Юбилей

Two different things: the jubilee and the mushel

The word “jubilee” in Kazakh life has two layers. Merei toi is a jubilee in the usual sense: a round date (50, 60, 70 years), a big celebration with guests and toasts; in this form it took shape later, most likely in Soviet times, as a secular “jubilee” without a religious component. Mushel zhas is a far older thing: the age when the year of birth returns in the twelve-year animal cycle. These two layers do not coincide: the mushel falls on 61, not on 60.

The twelve animals

The mushel is the twelve-year cycle of the Turkic calendar, whose years bear the names of animals in a fixed order:

• Tyshkan — mouse; Siyr — ox
• Barys — snow leopard (in the Kazakh calendar in place of the tiger); Koyan — hare
• Ulu — dragon (in folk speech the word is understood as “snail”); Zhylan — snake
• Zhylky — horse; Koi — sheep
• Meshin — monkey; Tauyk — rooster
• It — dog; Donyz — pig

Counting: when the mushel arrives

The mushel zhas arrives when the animal of your birth year returns: that is, every twelve years. The series of traditional ages: 13, 25, 37, 49, 61, 73, 85 (and further — up to 121). Why 13 and not 12? Because in the traditional count a newborn is already reckoned to be one year old: the year in the womb or the birth year counts. So by passport it is 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72 full years, and “by folk count” 13, 25, 37, 49, 61, 73. Hence the confusion on the internet: some write “mushel at 12 (24, 36…)”, others “at 13 (25, 37…)” — both are right, just by different systems. To avoid error, show both values.

There is one more nuance: for Kazakhs the year began with Nauryz (around 22 March), not on 1 January, so someone born between January and 21 March formally belongs to the previous animal. In everyday life today this is often ignored.

What people did in the mushel year

• They gave sadaqa — the dearest or a new thing was given to a needy or close person.
• They held a “kudaiy tamak” — a thanksgiving meal with pilaf or meat, and often a kurbandyk — a sheep was slaughtered.
• They asked elders for a bata.
• By ethnographers’ accounts, in this year people avoided weddings, long solo journeys and risky decisions — the year was considered “transitional” and people tried to pass it calmly.
• For the age of 61 — the “mushel toi”: as described, it was held by the children for their parents when all the children had grown up and married; the celebration is not the celebrant’s “for himself” but a gift of the children.

Mushel — not a “dangerous” but a transitional age

Among the people the mushel is often called a “hard” age, but ethnographers prefer to speak of a “transitional period”: a person leaves one state and has not yet entered another. The number 13 is not “fateful” for Kazakhs but the beginning of maturity (“On uste — otau iesi”). The steps are usually described thus: the first mushel — youth, the second — the flowering of strength, the third — maturity of mind and “akyl toktatu” (“gaining sound judgement”), the fourth — “kemeldenu” (“perfection”), then a venerable age. Age is also named by the number of mushels: “I am 61 — five mushels are already behind me”.

Where the cycle came from

The cycle rests on observations of Jupiter: its orbit takes about twelve years, and the path was divided into twelve parts; this is the researchers’ version, not a proven historical link. The calendar has been known for a very long time — in Turkic written monuments of the 8th century and in the scholar of the 11th century Mahmud Kashgari; its age is estimated differently — from two to five thousand years. The twelve-year cycle is a shared heritage of Turks, Mongols and the peoples of East Asia; among Kazakhs it became not only a calendar but a way of counting age and life’s milestones.

The position of religious authorities

The Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan and religious portals say that the mushel has no basis in Sharia: they do not approve of regarding these ages as “dangerous” and performing special actions “against misfortune”. At the same time sadaqa as a good deed is always permitted and encouraged — regardless of age. So families have a chance to combine: to preserve the memory of tradition and give it an understandable religious meaning — charity.

Merei toi: 50, 60, 70

“Merei” means honour, dignity: a jubilee is a celebration of respect for a person. A modern merei toi is usually more solemn and larger-scale than an ordinary birthday: a large hall, planned seating, a host. The celebrant is honoured with speeches from relatives and colleagues, a video and photographs of his life are often shown, and a shapan and honorary gifts are presented. A separate image is the age of 60: “alpystyn askary”, “the pass of sixty”. Wishes of “zhuz zhasa” — “live a hundred years” — and words of gratitude for the life lived are spoken. When the jubilee coincides with the mushel (61), a bata and, at the family’s wish, charity are often added to the programme.

Interesting facts

Glossary

Мүшел

The 12-year animal cycle of the Turkic calendar.

Мүшел жас

The age when the year of birth returns; by the traditional count 13, 25, 37, 49, 61…

Жыл санау

Time reckoning; counting years by animals.

Барыс

The snow leopard; the Year of the Leopard in the Kazakh calendar stands in place of the tiger.

Ұлу

The dragon; in folk speech the word is understood as “snail”.

Мерейтой

A jubilee; a celebration of honour for a person on a round date.

Садақа

Alms, a good deed; in the mushel a dear or new thing to a needy person.

Құдайы тамақ

A thanksgiving meal with pilaf or meat.

Құрбандық шалу

Sacrificing a sheep, often with distribution of the meat.

Алпыстың асқары

“The pass of sixty”: a figurative name for the 60th year.

Отау иесі

“Master of the hearth”: an adult, the head of a family.