This past week in Kyrgyzstan, two holidays were celebrated: Ak Kalpak Day and International Women’s Day. How are these two holidays connected? Well, they’re not, but both got me thinking about the role head-coverings play in how both ...
From the outside, it looks like pure chaos. Men are shouting and pulling reigns. Horses are protesting and charging from one direction to another. Hooves beat the earth, sending dust soaring in the air. A man in a blue ...
In Kyrgyzstan, food culture offers insight into Kyrgyz cultural values which impact the way identity and religious identity are perceived. (Photo: Toby A. Cox) Food is not just something we eat to enjoy and to give us nourishment; it is ...
I’m sitting in a shared taxi en route to Talas, the region to the west of Bishkek. The sun is descending and night is falling. The inside of the taxi is dark – the only light coming from the small ...
Located some 350 kilometers south of Belgrade is the town of Bujanovac. It’s a quiet place full of cafes and mismatched houses. The kind of place where children are free to roam the streets because there is always a neighbor ...
Even during the busy carnival season, if you walk alone through Ptuj you can find some quiet stone street and think you’re the only person in town. But then you’ll hear it: the not-so-distant clanging of bells around ...
Marka never throws any wool away in case she needs to repair something later. I consider this, and wonder how many scraps she’s held on to after a lifetime of knitting. Marka Kukučka is 81 years old and belongs ...