Central Asia & Mongolia · Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan · Children
Tumar (empty case)
A small silver case, triangular or tubular, often gilt and hung with little bells, worn across Central Asia. Women wore one until their first children were born. Inside went a written prayer, salt, herbs, or a child’s first hair.Photographs of 1898–99Central Asia, 1898 to about 1900The tumar’s origin is said to be older than Islam in the region, but it is undated. The earliest records in our sources are photographs taken in 1898–99 and museum pieces from about 1900, studied by Gyul and Hejzlarová in 2022.Source: Gyul and Hejzlarová (2022), on Central Asian tumar cases (PDF) ↗
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