In all cultures of the world, the door reflects the idea of the boundary between “own” and “alien”. In order to protect the households at the entrance of the yurt, the Kazakhs put naiza – spear (weapon). The design of the door is considered a semiotic projection of the tripartite vertical: The lintel corresponds to the upper world, the door and the side walls of the door frame to the middle world, the threshold to the underworld. The lintel (mandaisha – mandai – forehead) was associated with the upper world, as evidenced by the tradition of hanging lucky charms – the ulna of the ram – kärizhilik, which, according to popular belief, protects against all kinds of misfortune.
Door frames are called “bosağa” (usually ak bosağa is sacred), richly decorated with “protective” patterns. In the popular conception, doorsteps and the threshold are sacred places – this is where the wealth and well-being of the house are hidden. Therefore, there are a number of taboos associated with a doorjamb: One must not lean against the joints of the door (“bosağağa süenbe”) or stand at the entrance (“bosağada tūrma”). The value of the bosağa as a “supporting” element of the door construction is underlined by the benevolent saying “shanyraq biik, bosağa berik bolsyn!”, which in semantic translation means the wishes for a high shanyraq and a strong skeleton.
The threshold as a symbolic boundary between the house and the outside world was symbolically connected with the underworld as a boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead and the habitat of the souls of the ancestors, which is visible in the funeral ritual. In ancient times there was the custom of lifting and lowering the body three times at the threshold of the dead as a kind of farewell of the deceased from his birthplace. The man who delivered the bad news (usually about the death of a close relative eskertu) stepped on the threshold and his hands supported the doorway, which was strictly forbidden in everyday life. This gesture conveyed a “message” about death.
In the event of a man’s death, the widow became the wife of his relative, as was customary, and if she did not wish to marry, she was required to marry with a threshold. This meant that the widow remained married to the spirit of the deceased husband” [5, p. 175].
An important threshold in the wedding ceremony. The bride’s first entry into the father-in-law’s yurt or “otau” (yurt of the newlyweds) had to be accompanied by three bows at the threshold, leaning her head against the joints of the door and crossing the threshold exclusively with her right foot. These bows were meant as a sign of highest reverence – to the spirit ancestors, the father-in-law and the mother-in-law.
