It is a traditional headdress worn by Kyrgyz women. The topucha (hair cap) is paired with the kezdeme (long white fabric wrapped in layers in a turban-like fashion). In addition to being wrapped, an elechek can be ordained with embroidery, ribbons, or jewelry. At the wedding ceremony, women are first introduced to the elechek.
It is a tradition for the bride's family house to wrap her first elechek before she departs with her groom. As a symbol of a woman's transition in life, wrapping elechek is considered a rite of passage. During the wrapping process, elders utter blessing chants. In these rhyming chants, spiritual symbolism is evident: the Creator is referred to as the Mother Earth, Umai Ene, as well as traditional epithets inspired by local environments, such as wishing a new coupe a long life as a juniper branch or pure intentions like water flowing, as well as local values and worldviews.
Most of the knowledge and skills related to the elechek are passed down informally between mothers and daughters and between communities' female elders and younger women. By participating in the ceremony of wrapping the elechek at weddings and other celebrations, the women internalize the knowledge and learn the skills related to elechek. NGOs and informal groups of women in urban and rural communities are the main bearers and practitioners of the element. Males and females act as indirect bearers by using traditional and social media, developing new designs, conducting research, and publishing. Elderly women in the community are responsible for transmitting the element through the ritual of wrapping the elechek.
It is expected that the inscription of the element will draw the attention of the general public to other elements that are related to Elechek. In the age of globalization, the inscription of Kyrgyz female headwear will enable remote communities to maintain their local identities. Several actions have been taken by the State Party to protect the element, including the creation of a supportive legal framework and promotion of its inventorying process. In order to promote inventorying of the element and ICH in general, the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences and the ICH National Committee work closely with local communities. Likewise, the State Party supports local communities' efforts to organize festivals, exhibitions, and contests and to promote the element through publications such as booklets, posters, and albums. Moreover, bearer communities receive financial and other kinds of support from local and central governments.