Manas: The Epic Legend of the Grassland Ethnic Group

2 min read

This is a legend about the heroic ethnic group and about how the khaklhas look for the figures and voices of their ancestors This is a story left by our ancestors, so we must finish it. Everything on the earth is changing: river valleys turned into wastelands and wastelands turned into lakes which turned into farmlands. But the story of the mighty Manas has been passed down The epic Manas handed down by their ancestors has been sung here for a thousand years, which has nourished the Khaklhas generation after generation. The Khaklhas love the grassland, adore their hero Manas who was and remains the pride of his descendants The beautiful Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture.

In today,’s age, people cannot help casting their eyes to the snow capped Muztag Ata and the lofty Mt Tianshan where Kizilsu is located Kizilsu is the place where the epic manas is most popular. The word Kizilsu means red water. When you enter the “red water”, you enter the place where Manas is sung generation after generation Early in the 19th century adloff a russian scholar of german descendant who was the first to collect and stud materials on Manas, remarked that the Khaklhas are good at expressing their ideas, narrating their history and culture in the form of oral art. Singing their epics, singing while talking about the system of their family trees, improvising and folk songs performing are the essence of the oral culture of the kha klhas.