NORUZ MOBORAK! (Happy New Year!)

At long last, spring has sprung in Tajikistan. Even though about a foot of snow fell on the first two days of spring, Dushanbe has warmed up in a hurry. Along with the vernal equinox, the Persian new year (Noruz) also set Tajikistan abuzz. As I stated in my last post, there was originally a great deal of confusion as to when Noruz should actually be celebrated. Instead of taking the time to figure it out, a good deal of people simply partied the whole week long. On March 20, at the exact moment of the equinox, many local Iranians observed their new year. In Tajikistan, however, Noruz is typically celebrated on the 21st. Unfortunately, since it snowed so much on the 20th and 21st, the Taj government postponed the state-sponsored festivities. I think they realized that celebrating the coming of warmer, greener days seemed a bit silly under a foot of snow and ice.

In the meantime, the scheduled American Councils party on the 22rd went off without a hitch. There are a lot of traditions that surround Noruz. Bobi Dehqon (Grandfather Farmer) and Malikai Havruzi are two of the characters that are closely connected to the New Year in Taj. I suppose one could liken them to Santa and Mrs. Claus at Christmas time in the US. Anyhow, my professors asked me to play the role of Boboi Dehqon in the American Councils skit. My friend Amanda was Malikai Havruzi. We both had to dress up in very traditional Tajik outfits and just say a few words on the changing of the season. It was pretty fun and everyone at the party seemed to find it amusing. 

The rest of the party was just as enjoyable. Everyone was up, singing and dancing, till it got dark. There was a ton of osh and other traditional Noruz foods that were prepared for us. Samanu, a wheat-based pudding that is only made around Noruz, was probably my favorite food. In order to properly prepare samanu, one has to continue stirring it in a gigantic pot for about 24 hours. People from all over the neighborhood came to our party to help with the samanu-making process. Spread out on one the tables was also the traditional haft sin (seven S's). The haft sin is comprised of seven various things that start with the Persian letter sin and symbolize a different aspect of Noruz. The things that make up the haft sin are as follows:

-Sabzi: literally 'green' (symbolizing rebirth)

-Samanu: the wheat pudding (symbolizing affluence)

-Senjed: some kind of fruit (symbolizing love)

-Sir: garlic (symbolizing medicine)

-Sib: apple (symbolizing beauty and health)

-Somaq: sumac (symbolizing the color of the sunrise)

-Serkeh: vinegar (symbolizing old-age and patience)

Apparently there are a lot of things that can be substituted into the haft sin, like coins or certain flowers. There were also quite a few arm wrestling competitions and tugs of war that took place at the party. I think they're traditional Noruz activities, but I forget why. Another traditional activity is the dying hard boiled eggs. Once the eggs are all colored, people smash them together. Whoever has the egg that doesn't crack is said to have good luck in the new year. My family in the US does this for Easter, so I was surprised to learn that the custom was observed in other cultures as well. All in all, it was a great day. Another memory I will look back on fondly.

The following day we had off from classes. Nothing really happened again until the 25th. Pretty much every night that week, though, the extended host family members came over and we had some comparatively lavish dinners. On the 25th, the Tajik government officially celebrated Noruz with a gigantic exposition of traditional song and dance at a local stadium. Unfortunately, it was an invitation-only sort of affair. So even though I couldn't attend in person, I watched the taping of it with my extended host family later that night. It went on for quite a while. Considering how much was involved with the exhibition, it was surprisingly well organized. At the end of the whole event, the President of Taj made some quick remarks and with that, Noruz was over. It was indeed an enjoyable week of festivities.

Like I said, the weather is getting pretty warm. It seems that right as Noruz came, the weather got beautiful again. Everyday for the past week has been sunny in the low 70's. I hope it stays that way for my last six weeks here. If all goes well, I'm planning to travel to four more (fairly) major Tajik cities before I leave. So there will definitely be a few more intriguing posts before all is said and done this semester.

As always, thanks for reading. There are some Noruz pictures below.

