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Nowruz has been observed by Turkic peoples living in a wide territory extending from Central Asia and Siberia to the Caucasus, Crimea, Anatolia and the Balkans. It is an official holiday in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and a holiday in Turkey. Other Turkic peoples such as Uyghurs, Yakuts, Karakalpaks, Volga or Kazan Tatars, Bashkirs and Crimean Tatars also participate in spring celebrations. Nowruz is also a holiday in Iran, a day that marks the beginning of the Persian New Year.
According to the pre-Islamic Turkic calendar, the Twelve Animal Calendar, the New Year began in March. Hence the association of spring with the New Year. Each year was named for an animal and twelve years defined a period. this calendar is no longer used by Turkic nations. Nowruz is also regarded by some groups as a celebration of independence, a tradition rooted in the "Ergenekon Destan" (Epic). Accordingly, the forefathers of Turkic people set themselves free on the day of Nowruz and left the valley named Ergenekon, where they were confined.
Traditionally, preparations for Nowruz involve cleaning houses, purchasing new clothes and cooking special meals and sweets. On the day of Nowruz, families gather for a festive meal, visit relatives and friends, and share meals with them. Special meals are prepared and tables decorated for the occasion. They also visit cemeteries to honor their deceased relatives. Holiday activities may include horseracing and related games on horseback, wrestling, singing, folk dancing, storytelling, and reading of poetry and destans (epics).
Nowruz is also a great holiday for children who go around in their neighborhood, singing and reciting traditional rhymes, and collecting small gifts. We know, for example, that in Crimea and Crimean Tatar communities in Romania, children decorated a dry branch with early spring flowers such as snowdrops and crocuses and walked in neighborhoods, singing folksongs. The gifts included sweets, dry staples such as grains or legumes, money, and handkerchiefs or scarves, placed on the branch with early spring flowers.
The Crimean Tatar folk literature includes many Navrez (or Nawrez) ballads. As the first appearance of migratory birds is a joyful sign of spring, the folksongs relating to Nowruz are replete with references to birds such as storks, geese and swallows.
The geese soar in the air,
I´ll be the storyteller, you the scribe,
First arrives spring, then summer,
Happy Nawrez to all!
Nawrez ushered in the spring,
Then arrived ducks and geese,
Also arrived the chirping of birds,
Happy Nawrez to all!
A poem by the well known Crimean Tatar poet Riza Fazil below ;
Navrez
When the plow is lodged into the misty soil,
And the sheppard drives his flock to the desert,
I rejoice seeing the early appearance of Navrez,
Seeing the smiling sun´s greeting life.
Navrez is the first step taken towards the fields,
It lets you appreciate the gratifying feelings of labor,
Navrez, it is the celebration of spring for us,
As the most pleasant sentiments begins with Navrez.
I walk around envying the world that day,
I smell the fragrance of spring everywhere,
Navrez, it brings beauty to the homeland,
Since my youth I have been in love with her.
Riza Fazil
Edited (3/17/2013) by tunci
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insallah...