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Kyrgyzstan
Ethnic Traditions
The Kyrgyz also have retained a strong sense of cultural tradition.
Figures from the 1989 Soviet census show that Kyrgyz males were
the least likely of the men of any Soviet nationality to marry
outside their people (only 6.1 percent of their marriages were
"international") and that Kyrgyz women did so in only 5.8 percent
of marriages. Moreover, although the degree of such changes is
difficult to measure, Kyrgyz "mixed" marriages seem uncommonly
likely to assimilate in the direction of a Kyrgyz identity, with
the non-Kyrgyz spouse learning the Kyrgyz language and the children
assuming the Kyrgyz nationality. Even ordinary citizens are thoroughly
familiar with the Kyrgyz oral epic, Manas , a poem of
several hundred thousand lines (many versions are recited) telling
of the eponymous Kyrgyz hero's struggles against invaders from
the east. Many places and things in Kyrgyzstan, including the
main airport, bear the name of this ancient hero, the one-thousandth
anniversary of whose mythical adventures were cause for great
national celebration in 1995.
Data as of March 1996
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