^ Bobi Dehqon and my Prof. calling for Malikai Navruzi

^ the fabric upon which Malikai Navruzi entered was fought over until it ripped; whoever got the larger piece would be lucky in the new year (like a wishbone)

 ^ some traditional dancing

 ^ Chris, Amanda and I holding some elements of the haft sin (and of the haft shin - the Tajik variant)

^ Students and professors with haft sin stuff

^ big pot of samanu

 ^ I could stir that stuff all day

^ My Dari professor didn't get a chance to exhale from the hookah before this picture was taken

 ^ Myself, Dari (Afghan Persian) Prof, Amanda

Bowling, Bolnol and Buzkashi

These past two weekends have been a little odd, but in a good way. I'll start from last week.

It was a pretty average weekend until Sunday afternoon. As usual, there were no excursions so it was up to us to find our own fun. I forget what I did on Saturday, but on Sunday I went bowling with Amanda and Chris. I had been wanting to go since last September. I don't really think we'll go again though. The place wasn't really up to snuff. We were not provided with any sort of special shoes, which meant I was bowling in the same shoes that I've been wearing around Taj everyday for the last few months. Also the lanes weren't greased. Thus, (perhaps only my parents understand this, but) it wasn't really bowling.

About halfway through our first game, a Tajik man approached us. He spoke to us in surprisingly coherent English and told us his name was Rustam (same as my host dad - it's an incredibly common Tajik name). Rustam was a director and wanted us to be in his commercial. The commercial was for a pain cream called Bolnol. All we really had to do was bowl, and react to whatever the main actor was doing. It was pretty strange. We had to keep doing the same stuff over and over again. A lot of people kept coming in and staring at us. In the end, we found out that in about three weeks the commercial will be aired on TV stations throughout Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. I'm hoping it ends up online so I can post it here. Anyhow, that was last weekend.

This weekend was similarly strange, but more exciting. American Councils took us to see a buzkashi match yesterday. Buzkashi is a traditional Central Asian sport that remains wildly popular in the region today. The main purpose is to pick up a headless goat carcass from the ground and bring it to an end zone. Everyone that plays is on horseback and is armed with a whip made from the intestines of a cow. Any male with a horse can opt in to the game. Other than that, there are virtually no rules. The game is pretty much every man for himself. Getting the goat carcass to the end zone wins you a different prize each time. Yesterday there was everything from 50 somoni (~ $10) cash prizes to traditional carpets to a (live) goat or camel.

We were about an hour outside of Dushanbe. The place where we watched the game was impressive. Everyone watched the field from high atop two large hills on either side. The field had to be huge because a lot of the time horses would go running by at a full gallop. Luckily, the hills were steep enough that horses couldn't climb up from the field. A lot of riders got hurt though. They would fall from their horses or 'accidentally' get whipped by fellow opponents. It was intense. I got the feeling that most of the participants didn't really know how to properly ride a horse too. Not that I know how, but a lot of the men on horseback and could barely control their animals. 

The event atmosphere reminded me a lot of tailgating before a big sports game in the US. Admission of course was free, and as we were walking up the hill there were tons of people grilling kabobs by their cars in the parking area. People were selling all kinds of food like shwarma, kabobs and fried egg sandwiches. It was fun. I thought it was beyond cool that out there in (literally) the middle of nowhere, I could still get a Coke to wash down my lunch. Sometimes globalization really blows my mind. The only other highlight was that President Rahmon's son was in attendance at the match. He was sitting on a large platform (known as a takht) with some cronies. No one was really allowed to walk too close to him. The whole buzkashi experience was a lot of fun. It was a good day.

Back in the city, the Persian new year, Noruz, is coming up in a few days. All the Iranians we know keep saying that they'll be celebrating on the 20th, at the exact moment of the vernal equinox. Tajiks are celebrating on the 21st though. American Councils has organized a party for us on the 22nd. And we all have off from classes on the 23rd. So I'm pretty sure we're just going to be celebrating all week. City workers have been putting in some serious efforts to clean up the place by the time the new year arrives. They've been repainting gates, rebuilding bus stops and replanting flowers and trees. We're actually supposed to get more snow here on the 19th and 20th, so I'm thinking the city will still not be looking it's best for Noruz.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that it was my host father, Rustam's, birthday earlier this week. The whole family came over and everyone had to give a toast. The food was good and the conversation was interesting. 

I suppose I'll have another post up next weekend, following all of the Noruz festivities. Below are some shots from buzkashi.

