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Kyrgyz Yurt at Earth Centre

It is hoped that the Kyrgyz yurt can stay in Doncaster. Since the announced closing of the Earth Centre, it is a concern that the authentic and beautiful yurt will be lost to the citizens of South Yorkshire.

Earth Centre is now closed. Earth Centre closed in October 2004. Earth Centre is now in administration and is no longer open to the public.

 

 

At Earth Centre there is an authentic Yurt

This is the outside of the felt Yurt. It is made from willow wood and felt. It is a SUSTAINABLE house. The doorway always faces south. The sun can shine through the doorway. There is a little hole in the roof to let the smoke through.

Rosie asks us to take our shoes off before entering the yurt, and we leave them in a nice, neat line. Kyrgyzstan is in central Asia. It is near to Russia and China and Mongolia and Afghanistan and Pakistan.

a pattern on the kyrgyz rug

inside Earth Centre's lovely yurt - it is amazing and we love it

This beautiful pattern is cut from felt

The baby's cot and some cooking things

sitting on the felt rugs and looking up at the smoke hole in the yurt

Sitting on the lovely wool carpets in the Yurt. The wool is made into felt with some gorgeous colours.

The Tunduk - It is the crown which supports the roof and lets daylight into the yurt. Big Pieces of felt go on the roof to keep out the rain and snow. Its is like a woolly carpet on the roof! The smoke goes out through a hole in the roof.

trying on a hat

exploring the nice yurt

Here we are trying a felt hat on for size.
A felt hat keeps your head nice and warm.

Here we are playing the table cloth game. We have to put all the objects in the correct place.

having a sleep in the felt yurt

snuggling under the covers - there are no beds!

sitting on the floor - we love the yurt and enjoy the atmoshpere

Rosi our tour guide talks about the Yurt.

We learn about the sheep and the wool that is made into felt

the traditional yurt is made from willow and felt

It is lovely in the yurt. A lovely home for the family to live in.

We have been putting the objects on the table cloth.

At the Earth Centre there are displays to illustrate the nomadic lifestyle of traditional  Kyrgyzstan peoples

lots of felt rugs and felt bags - the patterns are beautiful

There is a table outside the yurt where you can sit and look at books and draw pictures. There are some display cases with real objects in from Kyrgyzstan.

Some of the cushions and carpets and wall hangings

 

In the floor there is a plan of where everyone should sit

John is telling us stories, such as the story of Manas

This is the tablecloth - we must not walk on it.
There is a men's side. The men are called Er Jaks. On the men's side are the music things and the saddle.
There is a women's side. The women are called Epchi Jaks. On the women's side is the cradle and the cooking things.
The boots go at the doorway.
The place of honour is on the north side. John, Rosi, Debbie & Richard sat in the place of honour, because they were our tour guides.

John told us a story about Manas who was a famous and powerful leader of the Kyrgyzstan people. They have many stories about his bravery and  strength. Some of the stories take all day to tell, but John's story was not as long as all day!

Common patterns that are found in Kyrgyz Art. We saw lots of these patterns on the beautiful rugs and carpets and bags.

Rams horn motif
(kochkor muyuz)
This is the most common& characteristic motif:
2 horns curving outward from a central point. It is found throughout Central Asia.

Forked post motif
(acha bakan)
This is the post used to put the roof felts on the yurt and to close & open the smoke flap.

schoolwork

Four horns motif
(tort muyuz)
Four sets of rams horns form a cross.

Raven's claw motif
(karga turmak)
This motif may have been used as protection.

Birds wing motif
(kush kanat)
This design is often used in border designs.

Four horns motif
(tort muyuz)
Four sets of rams horns form a cross


Yurts

A yurt is a circular nomadic dwelling tent used in Central Asia. In this instance the Earth Centre yurt is a festival yurt from Kyrgyzstan, a country which borders with China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Visitors will be able to experience a living yurt complete with authentic cultural contents and decorations. Four larger yurts made in England out of canvas and willow will provide a space for activity and related workshops. This project is the first in an intended series which will explore with the visitor different ways of living around the world and celebrate the diversity of human culture.

The yurt provides a particularly good example of human adaptation and diversity because its development has been closely related to its local ecology. The landscape of Kyrgyzstan is relatively young, so the mountains are steep and high and the soil is thin. Consequently the land is vulnerable to over-farming and the Kyrgyz people have developed a nomadic way of life, herding sheep, camels and wild horses. Indeed a family yurt can be packed up and carried on the back of two camels. Sadly these traditions now represent a dying culture due to arable systems enforced upon the Kyrgyz people.

Yurts also provide an amazingly effective educational space, partly because the Kyrgyz tradition is an oral tradition, cultural knowledge is not written down but is passed from one generation to the next by word of mouth. Many design features of the yurt reflect this aspect of Kyrgyz tradition: the dome-like structure has great acoustics, people can sit on the floor in a circle, so everyone can always see one another, there are no windows and therefore no external distractions and the atmosphere is soft, warm and womb-like.

The oral tradition is characterised by the Manas poem, an epic thirty-day piece which conveys all the spiritual, practical, historical and cultural information about the Kyrgyz culture.




The Earth Centre Yurts

The special nature of yurts and the traditional lifestyle of the people who live in them offer us a lesson in sustainable living.
For over a thousand years tents like these have been homes for the nomads of Central Asia.
The small felt tent is a traditional Kyrgyz yurt. The canvas yurt was made in England and has four sections.
The Kyrgyz people build their yurts with high sides and steep roofs to withstand the rain and snow in the high mountain region where they live. In different parts of Central Asia yurts are built in other shapes to give protection against the weather of that area.
The felt covers of the Kyrgyz yurt are laid on a trellis frame usually made of willow. The yurt is light and easy to put up, to pull down and to carry from place to place. Notice the distinctive smell of the felt when you enter the Kyrgyz yurt.
The exhibitions in the canvas yurt and in the traditional Kyrgyz interior of the felt yurt give an insight into the nomadic way of life.

 

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