DUSHANBE, March 4, 2011, Asia-Plus — Claims of some Muslim clerics in Tajikistan celebrating Navrouz Holiday allegedly contradicts Islamic canons are unfounded and wrong, known Tajik religious leader Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda said.
According to him, clerics must make out religious holidays such as Idi Ramazon (Eid ul-Fitr) and Idi Qurbon (Eid al-Adha) and national holidays, to which Navrouz Holiday may be related. “Sharia does not prohibit people from celebrating national holidays,” said Turajonzoda, “Sometime, people, however, practice religious rituals during the Navrouz celebrations and only this does not meet Islamic canons.”
“In our family, celebrating Navrouz Holiday is an annual tradition because it is history and tradition of our people and we must respect them,” Turajonzoda 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.
