I woke up very early this morning because we had been invited to attend a "circumcision party" at 7 AM. A friend of Interlink, a Tae Kwan Do teacher named Ruslan, was hosting the event for his six year old son. Apparently, this was supposed to be quite an important occasion and Beth suggested that it would be a wonderful cultural opportunity for me as well as a good chance to get some video. I just hoped that I wouldn't be asked to videotape anything too personal!
We were joined by an English teacher, Heather, and some Americans who would be helping her present at a conference. As we pulled up near the house, a large number of cars were parked along the street and I could see people milling around near the entrance. As I got out of the car, I wondered just what the morning would hold.
Ruslan's place seemed very nice and we were ushered into a large courtyard filled with colorfully decorated tables. It appeared that the men were on one side of the courtyard and the women on the other, but since we were guests we were allowed to sit as a mixed-gender group. The tables were completely covered with plates of food, ranging from salads to candy. An English-speaking relative of Ruslan's stood at the end of the table and served us. From time to time, music would begin playing and the women, some dressed in traditional Kazakh garb, would dance. To my surprise and great shock, Beth informed me that Ruslan wanted me to film the circumcision. I took a deep breath and considered what this might mean. I knew that I could not refuse and quickly began thinking of how I would handle the situation. I decided that I would use my wide-angle lens and stay as far out of the way as I could. For the rest of the meal, I tried to take my mind off what I had been asked to do, comforting myself only slightly by the fact that the boy would have it much worse than I would!
The time arrived and Ruslan called me over. We slipped off our shoes before entering, then made our way to the salon. A group of men surrounded a mattress and blanket that had been prepared. To my great relief, Ruslan told me that I was only to tape before and after, but not during. To my further relief, I would be asked to step out of the room for the "during" part. Whew! As the boy entered, I was impressed at his composure. As the older men removed his trousers, he stared straight ahead, almost expressionless. I considered that a young boy in America facing such an ordeal would no doubt be screaming his head off. I decided to stay with my original idea of using a wide-angle lens and stood at the back of the room and taped as the men put the boy down on the mattress. The older men prayed, then I was dismissed.
When I came back outside, I discovered that walnuts had been thrown all over the ground and on the tables. Apparently this was a fertility blessing of some sort, wishing everyone many sons. A few minutes later, I was called back into the salon. I wondered if the boy would be crying. When I came in, he looked very much as I had left him, with an expressionless stare. His older brother and a few of his friends were now beside him, looking at him with great interest. The other men were talking and smiling. I was informed that the older man next to the boy had performed all of the circumcisions in the village and was now training his son to do the same. I videotaped from a distance, then excused myself, never having imagined that I would be witnessing such an event.
Upon my return outside I was peppered with questions and subject to just a bit of teasing. I ate some more food, then filmed a bit more dancing and cooking. After the dance, we said our good-byes. Ruslan thanked us for coming and said that we were always welcome at his house. Having now spent several days in Kazakhstan, I knew that he meant it.
The celebrations were not over--now we were heading to a graduation ceremony at a local college. Several former Savva students would be graduating and Beth would be saying a few words. We arrived very early to set up a slide show and watch the MC's practice their dialogue. Music punctuated every introduction and it began to occur to me that this would no doubt be much different than the rather dry graduation ceremonies that I was used to. It ended up starting about an hour late (I suspected that we had gotten our times mixed up) and turned out to be very entertaining. There was singing and dancing, and each speaker was introduced with a blast of music. It seemed as though I was watching "Kazakh Idol" or something. Of course, I had no real idea what the speakers were saying, but I enjoyed all the music in between. The students were not dressed in caps or gowns, but just came from the audience as they were called. At the very end, a huge group of them came to the stage for their "closing number." The time went by quickly and I thought it was fun. It was hard to believe that a few hours earlier I had been video-taping a circumcision!
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