Introducing Azerbaijan Part Two: Novruz holiday

Опубликовано 2 марта 2012, 14:33

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Under the travel section of the Eurovision.tv website we placed a short video devoted to the celebration of Novruz, a national holiday in Azerbaijan.
Novruz is a holiday of friendship and peace. It is meant to connect people. Novruz means a new day, which explains why we celebrate the holiday in spring. Novruz signifies the awakening of nature from winter, the beginning of a new day. Preparations for Novruz start four weeks prior to the festival. Each of the forthcoming four weeks is devoted to one of the four elements of life on our planet: water, fire, earth and wind. Each of the so-called Novruz Tuesdays people celebrate one of these symbols of life. One of the main elements of this holiday is fire. Today we are celebrating "the Fire Tuesday". It is the second of the four Novruz Tuesdays, which signals the coming of spring. The key feature of the week is people dancing around bonfires. "The Fire Tuesday" signifies the warmth in the hearts of people who live in the Land of Fire -- Azerbaijan. People spend this day with their relatives and friends. Everybody gets to share the warmth of this fire.
The main days of the holiday fall on the 20th and the 21st of March. On those days we will witness a completely different picture throughout the country. The joy of the holiday will be shared everywhere. UNESCO included this holiday in its lists of intangible cultural heritage. In 2010, the UN announced March 21st as "International Day of Novruz".
We invite you to watch how the great holiday is celebrated in Azerbaijan.