President Emomali Rahmon has congratulated Tajikistanis on Navrouz festival, according to the Tajik president’s official website.
In his message of congratulations, Rahmon called on Tajikistanis once again to be more economical, noting that the past two years, the period of spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), have shown that “in difficult times, all countries think about their peoples and try to solve their problems.”
“In this situation, shortages, rising prices, disruptions in the delivery of goods and even medicines between the countries have caused suffering to millions of people,” the president said.
“At a time when humans are going through the most difficult years of their history, we must be even more frugal and avoid waste. In my address to the people of Tajikistan in April last year, I stressed the extremely difficult situation in the world,” the president said.
He recalled that “this year, due to economic sanctions and other escalations, conflicts, the food security situation in many regions of the world has become very difficult, its influence affects everyone, including Tajikistan.”
“I want to emphasize once again that in the current situation, every family should be thrifty. As I have said many times in recent years, each family must have two-year food stocks,” Rahmon noted.
He also pointed to the necessity of educating children and developing science and education and not allowing the influence of superstitious ideas and elements of an alien culture.
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.
