By Rafis Abazov

Traditionally, people in Central Asia build their leisure and entertainment activities around family and community (mahallya) life. The Central Asian republics have a diverse range of local traditions, cultures, customs and living standards and therefore in different places people have different choices and preferences. In general, in rural areas most of the large and small events are organized around the four seasons of the year, as people celebrate the beginning of spring, the end of harvest, etc. Meanwhile, in the large urban areas people enjoy leisure and entertainment similar to most urban areas around the globe, such as popular sports, theatre, eating out, etc. A traveler would find that festivals at community level represent fascinate and unique features that are still largely untouched by the western influences.

TOIS
Family celebrations -- tois -- are important events in the personal lives of all people of all ages in the region. People usually celebrate all possible events, such as marriages, the        birth of a first child, first grandchild, circumcisions, building of a new home and many others.
The tois are usually quite large -- it is not uncommon to get 100-200 or even 300-400 people -- if neighbors and friends are counted -- for a single event that might continue anywhere from just one evening to two-three days. People usually invite all close and distant relatives, neighbors, colleagues and friends. For westerners it might be quite unusual to invite a stranger or foreigner to a family event, but that is not the case in Central Asia. All people who happen to be in the neighborhood are invited to join. Even former rivals come to the tois, as these occasions provide an excellent opportunity for reconciliation.
The celebrations are organized in a grand manner, with music, dance, plenty of food and drinks. In a recent trend, some wealthy members of communities have begun reviving old pre-Soviet era traditions of sponsoring national music and songs competitions or local sports events (wrestling, horse racing, etc.). It is also expected that the guests contribute to meeting the financial burden of such events by small sums of money nicely packed into an envelope or by various other means.

BAZAARS
Many places in Central Asia are famous for their general and specialized bazaars. In one place, people can find all kinds of goods in one place, from locally made silk shirts, exotic hats, and teapots to imported electronics and toys. In other place they shop for specific staff, as there are animal bazaars, handicrafts bazaars, carpet bazaars, food bazaars, or consumer goods bazaars. People go to bazaars, for example, to buy fresh and dry fruits and meat, exotic spices and herbal teas, mare's fermented milk (kumys), camel's fermented milk (shubat), and many other things.
Bargaining is a ritual on its own, as it requires skills, knowledge of market traditions and on top of it -- the fine understanding of human psychology. In some occasions the deals might be done quietly over a cup of green tea. On other occasions the negotiation might be a temperamental event with lots of emotions, including dramatic performances and arguments depending on the size of the deal and regional background of the buyers and sellers. Many people love bazaars for these colorful and emotional conversations and bargaining, and they cannot even imagine dealing in different ways. A following short story illustrates the point. A local anecdote goes that one day a foreigner came to a local bazaar in a village and wanted to buy a melon. He asked: “How much is it?” An aksakal answered: “Five hundred som (local currency)!” The foreigner liked the melon and began counting his money. To his surprise the aksakal said to him: “I am not selling this melon to you! You did not bargain, you did not talk to me, you spoiled my day! Go away!”

CHAIKHANA
A chaikhana is a traditional teahouse. Chaikhanas are very popular in the country and they can be found practically in every town and city, though they are less common in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. In chaikhanas people usually sit on a special elevated platform or around a low table. The chaikhanas normally serve traditional drinks, like tea, and traditional food, like pilov, samsa, manty, mastova, shashlyk (grilled meat), shorpo (soup) and others. It is not uncommon to see people order vodka that they sometimes playfully call “white tea” (ak chai).
Again, in Central Asian culture the chaikhana is not only a place to eat and drink. It is an important institution of social networking and socialization. It is also a kind of a social club where some tables are exclusively reserved for those who come together regularly. Over a cup of tea people discuss community needs and development at the local level as well as their major political, social and economic actions. Community leaders, especially in rural areas, regularly gather in teahouses to learn the opinions of the aksakals (respected elderly members of their communities), to settle minor disputes or to organize local charity events -- khashar. The Chaikhana is a place where local public opinion can be formed or influenced, family and personal reputations can be established or ruined and new businesses accepted or rejected. By and large this is a central place for many activities at a community level.

STORYTELLING
Storytelling is one of the important parts of everyday life especially among the elder generation. It could be found in different forms here. At family events aksakals -- elderly people -- tell stories about their adventures, misadventures, travels and battles in which they took part or they talk about legendary and imaginary heroes of the past. In an informal and captivating way they derive moral and personal lessons for their young offspring and pass onto them their family traditions. 
In chaikhanas storytelling is a part of the entertainment, as there is always a skillful storyteller, who remembers hundreds of stories about the life and adventures of one of the favorite comic personalities -- Afandi (Hoja Nasreddin), Aldar Kose or about local heroes or colorful personalities of the past and present. In Kyrgyzstan, for example, there exists even a special class of storytellers  the best of them become local celebrities and the best of the best are remembered for many generations for their fine jokes, stories and fables. These people -- called tamasha  have an endless series of stories covering all parts of human activities and can go non-stop from sunrise to sunset.