ATA is the father of your father. NAǴASHY ATA is the father of your mother. QAIYN ATA is the father of your spouse. The common Qazaq saying, ÁZILIŃ JARASSA, ATAŃMEN OINA [if you’ve got a good joke, you can even tell it to your ATA] — refers to one’s father-in-law. There is also a saying, KÚSH ATASYN TANYMAS [strength does not care about seniority], in which ATA simply means someone who is older than you (whom you are supposed to respect yet shouldn’t let them win just because of their age). ATA also means ancestor, forefather of a clan. “QAI ATANYŃ BALASYSYŃ?” is what people ask when they want to know your clan. This phrase is technically the correct one rather than the commonly used “RÝYŃ KIM?”
In Qazaq culture, ATA has as many, if not more, rights over a child than their parents. Back in the day, there was a custom, BAÝYRYNA SALÝ, for grandparents to keep and raise their son’s firstborn. Nowadays, we are reminded of this tradition when one sibling has a different last name from the the rest of the family. People who have their grandfather’s last name usually say with pride, MEN ATAMNYŃ QOLYNDA ÓSTIM [I was raised by my grandfather]. BAÝYRYNA SALÝ is not adoption; when the child grows up a bit, they get to decide with whom they would like to live, and usually they move to their parents’. Rather, BAÝYRYNA SALÝ is like an extended stay with the grandparents. The moral guidance that the child receives in this early childhood stays with them their whole life. ATANYŃ BALALARY [grandfather’s children] usually carry the role of the keeper of traditions, they maintain relationships with distant relatives, keep the traditions of celebrating Naýryz and Eid, organize the reading of prayers, etc. This wise custom led to the proverb, EKI BALANYŃ ORTASYNDAǴY BIR SHAL BALA BOLADY, EKI SHALDYŃ ORTASYNDAǴY BALA DANA BOLADY [an old man among children becomes a child, and a child among old men becomes wise].
As in many other cultures, Qazaqs believe that ATAs love their grandchildren more than they do their children — BALANYŃ BALASY EŃ YSTYQ BALA [your child’s child is your favorite one]. Grandchildren are considered EŃ BIR ÓMIRLIK ALDANYSHY [life’s greatest joy]. BALAM — BALYM, BALAMNYŃ BALASY — JANYM [my child is honey, and my child’s child is my soul]. There is no greater happiness than growing old while raising grandchildren — ÓZ BALAŃDY ÓSKENSHE BAǴASYŃ, NEMEREŃDI ÓLGENSHE BAǴASYŃ [you raise your children until they grow up, and you raise your grandchildren until you die].
The word ATA is also used in idioms to express negativity, for example: ATAMNAN ARY / ÁRMEN [farther than the grandfather], meaning “get away from me”; ATAŃNYŃ BASY / KÓRI [your grandfather’s head / grave], meaning “bullshit”; and ATAŃNYŃ QUNY BAR MA? [is it the price of your grandfather’s death?], meaning “that’s none of your business”.
The terms for “old person”, “old man” or “senior” are QART, QARIYA, KÓNE, KÁRI, AQSAQAL, SHAL. Here are some idioms containing these terms.
- Tórińnen qart ketpesin.
[May the seat of honor in your house always be occupied by an old person]
- Aqyldy qariya — aǵyn dariya.
[A wise old person is like a flowing river]
- Keregeńdi kóneden sura, kóne bilmese, kóp kórgennen sura.
[Seek the counsel of an old person; if they don’t know, seek the counsel of an experienced person]
- Uyat kelse, kárige keledi, jastyń nesi ketedi?
[If there is shame to be felt, the old people feel it, and the young ones don’t care]
- Bir shal bir shaldy bala deıdi,
[An old man calls other old men “guys”]
Bir kempir bir kempirdi qyz-aý deıdi
[An old woman calls other old women “girls”].
ÁJE — even phonetically the word sounds sweet and is made even more affectionate through diminutives ÁJEI, AQ ÁJE, ÁJEKE, ÁJETAI, and the Russian-mixed ÁJESHKA. Almost everyone has memories of their ÁJE, her scent, her hunched back, her words which you carry with you your whole life, the sheep’s ear, and the stuck-together candy which she pulled out of her kamzol (Qazaq vest) pocket when she returned from an outing. Everyone remembers USHYQTAÚ, the old healing method with which ÁJE cured our bruises, the evil eye, and other illnesses.
Only the old ÁJE can bring to order her grown up kids, who sometimes have grandchildren of their own. When there isn’t an authority to set a wrongheaded person straight, Qazaqs say “ÁI DEITIN ÁJE JOQ, QOI DEITIN QOJA JOQ” [no grandma to set straight, no master to stop].
