Kazakh Nawruz Festival
Nawruz Festival Figure 1
Nawruz Festival Figure 2 Nawruz Festival is a festival related to the Kazakh chronology that existed before Kazakhs believed in Islam. In the Kazakh zodiac chronology passed down since ancient times, the vernal equinox of the first month of the lunar calendar (around the 22nd of the third month of the Gregorian calendar) is regarded as New Year's Day. This day is equal to day and night, and is regarded as a day of "passing the New Year" and is therefore called "Nawruzi". "Nawruzi" is Kazakh, which means saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.
The origin of the Nawruz Festival is closely related to the twelve branches of the Old Calendar. The twelve local branches are twelve years, and they are named after animals every year. Legend has it that a long time ago, many animals gathered together, wanting to know whether the coming year would be good or bad, and were interested in the beginning of the new year. They discussed holding a competition to see who would see the arrival of the new year first. Because of its height, the camel was the most promising one to see first. Other animals had to look up and look up. At this time, the mouse sneaked into the camel's ears, so it saw the beginning of the New Year before other animals.
The camel was angry and left. From then on, the animal was named after the animal that saw it first, with mice ranking first, and the rest of cattle, tigers, rabbits, snails, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs, pigs, etc., were arranged in order. There is a Kazakh proverb: "Camels are only big, but they are not found in the twelve zodiac signs." "Nawruz Festival" marks the arrival of a new year. In order to celebrate the festival, every household cleans the inside and outside the house before the festival, repairs the sheds, and prepares food for the festival.
The festival foods mainly include porridge shaped "Nawuluzi rice" made of rice, millet, wheat, flour, cheese, salt, meat, etc., as well as stored winter meat, such as horse sausage, horse neck, horse rib enema, horse minced meat enema, horse pelvis bone enema, etc.
On this day of the festival, people dressed in bright national costumes walked in groups from home to village to pay New Year greetings to each other. During New Year greetings, the host and guest hugged each other, congratulated the New Year, ate "Nawruzi Rice" together and sang "Nawruzi Song". The tune of the song is fixed, and the lyrics can be improvised. Most of the content is auspicious words such as wishing the villagers peace with the old and young, a bumper harvest of grain, and prosperity of six animals in the new year.
Kazakhs are respecting the elderly. On this day of the festival, the sheep's head must be dedicated to the elderly. When the elderly accept the sheep's head, they must recite a congratulatory message and wish their families peace, full of livestock, and abundant milk. During the festival, people gather together happily and carry out various cultural and sports activities, such as singing, duet, wrestling, etc., and play tongue twisters, riddles, dream realization and other games. Children play shuttlecock kicking, flying kites, hide-and-seek, etc.