DUSHANBE, December 14, 2015, Asia-Plus — A 25-meter New Year’s tree expected to be installed in Dushanbe’s Dousti Square in late December.
“By the mayor’s decision the New Year’s tree should be installed before December 30,” an official source at the Dushanbe mayor’s office told Asia-Plus in an interview.
A festive concert to celebrate the New Year will take place in Dousti Square on December 31 from 18:00 to 24:00. Known Tajik singers will participate in that concert.
On December 29 and 30, New Year’s shows will be organized for excellent students from Dushanbe’s schools at Dushanbe Circus.
Last year, the New Year’s tree was installed only on December 27 and it was removed on January 1, 2015.
Tajikistan inherited the Soviet Union”s New Year”s traditions, and celebrations have continued despite some criticism by religious figures.
In 2013, the head of the state-backed Islamic Council of Ulema, Saidmukarram Abdulqodirzoda, in 2013 urged Tajiks not to celebrate New Year”s, while the official newspaper of the Islamic Revival Party (IRP),
Najot
, advised authorities not to erect the traditional fir tree in the capital.
And even the then first deputy head of the Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting under the Government of Tajikistan, Saidali Siddiqov, noted in December 2013 that Father Frost and Snow Maiden, the iconic symbols of New Year”s in Tajikistan and other former Soviet countries, have been barred from appearing on state television. “Father Frost, his maiden sidekick Snegurochka (Maiden Snow), and New Year’s tree will not appear on the state television this year, because these personages and attributes bear no direct relation to our national traditions, though there is no harm in them” Siddiqov told Asia-Plus in an interview on December 11, 2013. According to him, there was no any order on that point from above. “The national TV channels have made such a decision themselves and the Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting has just approved it,” Tajik official said. He further added that all Tajik television channels would broadcast New Year’s programs.
Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev, however, responded by singing a decree on December 9, 2013 on organizing festive activities in the city to celebrate New Year’s Eve and a 22-meter New Year’s tree was installed in Dousti Square on December 28.
The New Year’s holiday, which is entirely secular holiday, remains one of the most popular holidays throughout the former Soviet Union, celebrated with family meals and fireworks.
