Kyrk-Choro

Kyrk-Choro ("forty companions") is a village at about 1,650 meters on the floor of a valley below the northern face of Manas Peak, about 12 kilometers north of the peak at the western end of the Talas Alatau, in the Talas Alatau planning zone of the Autonomous Tribal Regions (ATR). Its population is about 640 (2022 estimate).^[1] Its name recalls the forty companions of the hero Manas in the Epic of Manas. Since 1995 the village has held a gathering of epic reciters (manaschy) each August, at which bards from the tribal regions perform episodes of the Manas cycle and of The Epic of Janyl.^[2] Glaciologists of the Manas Peak Glaciological Observatory hire horses and porters in the village.

References

1. ^ United Nations Mission in Irad (2022). Settlements and Services in the Talas Alatau Zone. Kara-Oi.
2. ^ Central Asian Folklore Society (2021). Epic Cycles and Horseback Chants of the Northern Valleys. Talas: Talas State University Press.