Nawruz - holiday of spring, unity and friendship
This holiday has been celebrated on 22 March, the day of the spring equinox. That's why the Kazakhs call the month of March Nauryz. It was celebrated as the day of the renewed life which comes with the spring. It was the day when the first spring thunder strikes, buds are swelling on the trees and vegetation grows wildly.
Nauryz as a non-religious celebration of the spring and renewal is closely linked to some other Kazakh holidays, such as a "farewell to winter" festival. Boys born on this day would be called Nauryzbai or Nauryzbek, and girls Nauryz or Nauryzgul. It was seen as a good omen if it was snowing on that day.
During the day, everybody tried to be in good spirits, would give a big hug to each other and wish good fortune and happiness to others. The celebrations would begin with sunrise. There is an old ritual "If you see a spring, clean up its source". At dawn, all adults, youngsters and children would pick up spades, go to an agreed place near a spring or aryk (small water canal) and clean it. There, they would also plant trees under the supervision of respectable old people.
The celebration always included mass games, traditional horse races and other competitions. The most famous and favourite were the games of "Aikysh-uishysh" (towards each other) and "Audaryspek" where dzhigits (skillful horsemen) had to pull each other down from their saddles. Sport competitions were popular and both boys and girls could take part in them. A girl would invite a dzhigit to have a go and compete with her on one condition: if he wins, he would have the right to marry her, and if she wins he would have to obey her and execute her every desire.
The UN's General Assembly in 2010 recognized the International Day of Nowruz, describing it as a spring festival of Persian origin which has been celebrated for over 3,000 years.
During the meeting of The Inter-governmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage of the United Nations , held between 28 September - 2 October 2009 in Abu Dhabi, Nowrūz was officially registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity