Novruz: Celebrating a New Holiday...

Novruz is the holiday that occurs on March 21st every year – the literal translation to English is “the first day of spring.” According to the people I asked, Novruz is celebrated in all Muslim countries (predominately Muslim). The four Wednesdays preceding the holiday people light fires in their yard or in their common area / the street if they live in an apartment. The four Wednesdays traditionally each have a meaning: fire, water, air and ground. Then everyone jumps over their fires three times, as doing this is supposed to leave all of your troubles, pain, sickness, etc. from the past year in the fire. And on the actual date of the holiday, the 21st, there is a big dinner and more fire jumping. For this big dinner the women are baking for days in advance. They make sweets that are only made once a year – baklava and other very rich treats. My host mother was full of activity for the entire week – preparing, baking, cooking, etc. The schools are closed for two weeks for the holiday but before they leave lots of classes have Novruz parties for the students (kind of like our Christmas parties). So the preparations at home aren’t made by just the mother but usually the kids too, since they’re home from school. (I say kids but I’m not sure if the boys help out; there aren’t any boys in my host family). At my house, with my host family, our big dinner consisted of appetizers (nuts, raisins, candy, baklava, and more), salad (a mayonnaise based concoction with eggs, potatoes, carrots, and peas), bread, then the main entrees – yes, I said entrees – dolma (grape leaves stuffed with rice, meat, etc.), plov (rice and chicken along with raisins and chestnuts in a sauce) and plain chicken. Then it was time for more of the sweet stuff and fruit. The few times I’ve eaten baklava in the U.S. the portions have always been very small – it’s so sweet it’s almost overpowering – but here the portions are like a small piece of pie! After a few bites I have the following thoughts going through my head: I wonder what something this sweet is doing to my teeth? How slow can I eat this to ration the sweetness before someone comments on it? I want to learn to make this before I leave Azerbaijan! How many pieces do I have to eat before I can turn the next one down and not offend someone? (Not that it’s not good, it is, but it’s hard to eat consecutive pieces of something so sweet!)

Many towns also have special events planned for Novruz. I had a few days off from work so I went and visited a few friends in Mingecivir. In Mingecivir they had a huge celebration in the central area of the city on the morning of the 20th. Different groups of people would put a display together and be responsible for their assigned area. For example, the local college put together a group performing traditional Azerbaijani dances, next to them was a group with traditional Azerbaijani food, and on and on. I missed these performances, but there was even a tightrope walker and strongmen! There’s also a Novruz tradition that involves eggs – is it a coincidence that Easter is about the same time of the year and there are also eggs involved? You hard boil eggs, dye them (sound familiar?), and then have contests with them. Two people each take an egg and then knock them against each other, and the person who breaks the other’s egg wins! Now it sounds like the wishbone at Thanksgiving! One interesting aspect to see is that you don’t just go to the grocery store and buy egg dye – you use natural ingredients! Eggs can easily be dyed red by using the outside of a red onion. But I’m not so lucky and my egg broke right away. Oh well. It’s about the experience, not winning, right? Mingecivir also had a huge fire, which I’m not sure if it would’ve even been possible to jump over. It was great to experience holidays in a couple different places (at home with my host family and in Mingecivir with friends) and see more than I would have in just one place. So now it’s officially spring and everything from the past year will remain in the fire. That can only mean good things to come!