Culture

What Kazakh Ornaments Reveal About Nomadic Life and Nature

By Ayana Birbayeva  on 26 April 2026

ALMATY – Long before written language became widespread, the nomadic world spoke through patterns. In Kazakh culture, ornaments were more than decoration: they carried identity, beliefs, and a way of seeing the world shaped by life in the steppe.  Ethnographer and craftswoman Bulbul Kapkyzy says traditional oyu-örnek (ornament) should...