DUSHANBE, March 20, 2014, Asia-Plus – The Ethnological Museum of Berlin will host the Navrouz festival for the second consecutive year.
According to the Tajik Embassy in Berlin, the Navrouz celebrations will take part at the Ethnological Museum on March 23.
The event is reportedly organized by diplomatic missions of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
This cultural event will showcase traditional music, handicrafts and food from the mentioned countries.
Last year, numerous German officials and foreign diplomats as well a s hundreds of Germans attended the Navrouz festival organized at the Berlin Ethnological Museum.
On March 24, representatives of Tajik diplomatic mission together with representatives of diplomatic missions of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan will participate in the Navrouz festival hosted by the Turkish Embassy in Berlin.
“Tajikistan will be represented by music group Avesto in this cultural event,” the source said.
On March 25, cultural activities dedicated to the Navrouz holiday will be organized in Hamburg, the second largest city in Germany.
“On March 26, the Tajik Embassy in Berlin will organize a festive event to which representatives of diplomatic missions, German government, German researchers and cultural figures, our compatriots as well as Tajik students and journalists will be invited,” the source added.
Navrouz, which literary means New Day in Persian, Dari and Tajik languages, is the traditional Iranian new year holiday, celebrated by Iranian and many other peoples. It marks the first day of spring and is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox (the start of spring in the northern hemisphere), which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. Today, the festival of Navrouz is celebrated in many countries, including Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, as well as Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Many peoples in West and South Asia, Northeast China, the Crimea, as well as Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia also celebrate this holiday. In September 2009, the UN”s cultural agency, UNESCO, included Navrouz in its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. On February 23, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the International Day of Navrouz.
