Nauriz in Kazakhstan
One of the most ancient holidays celebrated in the Middle Eastern regions is the Nauryz. This old tradition, which signals the start of the Iranian New Year, is celebrated all over various countries in Central Asia including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan as well as in several areas in southern Russia.
This non-religious folk celebration signifies the renewal of nature and is believed to originate from the ancient Mesopotamian civilization. The celebration, which can last for more than a week, is commemorated with several amusements, performances, and a handful of traditional rites.
The term Nauriz is derived from the Persian word “Nowruz” which literally translates to “New Day” or “New Light.” The Nauriz season has been celebrated by the Kazakhs since pre-Islamic times. When Kazakhstan was under Soviet rule, the celebration of the Nauriz season was stopped, having been deemed as ideologically inconsistent. The festivities came back after some time however, when the Nauriz holiday was formally reinstated by the Kazakhstan government in 1988, restoring the observance of all programs and traditional rites that comes with the spring equinox. Nowadays, the Kazakhs have grown to refer to this famous holiday as the “Ulystin uly kuni”, which translates to “the great day of the nation.”
The central theme of Nauriz is depicted in numerous verses written by several Kazakh intellectuals including Alihan Bukeihanov, Abai Kunanbaev, Mirzhakip Dulatov, and Ahmet Baitursinov.
For this year, Premier Mentoring the Kazakhs joined in with the rest of the Central Asian diplomatic missions to celebrate the Nauriz festival as a group. In order to foster inter-ethnic harmony among nations, the Embassy of Kazakhstan hosted a gathering at the Westend Greens farm in order to welcome the spring equinox.
A number of representatives from different countries—including a handful from the Central Asian and the European region as well as US—went to Kazakhstan and celebrated the start of the annual Nauriz season last March.