User:Kosigrim/E-hunt

A professional eagle hunter from Kazakhstan

Hunting with eagles (Golden Eagle) is an ancient art of hunting of wild animals, which has been used in the Steppe of Central Asia.

Nowadays

There is no English word for the hunting with eagles such as 'eagler'. Today professional hunters from Kazakhstan call the hunting with eagles berkutchy (also berkutchi by Kyrgyz people, Bugu clan^[1]) or kusbeguy in kazakh. A berkutchy is a life's profession, and in Kazakhstan is often an hereditary one. The relationship of the bird and its master is constant, and all-consuming. In the training of a young eagle, the berkutchy must sacrifice his sleep for a long period. For weeks, the growing bird is rendered sightless under its hood until its dependence on its master become rotal. Such intimacy must turn into a lifelong trust with the eagle - twenty years or more. And it is said that as the man trains the eagle, so does the eagle trains his man. There is a proverb in Kazakhstan: There are three things, which should the real man have: fast horse, hound-tazy (breed of afghan hound and killing Golden Eagle^[2].

History

Khitans

Khitans eagle hunters on horse, (Song dynasty).

In 936-45 AD Khitan Mongols (Khitans), nomadic people who united most of Mongolia conquered part of north China^[3]. In 960 China was overtaken by the Song dynasty^[4]. From its beginnings, the Song dynasty was unable to completely contol the Khitan who had already assimilated much of Chinse culture. Throughout its 300-year rule of China, the Song had to pay tribute to the Khitan to keep them from conquering additional Song territory^[5]. Despite the fact that Khitans assimilated Chinese culture, they retained many Mongol traditions, such as the love for eagle hunting^[6] (see the unknown Chinese painting from Song dynasty).

Kyrgyz

In 1207 the Kyrgyz nomads surrendred to Genghis Khan's son Jochi. Under Mongol rule, Kyrgyz preserved their nomadic culture. It has been said that Kyrgyz nomads have been hunting with Golden Eagles for 6,000 years^[7].

Enigmas

Madara Rider with a hunting bird

In 1872 the Hungarian archeologist Felix Kanitz^[8] traveling in Bulgaria has paid attention to a horse rider relief and its inscriptions carved on the Madara Plateau east of Shumen, known today as Madara Rider. Since 1979 Madara Rider has been recognized as UNESCO World Heritage. The debate on the origin of the Madara Rider is ongoing. It has been widely discuused that Madara Rider dates from the time of the first Bulgarian Khanate (7th century) and perhaps depicting Khan Tervel (701-717) or Khan Asparuh (668–695)^[9]. One of the striking elements on the relief (now critically eroded) is a bird, hand-positioned in the traditions of the Eagle hunting - (see stylized sketch of Madara Rider and the bird in circle). In his conservation report to UNESCO, Donchev discussed the convergence of historic archetypes into a horseman with a bird (and dog), in conjunction to the ethnogenesis of Proto-Bulgarians, their Central Asian roots, culture and migration to Europe^[10].

References

^ The Gyrfalcon by Eugene Potapov and Richard Sale (2005) p. 199
^ Kazakhstan in Pictures (Visual Geography Series) by Bella Waters (2007) p.54
^ The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Special Edition by Sun Tzu and Lionel Giles (2005) p.170
^ China: Its History and Culture (4th Edition) by W. Scott Morton, Charlton M. Lewis, and Charlton Lewis (2004) p.100
^ 5 Steps to a 5: AP World History (5 Steps to a 5) by Peggy Martin (2004) p.115
^ Eagle Dreams: Searching for Legends in Wild Mongolia by Stephen J. Bodio (2003) p. 26
^ Firefly Guide to Flags of the World (Firefly Pocket Reference) by Firefly Books (2003) p.109
^ F. Kanitz. Donau-Bulgarien, 1. Aufl. I-III, Leipzig 1879
^ V. Bejevliev. Spatgriechische und spatlateteinische Inschriften aus Bulgarien, Berlin (1964)
^ Slavi Donchev, The Madara Horseman (2003) and Preliminary Technical Sssessmant (2005)