Homes Surrounded by Green Trees
3 min readHouses of Xinjiang minorities are designed with thousands of postures and styles, which can be divided into two types: pastoral house and rural house.
Yurt: the”White House”on the Grassland To adapt to the nomadic life in pastoral areas, the houses of people living in pastoral areas such as Kazak, Mongolian and Kirgiz are usually yurts to be easy to relocate and dismount. The yurts are called “Yu”by Kazaks and “Ihgeger”by Mongolians. The yurt is an important symbol of nomadic homes in the pastoral areas, and one yurt means one home.A folk song describes the Mongolian yurts as follows:”Because of imitating the blue sky, yurt top coversare round; because of imitating white clouds, the yurts are made of white wool.
These are houses and our Mongolian homes. Because of imitating the shape of the sky, skylight is the symbol of the sun; because of imitating heavenly constellations, enclosure bulkhead is like the round moon. These are the houses and our Mongolian homes.”
A yurt is usually built in a place where is applicable for water and grazing and is composed of 4 parts: scuttle, roof, framework and door. People usuallyuse the local material-branchy tamarisk to make the support rod and round fence. Firstly, build up the skeleton of a yurt, and then enclose the wall hedgeon the outside of the wooden fence. Finally, put the felt on and make a scuttle on the top of the yurt for lighting and airing. There are some differencesbetween the Mongolian yurt and the Kazak’s yurt in appearance: compared to the Mongolian yurt, the Kazak’s yurt is smaller and more exquisite and has a sharper top and a smoother junction between wall and roof. The inside accommodations of both two kinds of yurts are largely identical. The first half part is used to place goods and tools, and the second half part is used for living and receiving guests. In the middle part,a stove is set under the scuttle, and harnesses and hunting tools are put on the left and right sides of the door. It is different that when entering the Mongolian yurt, in front of you is a place for consecrating the niches. Blankets with decorative patterns are always paved in the yurt, and the embroidery cloth or silk curtain are hung on theinternal wall of the wall hedge. Unlike common houses,a yurt doesn’t have a solid foundation and stable walls, so there is a legend of the “unreliable”yurt spreading among the Mongolian community. According to the legend, an old man dreamt that his grandson married a beautiful princess and lived a rich life since then, with countless livestock. In order to realize the dream, the old man started his travel with a smoke pocket and a hook which was used for digging smoke oil. He caught a bird,a fox, and a wolf on the way, and put them into the smoke pocket. When he passed through the emperor’s yurt, he was found by the emperor. The emperor made an order to let the male camel out to bite the old man. At that moment, the old man let out the bird from his pocket, and the bird broke the male camel’s eyes. Then, the emperor let a dog out, but the dog ran away immediately after meeting a fox running out from the oldman’s pocket. Finally, the emperor sent out a pony. And the old man sent out the wolf that killed the pony easily. The emperor used up all the methods but all were in vain. The beautiful princess leaning against the yurt was watching on what was happening. The old man walked slowly to the front of the emperor’s yurt, using the hook to tie the princess’s waistband, and then took the princess away. Till now, Mongolian did not allow the children, especially girls, to stand against the yurt.
Interior decorations of a Kazak yurt Pastoralists formerly lived in the yurt during spring, summer and autumn, while they lived in the earth house, wooden house, mud dwelling and stone house during winter. At present, with the increasing number of settled pastoralists, they usually live in the yurt only on summer pastures, while on winter or spring pastures, they live in fixed housing.
