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Bringing rain, a magic seven and other ancient rituals of Novruz
19.03.2019|09:32|
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And all this in one place! Where else all guests are lavishly treated with dishes of Turkmen cuisine prepared according to old recipes, and are presented with gifts and souvenirs. It is Novruz!
Nationwide celebration, ritualism, and the spirit of this holiday have passed a thousand years, and reached nowadays. Such is the great significance of agricultural labor.
According to the customs of the Turkmen kings, on the first day of the celebration, the gates of the royal Palace open for farmers, dayhan. It was their wishes and requests that the king listened on the first day of Novruz to give every support. Only next days he received persons of higher rank. Such was the respect for the farmers, the breadwinners of the people in ancient time, and it is still the case in our good land.
... In the VI-V millennium BC, a sedentary culture of primitive agriculturists and livestock breeders developed in the steppe zone of Eurasia. To this type belong the Anau (Jeytun) culture of south-west of Turkmenistan. The Aeneolithic cultures, the oldest in Eurasia, were closely connected with the oldest centers of agricultural civilization in the Near East – the Anau culture – 30 kilometers north-west of Ashgabat, near the village of Jeytun, as well as near Bami, Chapan-depe, Togolok-depe, the ancient settlement of Nisa, and a number of Ahal settlements.
At the dawn of a sedentary culture of agriculturists, the first religious customs, dedicated to each season of the year according to the solar calendar are appeared. Supernatural origin was attributed to agriculture along with a relationship with a special deity – patron of agriculture works. Thus, Novruz meant the beginning of spring season, associated with the first warm days and the awakening of nature. In those ancient days, Novruz was not celebrated as a holiday, but it has gained already some rituals.
The ancient art of rainmaking was once practiced all around the world. It represented the sacred relationship between humans and the Divine. The value of water for the Turkmen caused the so-called “bringing rain” rituals into the group of main rites. According to the Turkmen folk belief, Burkut Ata, the spirit of rain, would be gracious to arable land, if you attract his attention. For doing this, fellow villagers used to go out to the field and to poured water on each other as showing the spirit of the rain how they were waiting for the heavenly moisture. The children moved from one home to another, read poems, and each master of the house had to splash water on them and treat them to something tasty.
The sacred attitude of the Turkmen to bread gave rise to an interesting rite: from each household, a handful of flour was collected and placed in a large bowl on the roof. If rain started, then they made dough on “heavenly” water to bake bread, chorek. If Burkut Baba did not send rain for a long time, despite the loud children’s voices and delicious smells of dishes, they decided to appease him in another way. To do this, they threw into the river or aryk the most grumbling and quarrelsome person in the village as a sacrifice. They threw the person for a short time, of course. Often the efforts of the villagers really ended with the rain that began, and the joy of this miracle became the key to longevity of the rites and traditions associated with the start of fieldworks.
A little later, the customs of preparing for Novruz Bayram meal Semene, made of wheat sprouts, appeared. A part of the juice squeezed from wheat sprouts was poured into the river, while the rest with added flour was used to cook thick and aromatic kissel that then used to make the dough for festive breads. According to legend, Bibi-Patyma (Eishe-Patyma), the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, the patroness of women was the first who cooked Semene. The Turkmen woman who prepared this dish and treated them to her relatives and neighbors could turn to the spirit with requests to come true her desires for a year.
In many agricultural regions of the country, ritual dishes of the ancient holiday of Novruz are cooked nowadays. For example, Gurdja, meal made of seven cereals. In addition, seven types of fruit – rue seeds, apples, black seeds, olives, garlic, wheat sprouts, and vinegar that simbolizes well-being, health, long life, joy and wealth are placed on a separate tray. Milk, syuzma, cheese, fruits, nuts, almonds are also served as a festive meal.
Kulche is another indispensable component of the festive dishes. It is a special kind of bread, made from milk and butter. In the middle of the bread, several apricot kernels or peeled pistachios to give a special taste to the kulche were placed. At the same time, the seeds in the middle had a magical feature, as people believed it would assist to have a rich harvest of grains and fruits. The first holiday food was offered to family members. The relatives and neighbors were invited for the next festive meal.
The spring awakening of the earth has always been seen by man as the resurrection of a dead life, giving rise to a reverent attitude towards such a significant phenomenon. Therefore, from ancient times until nowadays, it is celebrated annually with a cheerful national celebration with games, entertainment, cooking of ritual food, dating back thousands of years, and a collective meal, in which everyone, young and old, takes part.
The customs of the forefathers of Turkmen to celebrate in early spring is also explained by the deep belief that man was created on the day of the vernal equinox, at the moment when the sun was exactly in the middle of the sky. On March 21, on the “birthday of the human race,” people celebrated it widely, symbolically giving each other sugar, as well as joked, danced, swung on a swing.
Folk and religious rituals, a ritual feast were filled with deep meaning and faith in the powerful forces of nature. Ancient people gathered in the temples of Fire, invoking the Sun God with entreaty to help fertility of the earth. It was then that the golden Turkmen churek took an oval shape – as a sign of honoring the life-giving light.
People came out under the spring rain, sprinkled flour on each other, rendering honors to the God of Water and Earth – the patron of agriculture Baba Dayhan. Seed grains were soaked with seven species of cereal and the shoots were judged on what the harvest would be this year.
In general, the number 7 was associated by people as a kind of miracle, and it is reflected in the rituals of the festive feast. Seven kinds of bread from flour of wheat, barley, millet, sesame, rice, lentils and beans were baked. Dastarhan was decorated with branches of seven plants – willow, quince, fig, walnut, pomegranate, olive and persimmon. The words “happiness”, “multiplication”, “abundance”, “well-being”, “health”, “wealth”, “fun” were written on different branches placed between the meals. On the festive table, they put a new coin and a bundle of rue, a spicy medicinal plant.
It was believed that in the days of the holiday as more you are generous, hospitable and joyful, as generous and good the nature would treat you. Every guest of the Novruz holiday is expected to be merry and full that meant people would be provided and satisfied throughout the coming year. Certainly, everyone, young and old, had try the taste of the ritual festive meals made from the juice of young sprouts and wheat flour – seeds, as well as eat fresh or dried fruits, grapes, sweet dates and nuts.
When Novruz Bayram comes, just remember the rituals associated. Put your face under the bright raindrops, swing the swing to the white clouds, and eat a bowl of fabulous Semene. Believe all what you do as all this is the wonderful touch of your great-grandfathers, who want you to have the fullness of life, the divine balance of soul and mind.
Vladimir ZAREMBO