Tradition · Nationwide
Hospitality and the dastarkhan
‘A guest ranks above your father’: the seat of honour, a dastarkhan that is never left bare, and table manners from breaking the bread to the closing blessing.
Tradition · Nationwide
Kupkari (ulak)
A horseback contest in which hundreds of riders battle for a goat carcass — in spring and autumn, above all at Navruz; its oldest forms survive in Baysun.
The work of many
Kupkari, or ulak, is a horseback game in which riders fight to seize the carcass of a goat or ram (the ulak) and be first to carry it into the scoring zone, the ‘kazan’. A widely accepted explanation derives the name from Turkic kup, ‘many’, and Persian kari, ‘work’ — ‘the work of many’. Neighbouring countries know it as kokpar (Kazakhstan), kok-boru (Kyrgyzstan) and buzkashi (Afghanistan, Tajikistan).
An elder or referee places the ulak in the middle of the field, and at the signal the riders charge. Historically it was a contest of individual champions (palvan); today official tournaments are also played in teams.
When and where
Kupkari is held mainly in spring and autumn, especially at Navruz; summer games are rare because horses tire quickly in the heat. Most games are organised by one or several villages to celebrate a wedding, a birth or another family occasion, and these are considered the most authentic. The countryside around Tashkent and Samarkand is easiest for visitors, while Baysun in Surkhandarya is known for archaic forms of the game. There is no fixed calendar, so ask local tour operators. Never step onto the field; watch from higher ground at a safe distance.
Sources (3)
Tradition · Nationwide
Tea culture and the choyxona
Green tea ‘returned’ to the pot, a bowl filled only halfway, and the choyxona at the heart of every mahalla: the Uzbek day begins and ends with tea.
Tradition · Nationwide
The Uzbek wedding
From matchmaking to the bride’s bow: an Uzbek wedding is not a one-day party but a chain of rites that unites two families.
Tradition · Nationwide
Beshik to‘yi (cradle feast)
The rite in which a first-born baby is laid in its cradle for the first time; the cradle and gifts arrive from the mother’s family to the sound of karnay and surnay.
Tradition · Nationwide
The mahalla
‘A little town within the town’: the neighbourhood community gathered around its guzar, teahouse, mosque and elder — the basic unit of Uzbek life.
Tradition · Nationwide
Hashar
Unpaid communal work by neighbours: once used to dig canals and raise houses, today a clean-up of the mahalla before holidays.
Tradition · Nationwide
Navruz customs
The spring-equinox festival: hashar clean-ups and new clothes, sumalak stirred all night, ko‘k somsa, the ‘Boychechak’ song, kurash and kupkari.
Tradition · Bukhara
Shashmaqom and the maqom tradition
‘Six maqoms’ — a classical suite of instrumental and vocal music that took shape in Bukhara; joint UNESCO heritage of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan since 2008.
Tradition · Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya +2
Bakhshi art
Epic poems sung from memory to the dombra, kobyz or dutar — the performers of Alpamysh and Go‘ro‘g‘li; UNESCO-listed since 2021.
Tradition · Khorezm
Lazgi
Khorezm’s fiery folk melody and dance, evoking the sounds of nature, love and joy; UNESCO-listed since 2019.