The Central Asian embassies joined hands to celebrate Christmas at a local hotel. The event started many hours before midnight so the children could also enjoy along with the adults. ‘Tug-of-war’ and other indoor games were arranged for the children on a soft floor carpet rather than a snowy and icy ground which might be the case in Central Asia at this time of the year.

“Celebrating indoor games in warm and pleasant halls is also common at home,” said Batyrbay Baltabayev, a staff member at the Kazakhstan embassy and the chief organiser of the event along with Ukraine, Turkey and Bulgaria.

Baltabayev was equipped with a guitar, a red plastic nose and an artistic suit. He certainly came with the good mood that is required for such events, especially entertainers and organisers.

The guests enjoyed their dinner at the festively decorated tables in the spacious hall. A musical concert was also performed. The children were given gifts while the adults enjoyed magicians’ tricks.

It may be mentioned that in Russia and the Central Asia countries, the New Year celebrations are important.

Religious holidays were not encouraged during the Soviet era.

But New Year was seen as a winter festival, marking the time when days started becoming longer again.

“Christmas is celebrated by the Christian communities but the Central Asian countries are predominantly Muslims,” explained a guest at the event.

“In many communities, it is also common to mark ‘Nowruz’, the Persian new year on March 21, the spring equinox,” she said.

— Text and pho­to by Atle Hetland & Shahbaz Chaudary

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2015

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