The Kazak Nationality is one of the 56 ethnic groups in People's Republic of China, living mainly in Xinjiang Province. Kazakhs speak their own language which belongs to Turkic family of Altaic language system. The ancestors of the Kazakhs were the earliest explorers in ancient Silk Road.
Living in the grasslands, Kazakhs like to eat meat and food that made of wheat. Kazak specialties include cream, Kazak ghee, milk tofu, and crispy butter. For the beverage, Kazakhs like to drink Kumis made of fermented mare milk, they also love tea, a different kind of tea that is added with milk and salt.
Kazakhs celebrate three major festivals, respectively Noroz Festival, Corban Festival, and Rozah Festival. According to Kazak calendar, Noroz Festival falls on around March 22 is Kazakhs’ New Yea. On that day each family cooks Noroz rice made of wheat, millet, rice, flour, salt, meat and milk. People wear ethnic colorful costumes and go out to visit their friends, they embrace each other and give each other best wishes.
Kazakhs are known as a hospitable and generous nationality. To treat friends or guests come from far away, Kazak usually prepare roast lamb and kumis. After lunch, Kazakhs invite guests to sing and dance, read tongue twisters, play Dongbula (a traditional musical instrument) and wrestling. There is an old Kazak saying: A big shame for Kazakhs is that their guests leave the yurt and go back before sunset.
To respect Kazak custom, visitors should be aware of some behavior that may annoy the host. For example don’t eat food made of pork, dog, donkey and mule, try to avoid stepping over the rope that is used to tie livestock avoid riding horse into the flocks, try to avoid sitting on containers storing food, and try to avoid crossing over or walk on the napkin.