If a nation does not know its history, if the country loses its history, then its citizens have nowhere to go.
Mirzhakyp Dulatuly

From one to thousand: SEVEN

1323
From one to thousand: SEVEN - e-history.kz
Seven plays an important part among the frequently used numbers of Kazakh people.

A number ‘seven’ is found in such expressions as ‘A man who knows ancestors to the seventh generation will take care of seven nations’; ‘Who does not know seven ancestors is unwise’; ‘Seven-headed with’; ‘Seven coins for charity’; ‘To find seven hares from the ground, i.t. in the seventh heaven from happiness’; ‘Who finds seven robbers in heaven (Big Dipper), he won’t get lost even seven times’; ‘An orphan’s womb has seven layers, i.e. bottomless pit’; ‘A child gets bruises from the ground up to seven years, i.e. a child falls and gets injured till the age of seven’; ‘Seven folds of the sky, seven folds of the earth’; ‘A poor man has seven reasons to languish in expectation of something’; ‘A dog is one of seven treasures’; ‘A week has seven days’; ‘Famine has seven relatives’; ‘An orphan that passed through seven doors’; ‘A despot that oppressed seven nations’; ‘Seven real saints’; ‘At seven night, i.e. in the dead of night’. 

 Seven disasters 

1.Drought. 2. Dzhut (death of cattle). 3. Fire. 4. Cholera. 5. War. 6. Deluge. 7. Earthquake. 

Seven negations 

 1.The earth has no measure. 2. The sky has no prop. 3. A turtle has no spleen. 4. God has no relative. 5. A horse has no fel. 6. The stone has no root. 7. A swan has no milk. Seven orphans An orphan is a word that fails to hear, An orphan is a worn-out thing without an owner, An orphan is the land without an owner, An orphan is the people without a leader, An orphan is the lake without swans and ducks, An orphan is a man, who lost his land, A man without coeval is the most miserable of all. 

Seven parts of the body 

 1.Head. 2,3. Two arms. 3,4. Two legs. 6. Chest. 7. Stomach 

Seven folds of the sky

 A phrase ‘seven folds of the sky’ is now used figuratively as ‘boundless, infinite height of the sky’. This phrase lost its numeric value and is used as ‘seven nights’. ‘Seven folds of the sky’ is widely used, ancient term of Eastern astrologers. The number ‘seven’ here is equivalent to ‘seven stars’: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. 

 Seven saints

 1.Holy Mecca. 2. Holy Medina. 3. Holy Buchan. 4. Holy Sham. 5. Holy Katym (prayer). 6. Holy Egypt. 7. Holy Quran. 

 Seven forms of wealth

 1.Young man. 2. Beautiful woman. 3. Knowledge. 4. Ambler. 5. Hunting falcon. 6. Rifle. 7. Hound (hunting) dog. 

 Seven lovers

 ‘Seven lovers’ are found in the works of Kazakh poets and storytellers in two variants: 1. Leyla-Mejnun, Zhussup-Zlikha, Farkhad-Shirin, Takhir-Zukhra, Arzu-Kambar, Ualik-Garra, Uaki-Gulshakh. 2. Leyla-Mejnun, Zhussup-Zlikha, Farkhad-Shirin, Bakhram-Gulyanda, Seifulmalik-Badigulzhamal, Bozzhigit-Anauaz (Karashash), Ziyada — Khorly (Khorly-gaiyn). 

 Seven grandfathers 

1. Grandfather. 2. Father. 3. Son. 4. Grandson. 5. Great-grandson. 6. Great-great-grandson. 7. Great-great-great-grandson. 

 Seven days 

 1. Today. 2. Tomorrow. 3. The day after tomorrow. 4. Day coming after the day after tomorrow. 5. Trying day. 6. Last day. 7. Solemn day (azyna). 1. Monday. 2. Tuesday. 3. Wednesday. 4. Thursday. 5. Friday. 6. Saturday. 7. Sunday. 

 Seven spaces

 ‘Seven spaces’ (parts of the world) mean ‘the universe, whole world’. In the past, this term provided a very ancient mythological idea of people about the world. Due to this view, number ‘seven’ meant seven directions. These are four sides of the world: East, West, South, North. Three spaces were added to them. For instance, the Sky is the High space, the Earth is the Middle space, Belowground is the Lower space. 

Seven actions

 1.Solstice. Summer solstice occurs on June 21. Winter solstice is on January 22. 

 2. Return of November: it is the time when grasslands (pastures) where cattle have not been yet, turn into grey steppes.

 3.Sunset of the Pleiades (Urker constellation): descent of the Pleiades means that Urker constellation will not rise up to the firmament from May to June 10. 

 4.Ice hardening:it is the time when the water is covered with a thin layer of ice. The time of November cold. 

5. Saiga entangling: it happens in winter month, when Urker comes out. It comes out on January 11. 

 6. Winter months come in winter quarter.

 7. Full moon: if the moon and Urker constellation appear at the same time, it is called chiasma. 

Seven decrees — Justice Law by Tauke 

1 decree. Death penalty for those who raise a rebellion and make strife. (This decree was adopted due to the requirement of preserving the state unity).

 2 decree. Death penalty for those who betray Motherland under the guise of national interests of Turkic people. (This decree is the result of social consciousness to preserve people’s unity — the common interest of the nation). 

3 decree. Death penalty for those who kill innocent people in the state. (This decree is noteworthy introduction and expression of cultural sensitivity, he forbade murder as an action which characterize people on a wild stage of development). 

 4 decree. Death penalty. Death penalty for those who commit adultery with another man’s wife and ruin families. 

 5 decree. Death penalty for those who steal hobbled pacer. 

 6 decree. The payment according to injury during the fights should be paid by the following property: a man should give his daughter for a gouged eye, if he has no daughter-he gives the girl’s dowry. 

 7 decree. To pay a tenfold fine for stolen horse and other valuable things. 


 Used material: 

Kalybekova A. Narodnaya mudrost kazakhov o vospitanii. — 3rd edition — Almaty: BAUR, 2011.-512 p.

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