Marty and I both worked Tuesday morning up until lunch. By this time the celebrations were in full swing. Techno music, mixed over traditional Kazakh songs, was blasting from speakers all over the long street. We are staying in Kazakhstan Street and luckily, that is where the action for the festival was.
We got dressed to go outside - this time I over-layered, not wanting to feel the cold at all - and headed out into the street to check out the festivities.
We started taking a stroll along the street, admiring the Yurts. When I was watching them being assembled the day before, I thought for sure you could go inside and view a traditional setup. But, as we peeked inside, the yurts were empty except for the occasional box or table, left over from the stalls setup outside the yurt.
The first stage we stopped at was small but surrounded by people. The show that was playing out on the stage when we stopped by was a strong man/boy contest. Strong men were doing weights for the crowd. Some of the contestants were very serious, wearing weight-lifting belts. The MC had the job of introducing the contestant and counting their lifting attempts. He was good at detecting when the lifter had had enough and would quickly call them off - 'Dasvidanya!' One older man, however, didn't know when enough was enough. He got to the point where his face was red and looked like it would explode under any more pressure. He wasn't breathing right and every time he lifted a weight, his legs would wobble under the strain and we were just waiting for him to buckle under the pressure. The MC kept trying to call him off, but the man was insistent that he still had what it took to be a champion. One more lift away from either a heart attack or a broken back, the man retired from the competition, the relief of everyone.
We started walking towards the main stage, where were heard loud music blasting. When we got there another major competition had started up. It was now time for the annual new years day festival ... SHOUTING COMPETITION! Men who wanted to complete were simply ask to come onto the stage and show the massive crowd their yelling talents. The first man was up, the MCs asked for silence. An expectant, excited hush fell over the crowd. A burly man stepped forward in his heavy jacket and furry hat. He bent forward, then threw his head back, sucking in as much air as his lungs would hold and then ... after a dramatic pause ... he shouted!!!! The crowd went wild! By wild, I mean nodding at each other in quiet agreement that yes, that man did shout very loudly.
After a few more contestants showed the crowd what they were made of, a winner was declared. To celebrate his victorious win, the loud man gave the crowd one final, parting shot - "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh". the crowd went wild, quietly. The proud man walked off the stage carrying his new television - old style, big backed, massive TV.
Following this amazing display of sheer volume, we were entertained by a variety of singers and dancers.
The performances varied from traditional dancing to hip hop dudes with self styled bowl cuts.
Lila
xx
P.S. the very dejected bugs bunny was probably the funniest dress up character I have ever seen. I haven't seen someone wearing a giant bunny suit look so depressed!
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