🧑🤝🧑 Kyrgyz
Also known as: Kyrgyz people, Kirghiz
A people of Kyrgyzstan and the Tian Shan mountains in Central Asia; kumis is the festive and everyday drink of summer pastures.
The Kyrgyz are a people of the Tian Shan mountains, historically nomadic herders. In summer, families move with their herds up to high pastures, the jailoo, and this is kumis (kymyz) season: mares are milked several times a day, and the milk is fermented in leather or wooden vessels.
Kumis is both an everyday summer drink and a festive one. It is offered to guests and drunk at family celebrations and summer festivals on the pastures. Also common are ayran, kaymak (thick cream), sary may (clarified butter) and kurut, dried balls of pressed sour milk taken on journeys.
Many Kyrgyz now live in cities, but going up to the jailoo and the kumis season remain an important part of the culture. In summer, fresh kumis is sold right from yurts along mountain roads.
What it includes
How it connects to milk
🧑🤝🧑 Kyrgyz ← among ← 🐎 Mare → gives → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Where they live
- 🌍 Central Asia
- Traditional products
- 🍶 Kumis, 🧀 Kurt
- Dairy animals
- 🐎 Mare
Frequently asked questions
What is a jailoo?
A high summer pasture where Kyrgyz families take their livestock; kumis is made there too.
When do people drink kumis in Kyrgyzstan?
Mainly in summer, when mares on the pastures are giving milk.
What is kurut?
Dried salty balls of pressed sour milk that keep for a long time.
Similar
🧑🤝🧑 Kazakhs · 🧑🤝🧑 Mongols · 🧑🤝🧑 Uzbeks · 🧑🤝🧑 Turkmens · 🧑🤝🧑 Yakuts · 🧑🤝🧑 Bashkirs
Sources
- FAO — Dairy animals: Other animals (yak, horse, donkey)
- Koumiss (Fermented Mare's Milk) as a Functional Food: Bioactive Proteins, Peptides, and Future Perspectives. Foods, 2025