Navrus

Navrus is the Muslim New Year.  

It begins on the Spring Equinox.  March 21 in Dushanbe and  March 22 in Donghara (If you are President you can have your Province celebrate a day later so you are able to attend both).  

Navrus is about new beginnings.  This Country is about new beginnings.  

There are children everywhere in Tajikistan!  

33% of this country is under the age of 14.

I had once said to Jason that he needed to do a blog on the children of Tajikistan,  He said people would not like "some stranger" taking pictures of their kids.  He couldn't have been more wrong.  These people are VERY proud of their kids.  They are happy to let you take pictures (even if every child does not feel the same way) of their son/daughter.  They fix their hair, tell them to smile, step aside, and watch as you click, click, click away.

The outfits are special for a special occasion.  They are a varied  as the people here.

  

This is the first little girl I saw, she gave me the idea for this blog.

I loved this picture.  I have no idea how they got her to stay still long enough to get her into this outfit.  I was just happy to see that the right pant leg is pulled up.  It made her seem more like a child.

    Jason really liked this little girl, as you will see.  Not sure that she liked having her picture taken.

I'd be pissed also if someone did that to my hair, it looks painful!

I wouldn't be happy either if they put those things in my hair!

This little girl looked as good coming or going.

This little boy had some great dance moves.  The music was loud and he was working it.

This little girl was demonstrating how to separate cotton.  She was very excited to have her picture taken

These two twins danced beautifully.

 

This group of girls had a great time playing guess how.

All I could think of with this one was Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!

This young man didn't care about the outfit, he only had eyes for that soda.

Buzkashi Anyone?

For those of you not sure if you should say yes or no to the above question read on.

Buzkashi  (goat killing) is a game in Central Asia that has been around...forever (that's a reliable statistic).

The game, as best I can tell, is a mixture between polo and rugby, just replace the ball with a dead goat. 

 Jason and I wanted to see a game, but alas he went back to the states so it was left to me to find a game.  With a lot of nagging, for those of you that know me you know that is not something I do well.   Firuza ,my friend, finally found a game in Donghara, about two-to-three hours outside Dushanbe (two, if a young male Tajik is driving, Faruk was our driver...so two hours for us).  

There were hundreds of spectators.  If you look closely you will see they were all male.  I found out it was "mans day" after we got there, but they forgive foreign women much, so Katie and I were safe.  

Sort of, read on.

These two gentlemen used chip bags as impromptu cap visors.

The game is fierce.  There are approximately 200 horses on the field at any time.

This is the game in progress.

You have to watch the players to figure out where the goat is, if you could zoom in you would see they are all looking in the same place.

That "hill" they are on is the goal at one end of the field,

I noticed this guy early on and thought he was just there as a spectator.

Until I was looking through my pictures later and saw this one.  It is cropped, but he is in the middle of about a hundred horses riding very fast.  So much for my spectator idea.

The horses and riders not participating would watch from the sidelines until the prize was what they wanted.

The prizes were new cars, camels, and 25,000c ($5,000).  Apparently the camel is the best prize.  I asked what a rider from Dushanbe could possibly want with a camel.  No one had an answer, but were still adamant that camels were the best prize.

This is Firuza and Faruk, in the foreground.  I had asked if we could go to the other side where I could get closer to the game.  I had sent Jason a picture from my phone showing the entire field with hundreds of riders.  He asked where the close-ups were.  Here they are.

This is what I saw through the camera.  I told Katie to tell me when they got too close.  I kept taking pictures.

This is when I started running (so did Katie and three men),  If you notice the riders don't look forward.  They are watching the rider with the goat, looking for their chance to steal it and ride to the goal.  And, they are moving fast.

The game turned and the riders with the goat separated from the pack.

Here is the fight for the goat.  The guy on the right was trying to take it.

He got it, then promptly dropped it.  Did I forget to mention that they kill the goat two days prior to the game and leave it soaking in water until it is completely water log. It weighs a ton.

I thought it was great fun, until I really started paying attention and looked at my pictures. I never saw a horse being given water.  The riders carried whips and often whipped the horses.  They pulled so hard on the reins that the horses mouths were pulled open as their heads were pulled back.  They were so crowded that there had to be injuries to the horses. 

I once taught a class about customs and traditions that are not our own, that we do not understand.  A student once said "I would not want to participate (they were killing a dog prior to eating it for a right of passage ceremony) but I would be honored to attend."  I knew I could stop teaching an be a happy person, because I had helped someone look at another culture and not judge.

I was honored to attend.