Today many Muslims from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq, the westernmost provinces of China, the Caucasus as well as Tatars and Bashkirs in southern Russia enthusiastically celebrate Navruz on March 21. The history of Navruz, according to various sources, dates back to the Avesta – the "holy book" of the Zoroastrian religion. Under the doctrine of Avesta, every spring, people should celebrate the emergence of life on earth, which is derived from four elements: air, water, earth and fire. Therefore, one can notice related customs of Navruz: spraying water, jumping over fire, preparing food from germinated seeds, etc.
Omar Khayyam, the mystical poet, scientist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher associated Navruz with the mythical Persian King Jamshid. He believed that on that day, the sunlight fell upon him.
According to the testimony of Strabo, geographer of ancient Greece, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia used to gather during Navruz in the "Temple of fire" to participate in the fire cult ceremonies. This would explain the custom (widespread in our day) of eating meals prepared over the fire. Navruz in Tajikistan.
In Soviet times, Navruz, and other traditional or religious holidays, were banned. From 1926 to 1988, Navruz was celebrated in secret. Since 1988, Navruz has been recognized in Tajikistan as an important traditional holy day.
Usually, in Tajikistan, preparation for Navruz begins one or two months prior to the festival. People clean their homes and streets. Men prepare themselves for sport competitions; murgh jangi (cock fight), kabk jangi (quail fight), asp davoni (horse race), khardavoni (donkey race), buzkashi (a race in which riders seek possession of a goat’s carcass), gushtingiri (wrestling), lash bozi (a game played with two sticks), tukhm jangoni (egg battle), qol bozi (a ball game), argunchak / ulchak bozi (game with a swing), etc.
The customs and traditions of Navruz differ slightly across the regions of the country. In the Pamirs, a mountainous region (once crossed by the Silk Road) situated in eastern Tajikistan, the word “Navruz” is often replaced by the word "Shogun bahor" (the spring festival). The word "shogun", according to historians, means: the saint, the glory, the new day and New Year. On the day of Navruz, the inhabitants of the Pamirs close their doors before sunrise. Women undertake a final cleaning of the home by removing the dust out of the ceiling, walls and floor with special brooms and finally sprinkle a little flour on the ceiling. The brooms are then discarded. Thus, according to the custom, misfortune and bad luck would be expelled outside the home.
Once the house is completely cleaned, the first steps in the house must be made by a donkey or a sheep. The donkey / sheep is then given something to eat. While entering with one of these animals, my father always says "Omadam, davlati Wakhona ovardam," which means "I come with the wealth of Wakhon". Wakhon is a valley located in eastern Pamirs. According to my father, we say "the richness of Wakhon,” because it is a chain of villages that is relatively rich in terms of farmland and livestock. For decades, the inhabitants of western Pamirs come to Wakhon to get agricultural products found in abundance. I remember when I was 13, I got scolded by my grandmother, because, without waiting for my father, I let two of our young goats into the house, since they were, ordinarily allowed in due to the cold in their enclosure. Goats are considered "shayton" (devils) and can bring misfortune. Thus, all year, my grandmother was afraid that something bad would happen in our family.
According to residents, it may also bring bad luck if a stranger enters the house before sunrise. Therefore to avoid such inconvenience, the doors are closed. During the house cleaning men mostly stay outside and collect blossomed branches of the willow/salix (zardbed). They give those branches to their wives and say "los-los shogun bahor muborak ", which means "los-los Happy Spring Festival." The branches are then hung from the ceiling until the next new year, to ensure the happiness of the family. Women in turn say "Ba rui shumo muborak " (the same for you) and put a little bit of flour (which is the symbol of wealth and purity) on the right shoulder of their husbands (this ritual is also practiced later, when guests enter the house). The first dish the guests eat is sumanak. Sumanak is a dish made of germinated wheat seeds. Generally, sumanak is prepared on the eve of Navruz. Several women gather together at night and blend germinated wheat seeds with butter, milk, flour and ice chips in a pot over low heat. The preparation of sumanak takes about 10 to 12 hours until the mixture turns into a creamy texture. Other family members make the ambiance more cheerful by dancing and singing "Sumanak dar jush mo kaftcha zanem, digaron dar khob mo daftcha zanem" (Sumanak is being cooked, we are mixing with spoons, others sleep, we play the tambourine).
Other traditions
It is traditional to hang a red cloth on the doorway of the house as well: the color red is a symbol of good, meant to protect from the evil eye. Those, who have debts, must pay them off. Since, people are convinced that if someone is in debt during Navruz, he may be financially dependent until the next New Year.
