For the toy celebration, a tablecloth is spread out... Even in the Russian region
April 11, 2018 | 18:58 |2716
To celebrate the holidays together is one of the traditions of the House of Nationalities, which has been acting in the city of Ivanovo for many years. Especially, when the holidays are common. With similar legends, traditions and even foods. Turkmen, main part of which students studying in Russia, as well as Tajiks, Kirghiz and other diasporas celebrate such holidays as one big family. There are several holidays connected with agriculture and stock-rearing, which have been celebrated since time immemorial. For example, the holiday of Nowruz, which marks the coming of a new astronomical year and the reawakening of nature. Although having Iranian and religious Zoroastrian origins, Nowruz has always been the most cherished holiday for over 3,000 years in Western Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Black Sea Basin, and the Balkans. There is a long winter in the Central Russia this year, and snowfall made up this season “winter of the century”. As soon as spring holiday was celebrated according to the traditions of the East, the winter weather changed to the spring one, and snow melted.Leonid KIYASHKO, journalist, Russia, Ivanovo
In Russia, by the way, there is tradition of Maslenitsa that dates back to pagan times, when Russian folk would bid farewell to winter and welcome spring. As with many ancient holidays, Maslenitsa has a dual ancestry: pagan and Christian. On the pagan side, Maslenitsa was celebrated on the vernal equinox day. It marked the welcoming of spring, and was all about the enlivening of nature and bounty of sunny warmth. On the Christian side, Maslenitsa was the last week before the onset of Lent (fasting which precedes Easter), giving the last chance to bask in worldly delights. Originally, the pagan festivities were held to honor the pagan deity Veles, the patron of cattle and farming, when the traditions of farmers were similar.
The guests of the House of Nationalities tell about their national traditions to welcome the spring in home countries. For example, the Tajik diaspora told that a girl in special outfits in the image of spring opens the holiday in their homeland. In Kyrgyzstan, people celebrate by holding horse and goat games, dancing, burning juniper branches to rid houses of spirits, and making sumolok, a sweet paste made of slowly cooked grains as well as by listening to the music of the karnay and the performances of the akyns.
Turkmenistan celebrates the national spring holiday Nowruz by various festive concerts, theatrical performances, art exhibitions and soirees. In accordance with customs, the traditional Turkmen meal Semene, made of wheat sprouts, is served as the main course at every festive dinner in Turkmenistan. By tradition, it is cooked on bonfire all night long before the holiday, looking forward to see what kind of drawing will appear on the feast by the morning under the closed lid. However, it is not easy task to do in a cold Russian region. Therefore, on the holiday, the Turkmen diaspora cooked chyurek – Turkmen bread – which, as people believed, embody a little of the sun’s grace and might, helping to warm up the frozen earth, as well as pancakes on Maslenitsa. In addition, they made delicious somsa, fitchi and chebureks.
Also the students who came to study in Ivanovo from Ashgabat, Dashoguz, Turkmenabat and other cities showed carpet weaving, literature about national customs and traditions of the country as well as beautiful blades of real dzhigits.
In such an outfit, the student of the Ivanovo Polytechnic University Yhlas Tirkeshov takes them in hand. There are a lot of students from Turkmenistan in the Ivanovo Polytechnic University, who tell about traditions not only in Nowruz, says Guychmurad Kurbanov, authorized representative for youth and students in the public organization of the region “Russian-Turkmen cooperation”.
Jennet Kabulova, for example, perfectly dances: for the guests of the House of Nationalities she and her compatriots performed an incendiary ancient dance kushtdepdi. By the way, representatives of the Diaspora of Azerbaijan and even Vietnamese danced at the festival, and representatives of Afghanistan invited a whole ensemble. The Turkmen also played for the first time on a special drum. They also participated at the high school creative contest “Rainbow of Talents”. Representatives of the diaspora perform in concerts that are held in other cities of the Ivanovo region, as well as in the unique cookery festival “Kuhon”.
