A sygyrtaa is a small cylindrical wooden bucket of two to three liters in volume used in milking goats and sheep. Its name, probably, came from a word that imitates the sound of milk spurts against the bottom of the bucket: “syrt-syrt”.
A sygyrtaa with a wishbone woven from yak tail hair, was given to a girl when she reached the age of five to learn how to milk a goat, which was given to her on her third birthday.
Small children’s sygyrtaa buckets were only 8.5–10 centimeters high. buckets were intended for milking small cattle. The buckets of 25–30 centimeters in height were used for milking cows and yaks.
Grigory Efimovich Grumm-Grzhimailo, a traveler and explorer of Western China, Pamir, Tien Shan, Western Mongolia, Tuva and the the Russian Far East, spoke about the important role of dairy products in the life of Tuvan nomads: “Milk and products derived from it constitute the main component of the diet of a Tuvan family. The day begins with the adults drinking tea with milk or sour cream, and the younger generation having ‘haitnak’ [hoitpak] — sour, skimmed, boiled cow’s milk. Soyots always greet their guests with sour milk — ayran or koumiss; tea is served with dried cream in the form of pancakes (ureme-hidy) [ureme are skins formed by long boiling of milk]; for the trip Soyots stock up with khurut — cheese in small pieces, most often dry curds; and as a prize in the competitions, byshtak cheese is handed out”.
The bodies of the vessels were hollowed out of a single piece of poplar or birch. The bottom of buckets in the western regions was made of birch bark, while in the eastern regions (Toja, Piy-Khem, Kaa-Khem) a wooden bottom was inserted. The bottom made of birch bark was attached to the walls of the bucket along the perimeter of the bottom with wooden nails (dowels).
The museum exhibition shows a small cylindrical bucket, designed for milking goats and sheep. It has a spout and two knobs with holes through which a woven rope-handle is inserted. The surface is covered with characteristic patterns, where images of oblique triangles and rhombuses with four-petal rosettes embedded in them alternate. The bucket was the only decoration in the nomadic dwelling that only family members could see. It was taken out of the yurt only for milking cattle or to fetch water, and was hidden from prying eyes the rest of the time.
