Azerbaijani Embassy in Tashkent marks Novruz holiday

Tashkent, March 17 (AzerTAc). Azerbaijan`s Embassy in Uzbekistan and Women Council of the Tashkent-based Azerbaijan Culture Center have arranged a celebrative event to mark Novruz holiday. The event was attended by women diplomats, spouses of Azerbaijani and foreign diplomats acredited in Uzbekistan, Azerbaijani diaspora`s women activists, and journalists. Gulzara Guliyeva, the spouse of the Azerbaijani Ambassador, congratulated the participants on Novruz holiday. The event featured an exhibition of Azerbaijani carpets and national items. Dating back to ancient times, Novruz has always been celebrated as the beginning of the new year by people all around the world. Usually preparation for Novruz begins a month prior to the festival. Each of forthcoming 4 weeks is devoted to one of the four elements and called accordingly in Azerbaijan. Each Tueasday people celebrate the day of one of the four elements- water, fire, earth and wind. The last and the most important Tuesday is devoted to wind and called Yel Charshanbasi or Ilakhir Chershenbe by Azerbaijani people. The Novruz holiday was included into the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2009 thanks to the efforts of President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCO and ISESCO goodwill ambassador, MP, Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva. On February 2010 United Nations General Assembly recognized the 21 of March as the “International Day of Novruz”.