If you look closely at all this, you will see a great meaning. Traditions and rituals are completely intertwined with Kazakh life and existence. It is necessary to protect the younger generation, the elderly from evil and direct them to good. Today we will focus on one of such traditions. 
Where did the tradition of putting babies in a cradle come from? Why can't you rock an empty cradle? We present to your attention the history of this tradition in the book "Tradition Speaks" of the family almanac. 

They say that the cradle appeared during the time of Ayyrkalpak Aydakhar bi. At that time, the vast steppe was guarded by Mizam Bab. 
The Manchu Chinese want to own the vast expanses of Saryarka and often attack. But they cannot defeat Mizam Bab and are always defeated. Mizam Bab is engaged in tree breeding and gardening. People call him "Mizam Bab - the patron of trees." Legend has it that the forest in the Zhetysu and Altai regions originated from a tree planted by Mizam Bab. He died when he was one hundred and fifty years old.
One day, the Chinese, having learned that Mizam Bab had died, arrived and burned his forest. At that time, Mizam's son, Aydahar, was far away. In a dream, he had a vision in which his father told him: "The intruders will burn my forest." The very next day, Aydahar rushed home. The entire forest burned to the ground. Only the crooked trunks of the meadowsweet survived the fire. Aydahar read suras from the Koran in memory of his father and took the crooked trunks with him.

One day, Aydahar's child cried incessantly in his sleep. He and his wife did not know what to do. Despite all the efforts of healers and witch doctors who tried to heal him, the baby did not calm down. The ruler was very scared.Unable to bear his daughter's crying, he went out and began to pray to God for help. At some point, his daughter's voice fell silent. "Has something happened to my daughter?" - with this thought, the ruler ran into the house and saw a man in white robes next to his daughter. He was rocking a baby on the crooked trunk of a meadowsweet tree that had survived the fire. When Aydahar approached, the vision disappeared. The ruler understood this as a "sign from God." All night he made a cradle from crooked tree trunks. When he and his wife put their baby in there, she calmed down, lulled and embraced by a sweet sleep.

This is how the legend describes the origin of the cradle. Since the cradle was originally made of meadowsweet, it began to be considered one of the sacred trees. Besik (cradles), kamcha, and dishes are made from it. Later, warnings began to appear that "you can't burn the cradle", "you can't throw it under your feet", "you need to treat the cradle with respect". People believe that a baby raised in a cradle: "Will be as strong as a lion and as patient as a tiger".

You can't rock an empty cradle.

It is believed that Iblis puts his child in an empty crib. Rocking an empty cradle is like rocking the devil's child. Therefore, it is forbidden to "rock an empty cradle". The devil's child hides in an empty crib. If you put a child in a cradle that has not been smoked beforehand, the child will receive pokes from the child of the devil hiding there. Then the child will have a stomach ache and will become restless. Therefore, there is a tradition that before putting a baby in a cradle, it must be fumigated with juniper or adyraspan, or 7 matches.

Akbota Abiltay

turkystan.kz

translation by Qazalem