Holiday of peace and harmony
Nowruz is one of the most important holidays of the nations of Asia, including Kazakhstan. It is a celebration of spring, renewal of nature and the beginning of a new year. It is believed that a generous feast of Nowruz will bring wealth and success into the house for the whole year. These beliefs explain the abundance of festive rituals and customs.
The beginning of the celebration was a traditional meeting dawn connected with the ancient ritual - "If you see a well, clear its head". All people of a tribe, picking up a shovel and hoe, gathered at the appointed spring or ditch and made his clearance. Then under the guidance of a venerable old man all together made tree planting . After ritual activities three persons dressed in bright, festive costumes as zhyrshy - barker bypass all the streets, squares, courtyards and call everyone for celebration. People have fun, congratulate each other with the New Year, wish each other well, sing songs, which have long been composed especially for this holiday - Nowruz-zhyr, play national games and so on.
Due to the nomadic lifestyle of the Kazakhs the most famous and most popular competitions are Alaman bayga (horse races on long distances from 25 to 100 km), and Audaryspak (fight on horses in order to throw the opponent out of the saddle) and Kyz kuu (catch the girl). Kiz kuu has its roots in antiquity, when girls were warriors and riders. According to the terms of the game a girl ride a horse a certain distance to the pivot column, while a guy tries to catch up with her. If he can do it, then, as the winner has the right to take the girl to the wife. If he failed, he has to ride from the girl, as in this case, the girl begins to catch up with him and beat him with a whip with all her might. All this turns into a fun and exciting spectacle for all the participants and viewers.
During the celebration a lot of food are prepared, it symbolizes wealth and galore in the coming year. Dastarkhan covered in each family. The main ritual dish of this holiday is Nowruz-kozhe, which consists of 7 components (water, meat, salt, oil, flour, cereals (rice, corn or wheat) and milk) symbolizing 7 elements of life - joy, luck, wisdom, health, welfare, speed, growth, and spiritual protection. When Kazakhs celebrate Nowruz, the digit "7" is everywhere, for example - 7 bowls with Nowruz-kozhe must be dished to an aqsaqal , everyone should visit 7 homes and invite 7 guests. Finally, aitys, wordy contest of akyns accompanied with dombra, completes the celebration. It begins toward evening and continues until dawn. The winner is the one who best glorified goodness and humaneness. In such a way the holiday of spring renewal and equinox ends.
Ancient holiday Nowruz with all stages of celebration harmoniously transformed into modern life, preserving the continuity of ancient traditions. Nowruz has become a national holiday of spring and labor unity for all peoples living in multinational Kazakhstan..
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