 ^there were about 100 riders at the match

^the goat carcass was hard to follow 

^spectators on the field - they nearly got trampled 

^bactrian camel was one of the prizes 

^view of some of the spectators from the hill (the riders were at the other end of the field)

 

^madness ensues 

^even the old guys got pretty into it 

Woman Day

A lot of times the powers-that-be in Tajikistan really crack me up. Tajikistan is home to the world tallest freestanding flagpole, the world's longest flag and the world's third largest aluminum factory. Somehow in the course of prioritizing projects, these three aforementioned feats won out over curbing widespread poverty, improving education, cracking down on corruption, increasing availability of basic utilities and   attracting foreign investment. This past week, however, the president and his cronies really had all of us peons just rolling in the aisles. About a week ago, yet another news organization posted yet another article about how hilariously inept the Tajik government is. And just to prove how true this widely-accepted claim was, President Rahmon banned Facebook that same day. Why Facebook? Well we're all still trying to figure that out. But like I said, the president is a comedian. He acts so irrationally that there's really nothing to do but laugh at him.

Apparently Facebook has been promoting a lot of un-Tajik values as of late and so access needed to be shut down. At least that was the case a week ago. The national ban was lifted today. So I guess the worldwide social networking site that is Facebook really took Rahmon's threat seriously and cleaned up its act. Either that or Rahmon is just trying keep us guessing. He is a man of mystery. A comedian and a man of mystery. Obama could learn a thing or two from this guy..

But in all seriousness, the Facebook ban was kind of a blow to my ability to keep in contact with the Western World. I'm glad my access is back. So thanks, Taj.

Anyhow, last weekend American Councils finally sent us on our first excursion of the semester. We went to the TALCO aluminum factory. Like I said, it's the third largest aluminum factory in the world. My host dad sees it as a huge source of national pride and was overjoyed that I got to see it. We toured the visitors' museum and the inside of the factory itself. My Resident Director, Jake, said it was a pretty big deal that we got to see inside the factory. The place is not open to tourists, but American Councils somehow has an in. According to Jake, less that one hundred foreigners have probably ever been inside the factory. So that's cool I guess. It was honestly pretty intimidating inside. Everything was gigantic, from the machines to the buckets. We got to see aluminum heated up to 950 degrees Celsius. As my friend Amanda said, when they were pouring the stuff into some machine, it just looked like fire and water. I also learned a lot of super useful Persian words that day. Who knew I'd ever learn how to say words like 'molten' and 'unhusked rice' and 'ingot?' At one point, someone asked our tour guide how many people get hurt in the factory every year. The guide said it was a secret. Looking back, I don't think the museum was really that awesome. Everything was grey and it was kind of dull. It was, however, my first chance to leave the city in about 6 weeks. I would've been excited for anything. On the way back to Dushanbe, we stopped at a mill and everyone bought some flaxseed oil. Jake said it's better than the normal oil Tajiks use. My host mom and host sister-in-law were pretty stoked.

Speaking of the ladies, this past Thursday was International Women's Day. Thought Tajikistan has never observed International Daylight Savings Day, International Women's Day has become a pretty big deal. It's so big, that we had off from school for the day. A few days prior, Amanda and I went to the National University to see an exhibition of some Tajik music and dancing. Some important professors gave speeches and read poems that glorified the advancement of women in Taj. I didn't really buy any of it, but it was at least something out of the ordinary. The actual day itself wasn't super exciting. I picked up some carnations and caramels for the women in my host family and that was about it. My host mom and sister-in-law slaved away making a gigantic meal for dinner. Don't tell me Tajik women aren't valued. The food was pretty good and everyone was having such a pleasant evening that by the end of the night, my host mom and dad were up doing some traditional Tajik dances with their grandkids. That part was cool. I suppose it was a nice night.

That about does it for this post. I'll end with this Tajik fun fact: In 1924, only 230 people lived in Dushanbe. Now there's about 750,000. The infrastructure can still only handle about 230 though.

Some pictures are below.

^ industrial sprawl

^ happy fun times at TALCO

^big stuff

^ aluminum at 950 degrees Celsius

^ the Farsi word for 'molten' is 'mozob'

^ the TALCO symbol kind of looks like the Star Trek symbol

^ who can really say what's going on here

^ lots of grey

^ Tajik ladies

^ Amanda with some Woman Day propaganda

^ outside the National University