News.Az congratulates all its readers on Novruz, an ancient holiday that marks the start of spring, the coming of a new year.
Just as Baku was anticipating the coming of spring, winter grasped the city on Thursday with snow, sleet and heavy winds. Spring fought back and now on Saturday the sun is shining and temperatures rising. This struggle as winter gives way to spring is at the heart of Novruz.
The first day of Novruz falls on the spring equinox, the day when the hours of daylight equal those of darkness. Each day of the holiday enjoys more light as the days slowly lengthen.
Novruz is celebrated across the region and is marked with public holidays in Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other Central Asian states. In Azerbaijan the Novruz holiday begins on 20 March this year and continues until the 28th. News.Az is celebrating too, so the site will have far fewer reports than usual.
Novruz festivities
Preparations began well before the holiday with spring cleaning and the baking of traditional sweets, including pakhlava. The four Tuesdays preceding Novruz are called Water Tuesday, Fire Tuesday, Earth Tuesday and Last Tuesday. On these days and on the eve of the equinox it's traditional to light bonfires and jump over them. The fires are purifying and take away all your troubles before the start of the new year.
An essential decoration on the Novruz table is semeni or wheat shoots. The green shoots symbolize new life and spring. Wheat shoots three metres high can be seen this year close to the Maiden Tower in Baku. Coloured eggs and candles are also part of the Novruz table decorations.
In Azerbaijan's second city, Ganja, an enormous pakhlava, 15 metres long and five metres wide, has been made. Twenty thousand guests tucked into the six-tonne pastry yesterday. It took the city's pastry chefs seven days to make and required two tonnes of flour, 1.5 tonnes of sugar, one tonne of nuts, 300 eggs, one tonne of butter, milk, saffron and cardamom. Ganja's pakhlava outdid Astara's 500 kg cake, which the town's residents enjoyed yesterday.
Music, dancing, wrestling competitions and tight-rope walking are all traditional Novruz entertainments. They can be seen today in central Baku and concerts and other festivities will continue over the next few days.
Origins of Novruz
Scholars debate the origins of Novruz. It is often linked with the oldest of the monotheist religions, Zorastrianism, whose scripture, the Avesta, refers to the name Novruz. The Zoroastrian Novruz was a joyful celebration of the arrival of light and warmth after the cold dark winter. Another theory is that Novruz goes back to ancient Mesopotamia. In Babylon New Year was celebrated on the 21st of the month of Nisan (March-April) and the holiday lasted 12 days. In Persian, Novruz means 'new day' and in Turkic countries the spring holiday used to be called Turan. The holiday is called Tura to this day by the Chuvash people in the Russian Federation.
Novruz has been banned in Azerbaijan at different times: it was forbidden in the 7th century, when Azerbaijan was ruled by the Arab Caliphate, and centuries later by the Bolsheviks. The bans did not work, as the roots of the holiday are too strong. In spring 1967, the Communist Party allowed the celebration of the holiday on the initiative of writer and dramatist Shikhali Gurbanov, ideological secretary of the Azerbaijani Communist Party. On 13 March 1990, a decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijani SSR permitted Novruz celebrations at the state level. Novruz has been an official holiday in Azerbaijan ever since.
News.Az