It’s been awhile since I posted another lesson, because I came across this form of divination and simply had to cover it. Unfortunately, the one source I found which covered the subject in detail was written in French. My school days-French being a bit rusty, I had to resort to an online translator to make sure my translation was correct, and it was slow-going. But I believe I’ve translated enough of it, and satisfactorily-so, that I can speak on the subject.
Kumulak comes to us from the land-locked East Asian nation of Kazakhstan, wedged between Eastern Europe and Asia. Historically populated by nomadic people, their nomadic lifestyle is reflected in the thinking and worldview behind Kumulak, as well as its component parts. The word, ‘kumulak’ itself is the Kazakhstan word for ‘sheep droppings’, because sheep droppings were used as part of the Kumulak forecasting kit, thus making it a form of scatomancy, or divination by excrement. The native shamans who forecast with kumulak were known as ‘bhalchas’, and they appear to serve much the same role as the ancient Druids did, in that they’re also poets, singers, musicians, priests and doctors, as well as diviners.
Its age is unclear to me, but since the text refers to ‘the Gods’ and Kumulak is now a majority Muslim country, with a little Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity here and there, its development clearly predates the current monotheistic nature of the country. The other part of the kit involved in Kumulak is the divining cloth, on which is painted or embroidered a square-of-nine, into which the kumulak are ritually-sorted.