Pamirs male hawk of Tajik Ethnic Group

The Tajik nationality has always had the beautiful names of “hawk nationality”, “people like hawk” and “Pamirs hawk”. The hawk is the mark of the Tajik nationality and one of the most distinguished characteristics of the Tajjik national culture. This is for that the Tajik people, who has lived in the Pamirs from generations to generations, has a kind of special feeling to the hawks on the plateau, this is not only shown in the folk legends, songs, proverbs and other literature works, but also shown in music, dance and other folk cultural arts. 

The legends with hawk as creation target account for a considerable proportion in the Tajik folk legends, and there are over 10 types. For example, there were a pair of male and female youth servants in the home of bayi (landlord), they suffered the plot of the bayi because they loved each other, the murdered girl servant became a hawk and revenged to the bayi. This legend is very typical. In the folk songs of the Tajik nationality, hawks are described as the head of all birds, and are deeply praised by people. Some songs highly praise the hero, patriots and fearless warriors in the history of the Tajik people by the image of hawk. Some songs praise the pure love between young boys and girls, and the justice and virtuous behavior in social life, and lash the ugly behaviors of oppression, greed, cheat and envy by the image of hawk. Such as the famous Tajik long poems, The Male Hawk, The White Hawk and Taihong all belong to this type. Many Tajik folk proverbs that glimmer abundant philosophical radiance have relationship with hawk. For example, “Though the peacock is the most beautiful, it cannot fly as the hawk”; “The clever hawk does not deal with foxes”; “The crow who disguises itself as hawk fears the hawk most”, and so on. 

The Tajik nationality has the art gift of music, singing and dancing. Among the instruments that accompany for dances and songs, there is a kind of recorder, which is called as “nayi”, it is made of the swing bones of wild hawk, and the sound is sonorous, loud and clear, sweet and agreeable, and it is the unique Tajik national instrument—“hawk flute” (the Tajik language calls it as “nayi”). On the birth of hawk flute, there are many beautiful legends among the people of the Tajik nationality. Only one example is provided here: at one time, when the foreign invaders invaded the Tajik people’s villages, the herdsmen fell into isolated condition. At this time, the people killed a hawk very reluctantly according to its request, and used its swing bones to make a flute. The sound of flute was solemn, stirring and intense, and could split the stone and penetrate the cloud. People rushed to help and save their brothers one after another from all directions. Innumerable male hawks joined into the fighting teams, and the invaders were driven away finally. This story fully shows the lofty position and importance of hawk flute in the heart of the Tajik people. 

The folk dances of the Tajik nationality are abundant and colorful, and have extreme sense of beauty. Among them, people especially universally love the hawk dance. The hawk dance is mainly to express the people’s love and yearning for good life by imitating the male hawks’ movements of freely flying in the blue sky and between the white clouds. When the men dance, one arm is at the front, and the other is at the back, the front arm is held up highly, and the back arm is lower, and the steps are quick. At the time of slow dancing, the two shoulders slightly shiver from up to down; at the time of rapid dancing, they rotate at a violent speed, just as the rising and falling hawk. When the women dance, they hold up the hands highly and sway unceasingly with the rhythms of music, face outside and rotate persistently, the whole set of movements are tender and steady and give people a sense of beauty. The hawk dance that men and people perform together form the grandest scene of the Tajik dance with passionate feelings, deep implied meaning and graceful and vigorous movements.