DUSHANBE, December 29, 2015, Asia-Plus — A 25-meter New Year’s tree has been installed in Dushanbe’s Dousti Square.
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.
A New Year’s avenue with use of light illuminations has reportedly been created from the Ismoili Somoni Monument to the Navrouzgoh waterfall.
On December 29 and 30, New Year’s shows will be organized for excellent students from Dushanbe’s schools at Dushanbe Circus.
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 Abduqodirzoda, 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,” Siddiqov said. He further added that all Tajik television channels would broadcast New Year’s programs.
Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev, however, responded by signing 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.
