Greeting in Kazakh Culture

Abstract

The proverb "Greeting is ancestor of the word" is famous among Kazakhs. Like every nation, the greeting traditions of the Kazakhs have emerged over the centuries by being kneaded with social and cultural behaviours. The greeting style of each nation shows itself within the framework of respecting national values and wishing good by blending with the inner world of that nation and overlapping with its traditional consciousness. For this reason, each nation gives a different value to the greeting culture and reveals this culture spontaneously. This kind of high culture can only be reached by nations with high spirituality. Many culturologists claim that greeting behaviour is an important cultural phenomenon in individual and social behaviour theories. While some researchers argue that these behaviours are acquired through communication or education, others have emphasized that this culture emerged with the actions performed in daily life and that the invisible substratum of the culture should be looked at not only the visible side, like an iceberg. Saluting acts, which are one of the important pillars of the set of values that hold societies together, become social national behaviours as a result of a long period of centuries. It is said that there are sixty types of greetings in Kazakhs. This tradition is a part of the nomadic lifestyle of the ancient Turks. The meeting days organized just to say hello and the custom of brides to greet the people of the mother-in-law, which is a long-established tradition among the Kazakhs, are the traces of the old Turkish culture that has been maintained by keeping the national values alive until today.