Ayaz Ata is the old figure who stands for winter and frost among the Turkic peoples. In Kazakh and Kyrgyz he survives today as the grandfather of new year; in older telling he is the spirit of cold itself — not to be angered, to be respected.
Facing him stand Ayaz Ana or the figures of spring; the two halves of the year are their changing of the guard.
In Balbal, the Winter Camp floor is his season: camping under snow, breath turning to steam, and the ice-tile mechanic.
See also: Nowruz