Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Novruz Bayram, the most anticipated and favorite holiday solemnly celebrated in Azerbaijan with the arrival of spring, is just around the corner.

Novruz is celebrated each year on March 21, when the sun enters the sign of Aries on the astrological calendar. In the northern hemisphere, this date frequently coincides with the spring equinox, the day on which the number of daylight hours equals the number of nighttime hours. On our modern Gregorian calendar, the spring equinox varies from March 19 to March 21.

Being the oldest festival of spring it’s celebrated for more than 3,000 years in the Caucasus, the Balkans, the Black Sea basin, Central Asia and Near East.

Azerbaijanis and many other peoples throughout the world are happy to meet the warm spring and forget all about the gloom of winter.

Preparation for the holiday begins with Water Tuesday, or as it is known here, Su Chershenbesi, which will be celebrated on February 21 this year.

It is one of the four Tuesdays, each of which is dedicated to the awakening of one of the natural elements called Su Chershenbesi (Water Tuesday), Od Chershenbesi (Fire Tuesday) Hava Chershenbesi (Wind Tuesday) and Torpaq Chershenbesi (Earth or Last Tuesday).

Each of Chershenbe has its own rites. Since ancient times, on Water Tuesday young girls go to the river and other sources to bring some water.

With approaching Water Tuesday water renews. Snow on the slopes begins to melt and rush to rivers. People clean their houses with water on this day. There is also a tradition to jump over streams, which still exists in different regions of the country.

It is no coincidence that the first Tuesday prior to Novruz is associated with water, as water is the main source of life. Water awakens the nature and life on earth is impossible without water.

Rich with different traditions, Novruz has many symbols including lighting bonfires on all of the four Tuesdays, placing hats at the door in anticipation of nuts and Novruz sweets - such as shekerbura, pakhlava and gogal, as well as colored eggs and cultivated Semeni, sprouted wheat in a bowl, which is considering an essential feature of the festival.

The joyful, merry holiday of Novruz, having a lot of customs, ceremonies, performances, games and songs, also traditionally mark a large tourist flow to Azerbaijan from the neighboring countries.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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