Dear Friends!

Happy Nauriz! Happy New Year!

The Embassy of Kazakhstan would like to congratulate all our friends and their families on the occasion of the most beloved and popular Kazakh holiday – Nauriz (New Year)!

Let all our thoughts and aspirations be as clean as the pure water of Spring rivers and our lives as blossoming as gardens in Spring! Nauriz Qutty Bolsyn!

Nauriz celebration in Kazakhstan

Nauriz is a non-religious Kazakh folk celebration of the vernal (spring) equinox and of the symbolic renewal of nature. It is believed that it originates from ancient Mesopotamia. In Babylon the New Year was celebrated on the 21st day of the month of Nissanu (corresponding to March-April) with festivities held further 12 days, each commemorated with individual rites, amusements and performances.

The present day name of Nauriz derives from the Persian Nowruz translated as a new day. In Kazakhstan Nauriz is certain to have been celebrated in pre-Islamic times and later. During the Soviet period, it was declared ideologically inconsistent and was “hushed–up”. Nauriz has a remarkable endurance and survival capacity through a long and dramatic history of Kazakhstan and was formally reinstated as a public holiday in Kazakhstan in 1988.

During the course of history Nauriz became a symbolic Kazakh New Year in Kazakhstan, official calendar being kept as everywhere in the world. Nowadays it is one of the most favorite holidays in Kazakhstan. Kazakhs also often refer to Nauriz as “Ulystin uly kuni” which means “the great day of the nation”. Nauriz remains also a strong tradition in the countries of Central Asia as well as in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey.

At its core, the Nauriz festival celebrates the awakening of Nature. This awakening symbolizes the triumph of good, the Spring, winning against the evil forces of darkness that are represented by the Winter. Nauriz is the point when the oppressive presence of the cold Winter finally begins to retrieve with the commencement of the lively and hopeful Spring. This symbolic and poetic change corresponds to the mathematical instance of the sun leaving the zodiac of Pisces and entering the zodiacal sign of Aries, also known as the Spring Equinox. The central theme of Nauriz is renewal, cleansing, the coming of spring, and the birth of new life. Love and beauty run through the many literary works and scientific works of the geniuses of the Eastern Middle Ages: Mahmut Kashgary, Abu Raihan Biruni, Firdausi, Alisher Navoi, and Omar Hayam. Many verses have been devoted to this magnificent holiday in the works of the outstanding Kazakh intellectuals, such as Abai Kunanbaev, Alihan Bukeihanov, Ahmet Baitursinov, Mirzhakip Dulatov, Saken Seifulin and others.

Nauriz has many unique features. In the past Nauriz used to last from three to nine days. Various kinds of competitions were included in the festival program, such as horse races and hand-to-hand combats between stalwart fellows. The “Aytis” (a contest of two or more improvising folk poet-musicians) is a joyful competition of wit and poetic skill. And of course there were many songs, dances and games. One of the bright traditions that we meet in Abai’s manuscript is the “Nauriz-bata” or Nauriz blessing. To receive a blessing on this day from the lips of aqsaqals (elderly) and aje (women of old age) is considered a big honor and sign of kindness.

During the Nauriz holiday it is customary to share generously one’s dastarkhan (table). A special dish – Nauriz köje (yogurt soup) – is prepared for the festival table. In each yurt (nomadic tent house) everyone would have their own recipe. The only rule for making it was the number of ingredients: seven. The guests are served the best meat dishes qazy, qarta, shujiq (lamb and horse meat delicacies), etc.

Since Nauriz’s central theme is renewal and joy hence is the tradition on the eve of Nauriz to thoroughly clean you house, return all your debts, forgive all offences and resentments and to make peace with all with whom you were at odds. It is believed that Nauriz night brings luck and realisation of wishes. Therefore one has to greet it with clear soul and mind and to fill all the vessels at home with milk, grain or spring water so that prosperity never leaves one’s household.

But Nauriz is not only about festivities and dastarkhan. During the month you have to help the land to clear its life-giving arteries – to clean natural and artificial water channels and chutes, water wells and springs sprinkling them with hallowed milk thus wishing fertility to Mother – land; cultivation, planting and other agricultural work are to be started.

In the last years Nauriz was reborn. Nauriz celebrations start on 21 March and last for one month. Many sports and cultural events are held during this month throughout the country. It became a loved holiday of each citizen of Kazakhstan, symbol of unity and peace.

Nauriz at the Library of Congress

On the March 17, 2010 diplomats and community members from the countries that traditionally celebrate the ancient Persian-Turkic New Year, Nauriz (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine) as well as distinguished American guests gathered at the Great Hall of the Library of Congress for a black-tie Nauriz reception.

At the reception, the invited guests had a unique chance to learn more about the abundant and exciting traditions of the Nauriz nations. Diplomatic and community representatives explained how they celebrate Nauriz and displayed some of their traditional attire, handmade jewelry and food. The guests also enjoyed a dedicated concert program featuring delightful performances by Kazakh, Iranian, Kyrgyz, and Tajik musicians.

The event was made possible by the newly established Nowruz Commission (another way of spelling Nauriz). Composed of distinguished American citizens and high-ranking foreign diplomats the Commission will operate on a permanent basis to celebrate Nauriz every year and help educate the American public on the nature and universality of Nauriz as the beginning of spring.

The Embassy of Kazakhstan greatly appreciates and is sincerely grateful to the Honorable Howard Berman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Honorable Ed Royce (R-CA) who agreed to serve as the Honorary Chairmen of the event. We are also grateful to the Embassies of all Nauriz nations for kindly supporting the event and the Nauriz Commission. The Embassy would like to specifically thank Honorable Bijan Kian, a distinguished representative of the Iranian community, and his charming wife Gissou Kian for their tireless effort to make the event as well as the Commission itself come into being. Of course the event would have not been possible without the support of the Library of Congress, and in this regard we would like to thank Dr. James Billington, the Librarian, as well as Dr. Mary-Jane Deeb and Dr. Christopher Murphy of the African and Middle Eastern Division.

We believe that the celebration of Nauriz at such a magnificent venue as the Library of Congress is a strong signal of the further strengthening of the cultural ties between the United States and the Nauriz nations. We hope that the Nauriz Commission will continue enriching the cultural diversity of the United States and bringing nations closer for years to come.