Navruz connects & affects humanity with its ancient public traditions & multi-cultures features

Mirsaid Rahmonov

The Public Diplomacy is an important instrument for promoting regional and global peace and stability among people of the world.

Therefore, strong people-to-people ties, languages, cultural cooperation, youth interactions, media cooperation, health development, technology knowledge sharing, arts and craft, and history will improve togetherness, understanding, and mutual trust are the main features to be promoted and developed accordingly.

Navruz is one of the most ancient festivals that its arrival is equal to the solar calendar and the system of planetary movements beginning on March 21 making day and night equal.

By initiatives of Tajikistan and other countries of the world regions, Navruz was officially approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations for the first time in 2010 and was accepted accordingly.

In the era of independence civilized nation of Tajikistan by their legitimate leader H.E. Mr. Imamali Rahmon, the celebration of Navruz and its traditions were revived and presented to the world as a symbol of freedom, prosperity, and peace strengthening friendship among all peoples and respecting of nature.

The President of Tajikistan said during his speech that Navruz, with all its rich and colorful history, has been revived in the country where having all its richness and diversity as a symbol of a new day, the beginning of a new year, and new initiatives becoming the best means of self-knowledge and self-awareness, unity and mutual understanding of the people.

Naturally, the arrival of Nowruz coincides with the equinox, heralding the fragrance and grace of Spring and the cultivation of farmers and planters.

In this context, “Nowruznoma” by Umar Khayyam and “Al-tafhim” by Aburayhan Beruni mention the antiquity of Nowruz, which was celebrated in different eras.

It is worth mentioning that Tajikistan well-known writer Sadriddin Aini (1878-1954), with his eloquence and knowledge, has written all the scenes of people’s lives in his four-volume Yoddoshtho (Memoirs), completed 1949-54 it making him more famous and widely historical book discovering the cultures and languages including Nowruz and its traditions in this book.

According to him Navruz started in earlier ages and is considered a pre-Islamic festival. Therefore, the Tajik people celebrate it for a week and consider its arrival at the beginning of the spring season.

In fact, it adds to the sowing of grain crops and the beginning of other cultivation and land work, and it becomes a factor of the abundance of people, which becomes the reason for their work life.

According to Sadriddin Ainy during Navruz Tajik people and farmers gathered in the fields in every village, and engaged in different activities including wrestling and other physical activities, giving new strength to their bodies depressed by the coldness of the winter season.

It should be noted that most of the peoples and nationalities of the world, with their customs and traditions, culture and civilization, festivals and ceremonies, drinking and dressing, and local sports and languages, play and revive the national identity and respect for their personalities and people.

It is not in vain that each of them always strives to keep these rituals and traditions alive and develop them again, reviving and preserving all these ancient cultures.

It should be noted that the region of Central Asia and South Asia including the Indian subcontinent has a special status with their cultures, languages, ethnicities, and customs.

According to historical sources, the countries of India and Pakistan are the largest regions in the world with different ethnicities and customs.

It is worth mentioning that the country of Pakistan is one of the It is first countries to officially recognize the independence of Tajikistan, and Dushanbe and Lahore have been declared sister cities since 1973. There is a lot of cooperation between Tajikistan and Pakistan, one of which is the celebration of Navruz traditions.

Noted that Dushanbe and Lahore are the linkers of the history and civilization of Central and South Asia and the linkers of Punjab and Panjrud regions where are the residents of peaceful architects, cultural leaders, and the continuation of the literature and culture of Rudaki and Aini, Masoud Saadi Salman, Muhammad Iqbal, Mirzo Tursunzoda and Faiz Ahmadi Faiz, Hafiz Jolandhari and Hasan Ahmad Dani. They know how to create fresh treasures for future generations.

The city of Lahore is considered the eighteenth largest city in the world, and as a center of poets and writers, as well as museums and libraries, it is full of works and libraries of scholars who wrote and developed their works mostly in the Persian-Tajik language, and their recognition is the basis of cooperation between Central Asia and South Asia, especially Tajikistan and Pakistan, create.

Like Tajikistan people, different tribes and peoples of Pakistan also organize more ceremonies and folk performances. Pakistanis celebrate Navruz with the “Spring Festival or Basant” or Jashn-i-Baharan festivities will be held in the country from the end of February till the end of March accordingly.

The term or word Nowruz in the Persian-Tajik language means a new day, it means the beginning or the beginning of spring, and according to historical sources, Nowruz and its ceremony are characteristic of the Persian-Tajik civilization, which has a history of a thousand years.

However, during the reign of the Mongols and before that, this holiday was celebrated on the Indian continent according to famous writers and journalists of the South Asian region, Sayyid Sibti Hasan (1916 – 1986) in his book entitled “Mozi ke Mazar” (Mazar of the Past) sheds light on the historical significance of the festivals and says: “In ancient times, Nowruz was a seasonal festival, which was celebrated everywhere in the spring”.

Most Pakistanis recognize Nowruz as an Iranian festival and consider it the beginning of spring when farmers sow the first seeds on the ground and make good wishes for prosperity and pleasant life.

Pakistani people called Nowruz as nawruzi “Olamafruz” which means the new day, the arrival of which brightens the world.

With these good wishes, with the arrival of spring, the people of Dera Ismail Khan, Kuveita, and Porochanor regions rehearse their rituals and customs, clean all the houses, streets and avenues, temples and gardens, and decorate them with lights.

In the city of Quetta, the people cook special cakes and sweets such as “ras malai”, “suhun halwa” and “barfi” and congratulate each other.

They consider the coming of spring and the planting of seedlings, having fun, giving chicken eggs to each other, visiting each other’s homes, wrestling, horse riding, bullfighting, and horse-fighting as good traditions that should be preserved.

In conclusion, the coming of spring and the Navruz holiday with its ceremonies and traditions have been welcomed in most countries of the world, especially in Tajikistan from ancient times meeting spring pleasant, greeting each other, appreciating and respecting the splendor and beauty of the environment, for its development and prosperity.

They organized special social and cultural programs to decorate and refresh this world with a pure heart, healthy and brave, human love, and wisdom.

Thus, the arrival of splendid Spring and Novruz since ancient times, showed that the revival of nature has begun, greeting people of the world, and protecting the beauty of the environment by organizing special social and cultural programs for their development and prosperity.

In this context, it is suggested that the states should work together and solve the issues using the following formula created by me as a module of peace, prosperity, and productivity for better cooperation and regional integration in the light of global public diplomacy. The formula is derived from “PEACE”, meaning harmony and prosperity as follows:

• Promotion – promotion of peace and stability
• Economization – economic savings
• Activation – activation of programs and projects
• Cooperation – cooperation
• Elimination – elimination of public risks

In conclusion, by welcoming Spring with earth plantation and Navruz celebration the people of all countries can share their happiness and multi-cultures globally to live in the light of freedom, peace, and prosperity making the world a world of friendship and familiarity under pleasant life and work accordingly.

*The writer is the Regional Analyst/Senior researcher at the Institute of Asian and European Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan