'Like in a Hollywood movie': Estonian ethnologist shares his experience of visiting Kazakhstan

Tengrinews.kz – Estonian ethnologist and Social Democratic Party member Aimar Ventsel shared how he took part in the state visit of Estonia’s president to Kazakhstan, what surprised him in the country, his experience with sarkyt, and what gifts one should bring when visiting Kazakhstan, according to Err.ee.

Context

On 17–19 November, Estonian President Alar Karis paid a state visit to Astana. Aimar Ventsel arrived in Kazakhstan as part of the Estonian delegation.

Details

Aimar Ventsel noted that taking part in a state visit is a rare experience that does not happen often. He compared it to a Hollywood movie.

“It’s like a Hollywood film, only in real time and real life: a whole group of fit guys in black suits with wires running from their ears under their collars is standing around you. Then you look up at the sky, and there are drones flying,” Ventsel said.

“Everything is timed down to the second”

According to him, two things surprised him about the state visit:

• First, everything is literally scheduled to the second — who goes where and which host-side representative greets which part of the delegation. But, he noted, in Kazakhstan that doesn’t guarantee perfect precision: “there were quite a few delays.”
• Second, he was struck by the fact that the work of the presidential couple — just two people — is organized and coordinated by a team of around 50 staff members.

“And these 50 people were constantly rushing around like squirrels in a wheel, truly working around the clock. For example, several people were responsible for running the president’s social media. One of them sat in a corner with a laptop, editing videos and adding music. Look at the videos of President Alar Karis’s state visit to Kazakhstan on his Facebook page — how professionally and neatly they’re done. And keep in mind, these videos were created on the go, often in a minibus on the way from point A to point B,” Ventsel said.

About sarkyt

Aimar Ventsel recalled a meeting with the president of Nazarbayev University. According to him, one of the women took chocolate candies from the table and offered them to Estonian rector Toomas Asser.

He wanted to take only two, but she insisted and gave him a whole handful. These were candies in blue wrappers with the gold writing “Kazakhstan.”

At that moment, Ventsel realized this was sarkyt — the Kazakh tradition of giving respected guests food to take with them.

“Sarkyt is an expression of respect and honor, and you can’t refuse it. Apparently, the meeting had been so impressive that Rector Asser’s status in our hosts’ eyes suddenly elevated, and he became an honored guest. I saved the situation, half-jokingly opening my jacket pocket, where she poured the candies (I later gave half of them back to Asser, honestly!),” the ethnologist said.

He later discussed this with friends from Kazakhstan, who told him with confidence that it was indeed sarkyt, not just a polite gesture like “take a couple of candies.”

About gifts

The ethnologist noted that when visiting Kazakhstan, one should bring a gift related to Estonia.

“I usually bring fairly expensive, large Kalev chocolate bars with whole nuts, because nothing like them is sold in Kazakhstan. But this time, as an experiment, I added a jar of regular Põltsamaa mustard to the chocolate. Later I asked friends if they liked it. The answer was: this is the best mustard in the world. Now I know what to bring next time,” he said.