Every year on March 5, Kyrgyzstan celebrates Ak Kalpak Day (Ак калпак күнү)

On March 5, Kyrgyzstan celebrates Ak Kalpak Day (Ак калпак күнү) — a holiday dedicated to the national headdress of the Kyrgyz people, the white kalpak.

Unofficially, Ak Kalpak Day has been celebrated since 2011. The initiative to establish the holiday came from the well-known Kyrgyz film director Rysbek Zhabirov.

The ak kalpak has long been considered a traditional men’s headdress of the Kyrgyz people and holds deep national symbolism. Its shape and patterns have remained unchanged for generations. These details allowed people to recognize the wearer’s age and social status.

Today, on March 5, Royal Metropolitan University (RMU) celebrated Ak Kalpak Day together with Hero of the Kyrgyz Republic, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, Doctor of Medical Sciences, and Professor Mitalip Mamytovich Mamytov.