"Instead of leaving cattle, you should leave a tree.” This catchy Kazakh proverb captures the spirit of spring I think. During Nauryz the entire aul (village) would go to greet the sunrise. From early morning men would then dig irrigation ditches and begin to plant. The women would water the trees. In this tree-starved steppe, I can appreciate the utility of even a single tree. I've often wondered after our trip to Aqtau this past October, how people survived out there with apparently only a handful of trees as shade from the sun in the summer. In this scene, we have a bactrian camel paraded down the street for the festival...another lifeline on the steppe.
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