Happy Novruz!: Or, When Is Novruz, Anyway?

This year’s Novruz was a more subdued in Ismayilli than last year. Novruz, just a refresher, is the large spring holiday in Azerbaijan, marking the end of winter and the coming of spring, a “new day.” The holiday is a big time for family to come together, but Novruz found my host family split in several directions. One host brother is studying in Ohio, another is working on an oil ship as a translator. That left my host parents a bit lonely, and while I did my best to be an acceptable consolation prize, I’m sure it wasn’t the same for them. Last year’s Novruz was a big deal. In addition to both their sons, their first volunteer came to visit, along with my host father’s brother’s family. It was a full house, to say the least.

Just because this year’s holiday was quieter doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good holiday. We had our share of plov and baxlava, and then some. We jumped over a pretty decent fire, and kids threw their hats at our door in hopes of sweets (it’s kind of like Halloween, but with hiding while their hats are filled with sweets, candy, and fruit—even in Azerbaijan there are people who insist on giving healthy stuff).

The week before Novruz, I sat down with a conversation club and had the students tell me about Novruz. When I asked about when Novruz is, they got into an argument. It may seem strange that there is uncertainty about when the biggest holiday of the year, but it actually makes a bit of sense. And at the same time it is completely baffling. Novruz comes originally from the Zoroastrian faith, and like many holidays in the region, the holiday begins at sundown the night before and lasts until the next sundown. At the same time, everyone wishes each other Happy Novruz for days and even weeks beforehand, the same way Christians often wish others Merry Christmas all through the “Christmas Season.” Making matters more confusing though, is that Novruz is celebrated in ceremony in Baku, the capital, a day before it is celebrated in the regions. Why this is has never been satisfactorily explained to me, but the matter can’t make things easier.

I spent the majority of the week dealing with a blow to ABLE, the Azerbaijan Boys’ Leadership Experience. We failed to win the main grant we were hoping for, which is forcing us to reevaluate our game plan. While this is a blow, we hope to push this to be the first step to true sustainability by searching out smaller donors and focusing on local organizations. Funding the camp will go down to the wire, and we’ll probably have to make some difficult decisions, but if we can make this happen, we all hold high hopes that we are now moving the camp in the right direction. The exec board for ABLE had already been hoping to move down this path, we just thought we had more time to set it up beforehand. There’s no such thing in community service, apparently.