The Kazakhs call the feather grass – a seleu. It is a perennial herb of the cereal family, a valuable forage plant. The flowering period of the feather grass is May-June-July.
The vernacular name of feather grass shows that its color is most often mentioned – white, light, gray. Its semantics in Turkic/Kazakh culture symbolizes purity, cleanliness, nobility. Almost all steppe cultures are characterized by the understanding of feather grass as the ruler of the steppe, a green “nomad”. In folklore, feather grass is usually a typical image of a vast steppe landscape, symbolizing a special state of tranquility and peace. The celestial hypostasis of feather grass is associated with its white-gray color. The earthly hypostasis of the feather grass is still the wind, the free wind of the steppe.
