Three Kids and a Kettle

The Feast again

The lane in front of our house at 6 a.m., pilgrims already walking up.

This year I went up. It cost me a plan: Dastan took the day off, my sister Gulnara came from Talas to watch the children, and at 5:30 in the morning I went with the first people of the lane. The hill in the half dark, candles in hands, nobody speaks. At the top the whole town of Iyık Janyl is there, and the bells begin when the sun touches the dome.

I had thought it would be loud. It is the quietest crowd in the world.

♥ 65