Culture             

 

       As it can be clearly understood from the information stated in the resources and the linguistic residuals that have survived until nowadays, the Kimek people spoke with the Turkish language. When the linguistic residuals that we have obtained are studied thoroughly in details, it can be understood that there were two dialects in the Kimek country. Most of the population in the country spoke with the Main-Turkish (Y-Turkish) language together with the neighbouring Oguz people. A group of the people that lived in the far northwest spoke with the dialect under the influence of Bulgarian Turkish (S-Turkish) language together with Kipchak people and some of the Yimek people.

 

       Like in all the other Turkish states and tribes in the period of the antiquity, the religion of Kamlik (Shamanism) was dominant among the Kimek people. It has been known that they worshipped in the Sky (God) and they showed great respect to the Soul of the Ancestors and Fire. It has been understood from Kimek epic quoted by Gerdizi that the Kimek people had a "Cult for Water". As it was stated in that epic, they had considered the Irtish River as their sublime God. As it was stated by Ishak ibn el-Huseyin (century XI), Kimek people would incinerate the corpse of the death people and they would throw the ashes to the big rivers (Irtish River). The famous Arabian traveller, Ebu Dulaf (Mis'ar b. Muhalhil, 941) informed that there was a Jade among Kimek people.

 

       There was a patriarchal domination in Kimek houses (families). This was the case for all Turkish tribes in the period of antiquity. It has been observed that principally two lifestyles were dominant among Kimek people. Most of the population led a nomadic lifestyle. Kimek people who lived in woodlands in the northern sections had fairly settled lifestyles. These settled people who were very few in numbers were occupied with mostly hunting as a means of subsistence. Those out of these settled people were occupied with stockbreeding (shepherds) and they subsisted themselves from the animal products. Therefore, the main economy of the Kimek State was based on stockbreeding and the animal products obtained from the animals bred.

 

        I have stated that one of the means of subsistence was hunting. The Kimek people would hunt fur animals such as sable (semmur), stoats, red squirrels, etc. Mervezi stated that they would set off for hunting fur animals in the snowy days of the winter. Hunting was the main means of subsistence for the settled Kimek people and the auxiliary means of subsistence for the nomadic people. The main means of subsistence pertaining to this crowded community was stockbreeding. They would breed herds of animals and they would lead an economical life based on all sorts of animal products. The total wealths of the families were composed of these herds of animals and cattle. As it was stated by Gerdizi, there were thousands of wild horses on the upper banks of the Irtish River. Kimek people would catch these horses with lassos and they would domesticate them. Similarly, this resource states that they did not have any camels and the camels that were brought to the region did not live for long in that region.

 

       It was too difficult to protect the crowded herds of animals and cattle bred by nomadic Kimek people under the hard weather conditions in the winters. In the years when they had established good relations with Oguz people, they would take their herds of cattle and pass to the side of Oguz people in the season of winter. Ak tag (Ok tag) that was located near to the Oguz land was a region where they brought their saddle horses in the dry cold of the winter.

 

       Since they were stockbreeders, the nomadic Kimek people led a half-nomadic life between two specific regions that were called as summer pastures and winter residences. They would wander about the pastures, watery grasslands and meadows in the summers. They would take shelter under large nomadic tents as required by this lifestyle. They had various shelters ranging from big nomadic tents made of seal and small tents. In the snowy days of the winter, they would stay in the valleys that were protected from the cold and in the winter residences in the side of the rivers. They had made wooden water tanks under the ground there. When the waters got frozen in the severe days of the cold weather, they would get use of this water for themselves and for their animals.

 

       The author of the work titled as Hudud stated that the dressing styles of Kimek people and Khirghiz people were exactly the same. This identity is natural since this dressing style was composed of the elements suitable for the characteristics required by the nomadic lifestyle. It was also stated that Kimek people used skis for gliding over snow. Kasgârlı Mahmûd Beg introduced a fabric called as "Kemek (single orifice)". Dresses suitable for the winter would be stitched with this fabric that was made of cotton and with strips. Kipchak people would also sew raincoats from this coat. This name may have been "Kimekler" as a fabric peculiar to Kimek people. While the fabric was made of wool in the past, it may have been made of cotton in the century XI. It can be considered as a separate evidencing document that Kipchak people from the Kimek nation had also used this fabric.

 

       The principal foods that Kimek people would eat were the foodstuff that they obtained from their animals. They would eat mutton, beef and horsemeat with large amounts and they would drink the milks of these animals. The meat and milk of the animals that grew fat in the summer pastures were the best nutrition. They would dry and keep the meat and eat it in the winter. This technique of drying the meat must have been in the type of "preserve of dried meat" that is made today. Milk and the drinks made of milk were considered among their drinks. Kimek people would drink the mare's milk and the fermented drink that was made of this milk was called as "kımız" (Kumis). Kumis is a drink with highly nutritive value.

 

       It has been understood that Kimek people had trading relations with various nations and particularly with their neighbours. They would transact the trade of livestock animals and products (meat, skin, spring wool, carpet, textile fabrics, etc.) with the neighbouring countries. Furthermore, they would also export the furs that they obtained from the fur animals hunted. In return to these materials, they would buy the other needs that they required from the foreign nations. It can be considered that the medium of trade was the exchange of goods rather than money. We know that the Muslim merchants had travelled within the Turkish homelands far and away from the main highways such as Oguz, Kimek and Khirghiz provinces, etc. under difficult conditions for months. They dealt in these regions with trade and opened markets. These merchants were the newsagents of the Islamic geographers. It is another significant issue that these merchants would travel in these provinces within a robust safety. Gerdizi and Mervezi stated that there was not any salt in the country of Kimek people and they imported it from the foreign states. This material was so valuable for them that they were ready to exchange it with sable skin coats.