1. Kazakhs reckon that spinning/ going round has magical power. They avoid full circles while looking at anything. To go around a person means to take/ accept all his/ her sickness, all charms that weigh upon that person. Therefore, the gentlest word that Kazakhs have is ainalayin. Kazakh people believed in circling. A bird that fell into one’s hands was let free after making circles with a hand over its head.
2. According to belief underwater kingdom together with underground were assumed kingdom of dead. Explanation is covered in nomad way of life. Kazakh-cattle breeder that regularly migrated from one pasture to another never lived long on one place. He never lived near water as well, that is why he could not swim. However, sometimes during migrations he had to stay near rivers or lakes. Water brought joy into the nomad’s life. But big waters took people’s lives. And the nomad made conclusions: water is another realm; everybody who gets there never comes back. That is why water became the second reign of dead. Such were superstitions about water.
3. Kazakh would never pluck a blade of grass, would not tear a wooden branch, and would not break a live twig. Anything green is a growing happiness. He knows that «If you pluck green, you would wither away like that green yourself».
4. Kazakh would not cut accrete or growing in pair trees. Everything in the world was created in pairs, it has its second half and the one who killed one of the twins would regret. The one who did that would be uneasy, feel sorrow, grief and solitude all his life.
5. Of one sees a knife lying with its blade up, he should put it on a side. A knife should lie exactly on its side; otherwise it wishes someone’s death.
6. It is not good to bite your thumb. One does that in the minutes of mourning, great weariness or incorrigible loss. It is forbidden to do that without sufficient reason, as it could be taken for an ill-omened sign. Only in deep remorse or regret a man can bite his thumb.
7. Kazakh would never present his relatives or friends with gifts of yellow color. Yellow is the color of illness, it could cause jaundice and other chronic diseases.
8. Manes and tails of the riding horses were not cut — they were the sign of good health and safety of their owners. When a man died its widowed horse’s tail and mane were cut so that it looked in mourning. A trimmed horse reminds of the sorrow and close breath of death; therefore they never cut their horse’s hair.
9. When one meets a traveler he should not ask: «Where are you going?» he should just wish him to have a safe journey.
