Koshumcha as a Tradition of Mutual Assistance in the Modern Kyrgyz Society

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2023-1/42-62

Abstract

Koshumcha is a traditional form of material assistance among the Kyrgyz, which was provided by relatives to the organizers of ceremonial meals that accompany the life cycle rituals. At present, koshumcha is brought to more types of events, the circle of donators has expanded, and guests usually donate money as koshumcha (instead of livestock, food, clothing). The reciprocity, i. e. the obligation to return the gift in the same amount, is the key feature of koshumcha as a form of gift exchange. The custom of bringing koshumcha creates a community of gift exchange that helps its members to organize the toi (feasts). The amount of koshumcha received by the organizer of a toi compensates for most his expenses, sometimes even exceeds them and thus, being financed by the whole community, the scope of the organized toi surpasses the capabilities of an individual household by several times. At the same time, the obligation to bring koshumcha is a burden to many families, especially to those who have low income. The number of those who oppose this custom is growing in the Kyrgyz society. This trend indicates that koshumcha is no more a way of providing mutual assistance, but rather affects and ruins the poor. It has become a source of enrichment for the organizers of the toi and all the structures that serve the feasts. Among those who criticize the koshumcha there are people who have received a religious Muslim education. These people emphasize that this custom is incompatible with the principle of unpaid help which Islam is calling for. Despite the fact that the power structures, as well as religious and public activists, condemn the growing the expenses caused by the toi and the koshumcha, a refusal to give koshumcha is uncommon and the vast majority of the Kyrgyz society continues to observe this custom.