DUSHANBE, November 21, 2009, Asia-Plus — A national race dedicated to a National Flag Day, which marked in Tajikistan on March 24, started in the city of Tursunzoda today.
The organizer of the event is the Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism Affairs.
According to the Committee’s press service, 15 members of the Sports Club, Aghba, at the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) started that race and some 400-500 young people from Tursunzoda and Shahrinav districts have already joined them. “Representatives of the Hissar district will also join the race and tomorrow, the race participants will run to Dushanbe and then to the Vahdat district,” said the source, “The race will finish in the city of Roghun on November 24.” A total distance of the race is 176 kilometers.
We will recall that the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) on November 11 endorsed amendments to the country’s law on holidays. Under the addition made to the RT Law “On Public Holidays of the Republic of Tajikistan,” Tajikistan will mark a National Flag Day on November 24. It will not be a day off.
Tajikistan was the last of the former Soviet republics to reveal a new flag, which was adopted on November 24, 1992. The one common link between this and the 1953 Tajik SSR flag is the choice of colors – red, white and green.
The crown represents the Tajik people, the name itself is derived from tajvar, which means “crowned”. In traditional Tajik cultural aspects the magic word “seven” is a symbol of perfection, the embodiment of happiness and the provider of virtue. According to Tajik legend, Islamic heaven is composed of seven beautiful orchids, separated by seven mountains each with a glowing start on top. The middle white stripe is one-and-a-half times the size of the red and green stripes. The red represents the unity of the nation and the symbol of the sun and victory; the white represents purity, cotton, the snow on the mountains and the unity of the people; and green stands for the spiritual meaning of Islam and represents the generosity of nature of the country. The symbol charged in the middle of the white stripe is a crown surmounted by an arc of seven stars.
