Dear One and All~


I've saved the best for the last installment about this year's Nauruz Celebration here on the Steppe. Previously, I've shown you the various games and activities set up around the city square for the party goers to enjoy, the myriad of festive and beautiful costumes, the tasty food options that we available for free, and the general atmosphere which led to a sense of gaity and lightheartedness. Winter was officially over and everyone was ready to welcome the warmer weather and longer days of spring!

The main event of the day was a huge pageant of dancers, theatrical performances, live music, and official blessings led by a local imam. It was actually the first thing we did this day, but it seemed more appropriate to end this series with the most interesting of the lot.

We had been told things would start at 10:00, but it became obvious that in true Central Asian-style, the show would start late- VERY late. We centered ourselves right up front and proceeded to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait some more. Apparently, some of the amps weren't working (as if the music wasn't already loud enough) and they needed to fix some "technical difficulties". Guess that isn't an excuse that only the airline industry has a corner on the market of. After standing there for about an hour, Nariloo started to complain of an earache from the loud music. I really wanted to stick it out, because I knew we'd NEVER get as good a place again if we left. But it really was hurting her, so we had to bail.

Of course, the minute we stepped away, the crowd squeezed into our spot like teenage girls in the bathroom at a slumber party, and the show started. There was no going back; we were relegated to the side flanks and a crappy view. But what we did get to see was really pretty darned fabulous for a small town on the Steppe. They had obviously rehearsed for a while with several teams of dancers and musicians all coordinated together. This scope of cooperation is rarely seen here, if ever.

So, let's me present a few of the shots I managed to capture from our crappy view, and throw in a bit of commentary along the way.

The first ones out were the boys inviting spring with horns and drums. Soon after their call, "Spring" came out to preside over the ceremonies. It was all set to traditional spring songs played with dombras, the kobuz, drums, and violins.







After Spring showed up, dancers celebrated his arrival with traditional dancing, with some interpretive dance thrown in depicting flowers, leaves, birds and other signs of spring.





Eventually, the more serious part of the blessing of spring started. Some older women were escorted around the crowd with "offerings" of fermented mare's milk and bread to God for a prosperous growing year.






After this, although I didn't get a photo, there was a mock battle between Spring and Winter. Winter showed up in a fury with whips and a silvery, icy costume. Spring eventually dominated Winter and drove him away, albeit grudgingly.


Next, off from the side, Princess Spring showed up to meet her prince. She was elegantly escorted in like this:




The last piece of business was the actual blessing from the imam. The entire crowd laid out their palms and asked God to be gracious this year to all. It was a touching moment, to be sure.

Then it was time for more music and to mingle around at the various games and yurts that I've previously described. Our crew was getting tired of standing around by now, so we made our way over to the cotton candy sellers and shashlik stands. After our ingestion of large amounts of meat, we headed home happy to have been part of such a wonderful day!

I'll leave you with some of the pretty woven bands wrapped around the yurts. Enjoy the variety of patterns and colors!