Ulytau mountains are located in the center of the great Kazakh steppe. It is the center of Kazakhstan according to the physical-geographical parameters. But it is not an ordinary geographical object. Ulytau mountains contain a deeper, sacred meaning. The mausoleum of Alash-Khan stands on the rock of the mountain, a proud reminder of the origins of the Kazakh zhuzes. According to the legend, the mighty Khan had a skewbald (ala) son of the Alash, who later became the khan of three zhuzes. He was raised on a white rug to the top. Since then, Ulytau became a sacred place of initiation of Kazakh khans. Ulytau took the guards over the rest of the great rulers of the steppe – Tokhtamysh-Khan, Emir Edige, Emir Timur. Ulytau keeps a unique code of memory and it allows us to retrace the long relationship of continuity and regularity of nation-building.
Code memory is a kind of key to understand the inner world of the Kazakhs, its essence. This key opens the door to the inner philosophy of the centuries-long nomadic culture, which will allow the present to develop such rules and values that will preserve the unity of the nation. The focus of this process is the national idea Mangilik el.
The ancient symbolism of the Kazakhs remained in the totems, signs, ornaments and decorations. The centuries passed before the nomadic society realized itself as the nation, the support of the state. The unique and distinctive verbal information was told through legends and shezhire - which is also a code of memory – reflecting awareness of people’s spirit, their integrity and unity. One of the ancient ornaments ‘koshkar muyiz’ took its place on the national flag of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Ornament allows you to identify Kazakhstan, not confusing it with any other state.
Even musical instruments of the nomads, the kobyz and the dombra, that accompanied a nomad throughout his life, sounded during the sacred rites and funeral feasts, when there was the need to call spirits (spirits of ancestors), they contained a coded memory. The dombra in the hands of the Kazakh is singing for a long time like infinite and vast Kazakh steppe. Sounds of the kobyz are sad and beautiful like Kazakh nomad lands, it includes sadness-melancholy mourning for the ancestors buried in the wintering, joy in expectation of sunny zhaylau. Amazing rhythm, plunk, songs recitative, which find way deep into the souls of the Kazakhs, unite Kazakh people with the endless steppe, the eternal blue sky, depicted in the color of National Flag of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
There was the time, when Kazakhstan was not able to maintain its independence and lost the statehood. But the code memory was firmly stuck in the souls of the people. So they never parted with the idea of national independence, never ceased to struggle. The sacred banner of the Kazakhs as a symbol of the struggle for freedom, was proudly carried by Kenesary-khan, Amangeldy Imanov and others.
On the threshold of the XXI century, Kazakh returned to the principles of identification of the Kazakh people, formation of civil society and the consolidation of society as a whole.
The idea of Mangilik el, as the seed dropped into the ground of history, gradually revealed, fought through the difficulties, matured and gained strength together with the people of Kazakhstan. The President of Kazakhstan has never ceased to think about it. A detailed address of the President on the national idea and its influence on the strengthening of the basic elements of Kazakhstan's statehood, with clearly defined characteristics and provisions was made in December 2012 in his Address to people of Kazakhstan ‘Strategy ‘Kazakhstan-2050’: new political course of the established state'.
The President of Kazakhstan noted in the Strategy ‘Kazakhstan-2050’, that the basis of success of the multinational and multi-confessional society is Kazakhstan patriotism. The basis of Kazakhstan patriotism is the equality of citizens’ rights and their responsibility for the honor of the Motherland.
‘Kazakhstan belonged to our forefathers and will belong to our descendants. We should be true owners of our land – hospitable, friendly, generous, tolerant for the peace and quiet’, - the President said.
Visits of all people of Kazakhstan to Ulytau gave food for thought to N.A.Nazarbayev. First of all, N.A.Nazarbayev thought not as the President, but as aksakal, who gained experience, that the youth must know their history. Otherwise , people will be like an orphan, without a father and a mother. Ulytau is like an eternal book, which pages were written by our ancestors on the stone and the rocks in the Bronze age. Turks and Kipchaks were building the statehood and the Kazakhs, as worthy descendants of the fearsome nomadic civilizations, continued the story of their ancestors. Ulytau is the witness of the struggle of Kazakh zhuzes for their land. Batyrs received spiritual strength and ‘bata’-blessing, they defended every inch of ground under the banner of Khak-Nazar Khan, sacrificing their best sons in this fight.
Since gaining independence, Kazakhstan people have received the historic chance to realize this idea. The idea of Mangilik el is the key to the unity of the Kazakhstan society.
