Pilgrimage
I took a pilgrimage on Sunday. On the Western end of the Southern banks of Issyk Kol, there is a mazaar by the name of Manjili. A mazaar is any site that is considered to have special spiritual powers. A holy person visiting a place makes it a mazaar (hence, Solomon's Mount in Osh is considered one). But a spring or a waterfall or a wierd shaped tree can become a mazaar as well.

The Manzhili mazaar is named for mullah of the same name. However, only one of the holy places at the mazaar was associates specifically with the person--his grave (which is very large, considering it also houses his horse--he was Kyrgyz, after all).

The other holy sites were springs. I drank a lot of nasty water. At least one spring had very high sulpher content. It tasted like I was drinking rotten eggs. The other ones were just dirty.

A lot of people come this mazaar. There were grounds for ritually purifying yourself: you void your bowels, then ritually wash (meaning, you wash three times) your genitals, left foot, right foot, left hand, right hand, face, neck, and head. In that order. There were also facilities for sacrificing animals, and for preparing the meat afterwards. I've included some pictures in the photo album.