Novruz in Azerbaijan

The festive table includes sweets such as shekerbour, baklava, badambur, gogal. The main dish of the table is a festive pilaf . Previously, on the table, there always had to be a fish with a head, which was often served with nuts and raisins. According to custom, there should be food on the table consisting of seven elements, the name of which begins with the letter “c” (sumah - seasoning, syd - milk, cirque - vinegar, semeni - wheat sprouted in a plate, sabzi - greens, etc.). In addition to the listed dishes, a mirror, candles and colored eggs are placed on the table. Semeni - sprouted wheat in a plate, is an indispensable attribute of the festival ^[3] . For its cultivation, a handful of wheat is taken and soaked, symbolizing abundance and prosperity, and this ritual is accompanied by the song “Semeni, save me, I will raise you every year” ( azerb. Səməni, saxla məni, ildə göyərdərəm səni ) ^[5] .

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  Holiday sweets

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  Honcha (semeni, treats, candles)

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  Children check the strength of painted eggs.

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  Shekerbour

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  Azerbaijani baklava

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  Gogal

On the first day, Novruz get up early. Everyone wishes each other a blessed and happy New Year. By tradition, everyone treats each other with sweets. These days in the morning you need to eat something sweet (usually honey or sugar). It is customary to paint boiled eggs and test their strength in the game. Another custom is fortune-telling in the name of Novruz - duyun achmag (untying the knot).

One of the rituals associated with farming and cattle breeding is the binding of red horns of a bull, a cash cow, and rams allocated for a wedding with red cloth. In Novruz, you can’t slaughter cattle and kill animals. In Novruz, it is also not customary to lend, so as not to deprive the house of wealth. According to tradition, one cannot curse, lie, swear, condemn these days, one should beware of evil deeds ^[5] .

On holiday days, folk singers ashigi and hanende sing songs, folk games are held - tightrope walkers demonstrate their skills, pahlavans (folk wrestlers) measure their strength, performances are played out in the squares. Among such performances, the comic play “Kyos-kyosa” is widespread, horse-riding competitions, games of chovgan are held in the countryside, cock-fights are held .

The celebration of Novruz is full of symbolism. So, baklava is a symbol of stars in the sky, and its layers, the number of which can be 9 or 12, symbolize the layers of the Earth, the atmosphere. Shakerbour symbolizes the moon, and gogal - the Sun.

In the days of the holiday, it is customary to give people a festive “share” ( Novruz payy ). The honcha is filled with holiday treats, semeni , candles and sent to neighbors and friends. If the family has an engaged girl, then from the side of the groom, a special honcha is brought to her name. On this day, the groom's family must certainly send gifts to the bride's house - sweets, gold and silver items, and more. The bride's family, for its part, also provides appropriate signs of attention to the groom's home.

Every year, on the eve of the holiday, four Tuesdays of winter are celebrated ( Ilahyr Cheshenbe ), symbolizing water, fire, wind and earth. The celebration begins on Tuesday evening. Regarding each of these days, people have customs, songs, games. On the last Tuesday before Novruz, children knock on the doors of neighboring houses, put their hats on the threshold and hide. The owners of these houses should return caps with holiday treats. Also on this day in each family, according to the number of its members, it is customary to light candles that cannot be extinguished prematurely ^[5] .

With the onset of evening, bonfires erupt on the streets. Families all hold hands, dance around the fire, and then jump over the fire. It is believed that the cleansing flame of bonfires devours evil and all ills ^[6] . By tradition, whenever possible, everyone should celebrate the holiday at home, among members of their family. In the days of Novruz sloppiness and carelessness are condemned, therefore, they restore order and cleanliness in the houses, renew their clothes, and those who are in a quarrel, resenting each other, reconcile ^[5] .

In "Review of Russian possessions beyond the Caucasus" of 1836, a description of the celebration of Novruz among the Azerbaijanis (in the book are called "Tatars") by Elizavetpol (the then name of Ganja ) is given:

There is also information about a custom called Novruzun to the top of the atylda (“Novruz gun shot”). A German traveler Adam Olearius, a participant in the New Year’s ceremonies in Shemakha, wrote in 1637 : “An astrologer often rises from the table and observes the height of the sun with his gnomon , looks at his watch and thus waits for the moment when the sun reaches the point of equal day to night. When the expected minute arrived, he loudly announced: New Year has come. Immediately opened the cannon fire. A trumpet (garanai) was played on the walls and towers of the city, they were beaten on the sag, and thus the spring festival began. ” Russian ethnographer Vsevolod Miller , referring to this custom, wrote that "bonfires were lit as a symbol of a new life, the revived sun." Thus, these ancient games with fire, on the one hand, meant the end of winter, and on the other, they were a signal for the beginning of spring field work ^[8] .

Scythe and Kechal

In Azerbaijan, during the days of the Novruz holiday, popular performances with the participation of characters such as Scythe (rarebeard) and Kechal (bald) are popular . The semi-positive-half-singing with which Kosa speaks faithfully conveys his “tricks”. He is "for laughter", then stumbles, pretending to fall, then grimaces, "makes faces." It is interesting to note that the recitative is alternately sung by both Scythe himself and his assistant Kechal, who praised the skill and tricks of Scythe ^[3] :

Scythe put on a funny outfit of felt, open knees and elbows coated with clay and soot. A long-eared felt hat was jammed on his head, his face was covered with a mask and a beard. A variety of jewelry hung around his neck and belt. He tied a pillow to his stomach to be fat-belly ^[3] .

In 1991, the USSR postage stamp was issued dedicated to the celebration of Novruz in Azerbaijan. In 1996, 1998 and 2011 Azerbaijan stamps dedicated to Novruz Bayram were issued.

• Novruz in Azerbaijan
• Rafael Huseynov. Azerbaijan Novruz // İRS magazine. - 2004. - No. 3 . - S. 16 .
• Spring Festival in Azerbaijan: traditions and customs