Kuermaxi Hutman (from the official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Kyrgyz, born in November 1951, a native of Akqi County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. He has long been engaged in herding and falconry. He began learning falconry and hunting skills in 1967, modestly studying with great falconers to learn the knowledge of catching, rearing and training eagles, and mastered the full range of skills; he has become an important inheritor of the Kyrgyz customs of keeping hunting eagles and hunting with them, with wide influence among the people and high prestige. He has demonstrated falconry skills on many occasions at traditional sports activities held locally and at the autonomous-region level. Over decades of falconry activity, he has taught his skills to many who came to learn, without regard to personal gain, so that this ancient Kyrgyz falconry custom has successors. He is a representative inheritor of Kyrgyz falconry, an item of national-level intangible cultural heritage from the fifth national-level batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Kuermaxi Huteman 05-3060
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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