horn-adorned grave in Nokhur village
I am sure that there are many villages in Turkmenistan. But none is apparently more special that Nokhur, located in the Kopet Dag mountains fairly close to the Iranian border. Why, it beats me, from the look of it. The place is not particularly attractive, it is just a village.
However, the inhabitants, a little over 1000 of them, claim to be descendants from the army of Alexander the Great, who passed through here in the 4th C BC. The villagers at the time looked after the Greek soldiers that got wounded and stayed behind, and that bloodline, it is said, is still evident. Right.
the village view, from any random place
another view, nothing special, really
herbs for sale in Nokhur market
an old tree, one of the main tourist attractions in Nokhur
you even can get inside the tree – attraction!
There is a small market, selling herbs and tea, and some homemade produce, your standard honey and pickles you find in any farmer’s market. They also sell saffron, for 50 cents a sachet – even if it is fake, we don’t break the bank, but we are assured it is real. There is an old tree, with a big hole in it. And legend has it that a girl, being offered to an enemy army to spare village destruction, fled up the mountain, and disappeared in a hole in the rock – which you can visit.
one of the men in the village, better prepared for the climate than we were
except that the cemetery , small as it is, does have a special appeal
The most attractive part of the village, as far as I am concerned, is the cute little cemetery, where the tomb stones are decorated with animal horns. That is, the men’s graves, with large horns for the older deceased, and small horns for the younger ones. The reason is obscure, some say it facilitates the way to heaven, others claim that the horns have the shape of a smile, which helps those who visit the graves overcome their grief. Which doesn’t count for the women, of course, their tombs are decorated with colourful scarves, only.
men’s graves have a horn on a pole behind the tomb stone, but not the women’s
another collection, of a clan burried together
lots of tomb stones, lots of colourful cloths, and the occasional horn
each mound of earth presumably has a body burried underneath
still life with kettles (1)
and still life with kettles (2)
Despite its touristic pedigree – we met the same group of tourists again, at the market, at the cemetery and at the hole in the rock – Nokhur has limited tourist infrastructure. We spent the night in a rather basic hotel, with Spartan rooms and one toilet only, for the whole group. But there was Turkmen brandy, not bad at all, to keep us warm, and to facilitate falling asleep in the cold night.
next: the nearby Köw-Ata cave
another village, another man, but a character
the mountains outside Nokhur, the next morning
and another village, along the access road