The most famous modern tradition requires that children and adults go from door to door and ask for their scarf to be filled with candy, fruit or money by reciting the formula: Navruz shudu lolai khush rang baromad, bulbul ba tamoshoi dafu tchang baromad. Murghoni tchaman jumla bikardand parvoz, murghi dili man az qafassi tang baromad (In rainbow colors the tulip poked his head up for Navruz, the nightingale comes along to hear the sweet music of tambourine and cimbalom. The birds of flower-garden soar over the sky, so the bird of my heart is coming out of its tiny cage to fly) or say simply "Shogun Bahor Muborak".
Unlike other festivals, Navruz is a friendly feast celebrated usually with neighbors. Visits from neighbors last from morning to night, for two or three days. Everyone wears new clothes, hoping that the New Year brings wealth and prosperity. The women are proud to make the guests taste their different dishes. The ideal table is supposed to contain various national dishes (kabob, plov, mantu, damlyama, khonuma, oshi burida etc.), dishes made of seven crops (wheat, sesame, beans, barley, lentils, millet and maize), sumanak, as well as candies, until the table cloth is entirely covered by food.
During Navruz, people participate in various sports games. One of those games is "buzkashi", literally “goat-dragging.” The goal of the game is to grab the carcass of goat (or sheep) from the other team and pitch it across a goal line, such as in handball. However, buzkashi is played on horseback. The winning team receives a prize, as a reward for their victory (money, rug or livestock).
Riders are called «chuvandoz". The “hippie” style hats that they wear are not for fashion’s sake, but to protect themselves against their rivals’ whips and boots. The master chuvandos often keep their whips in their mouth in order to have their hands free for better controlling their horses and for better battling for the carcasses of goats or sheep. The carcass of a goat/sheep is the equivalent of the ball. The game is rough, but fascinating.
"Gushtingiri" is another kind of sport similar to the wrestling. The gushtingiri is a bare hand combat in which the combatants fight in a melee. The objective is either to knock the opponent down and pin his shoulders to the mat: or otherwise to incapacitate him; that allows scoring points. The most interesting and rare games in Tajikistan are: "tukhm-jangoni" and "lash". Usually these are children’s games. Tukhmn-jangoni is a competition where children test the resistance of hen’s eggs. Children smack each other’s eggs together in order to crack their opponent’s egg without damage to their own, thereby ‘winning.’ The winners continue to challenge one another until there is only one egg left unscathed, and its handler is declared the winner. The cracked eggs are finally given to the winner. Smiles abound when seeing the joy and pride of a child when he wins and gains lots of eggs.
"Lash" is a very ancient game. It is played with two bats: a twisted stick that lies on the ground measuring 5 to 10 cm, and another stick, “the bat” that is 40 -50 cm. The player has to first hit the stick on the floor to make it jump up, then hit it a second time in full flight to throw it as far as possible. Players on the fielding team (team “B”) must try to catch the flying stick in order to stop the other team’s (team A)player from scoring runs. If the fielding team catches the small stick, it wins the round. Otherwise, team B has to fling it in order to hit the bigger bat placed on the "ground", on the initial point, from where the little stick was launched. If the little stick does not touch the bat and goes by it, then the distance between the initial point and the little stick, counted with bat (sometimes with small stick), is considered as runs for the batting team (the team A). Lash is practiced on all kind of fields. In this sport, two combinations are possible: doubles (two against two) and head-to-head (one against one) The "qol bozi" (a ball game) is usually a game for girls. The balls are often made of stone. Qol bozi has existed for centuries and is popular in some countries of East, Central Asia and Russia. It is played with five balls with a diameter of 2-3 cm. Qol bozi is practiced on the floor or a table. The rule of the game is simple. The player holds a ball in her hand throws it into the air and then catches it with the same hand just after picking up one of the four stones lying on the ground. Then two balls are thrown straight up into the air, as they begin to descend the player picks up two of three stones lying on the ground. Thus the game continues until the three and the four balls are thrown straight up by picking up the rest of the stones. Finally all five balls are thrown and have to be caught on the back of the hand without dropping them. There are about five stages in the game. Like in a majority of games, in qol bozi each player takes his/her turn. The winner is the player who performs the stages of the game without or with the fewest mistakes possible. While it may sound easy it is a lot harder than it sounds or looks and takes dedicated practice to perform.
On the day of Navruz, girls and boys wear their very best clothes. Girls play on swings suspended by ropes on the branches of tallest trees. In general, one can say that the higher the swing goes, the bigger the chance of getting rid of old sins.
Formerly, before Navruz, the people of Hissar, Karatag, Istarafshan, Khujand, Samarkand and Bukhara were accustomed to break all the cracked or damaged plates and throw them away. By doing so, people hope to discard their old anxiety and to insure health as well as prosperity throughout the New Year. This is a custom derived from the Zoroastrian tradition too.
