DUSHANBE, February 28, 2009, Asia-Plus — A February 26 meeting of the Dushanbe mayor’s office discussed preparations for celebration of the Navrouz holiday.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Shavkat Saidov, a spokesman for the Dushanbe mayor, said that the meeting had considered and approved the Navrouz celebration program.
This year, the main festive show to celebrate the Navrouz holiday will be held at the Dushanbe Central Stadium on March 21.
Gushtingiri (Tajik national wrestling) competitions will be held at the central stadium on March 22. The same day, various cultural activities and street festivities will be organized in all areas of Dushanbe, the spokesman said.
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.
The term Navrouz first appeared in Persian records in the second century AD, but it was also an important day during the time of the Achaemenids (648-330 BC), where kings from different nations under the Persian Empire used to bring gifts to the emperor (Shahanshah) of Persia on Navrouz.
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, and even in Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia also celebrate this holiday.
