Badma Amulakova, Arkhd

Abstract

Badma talks about a bucket called arkhd to keep chigyan (sour milk). It holds 3 liters. It is made from the skin of a cattle or a camel. It has a wooden lid with a hole for a stick to go through. The stick is used to mix the contents. Every morning fresh milk from various animals, including cows, mares, camels and ewes, is poured into the arkhd bucket. Then women mix it with the stick for a long time. After an hour or so, it turns into butter. In the beginning the arkhd was made from leather. Later the Kalmyks learned to make it from wood. A smaller bucket for chigyan is called tashur. In the video Badma shows a tashur bucket carved from a piece of wood.