Lecturers and students of the Faculty of Oriental Studies took part in an event dedicated to the celebration of «Yalda Night – Nartugan»

On November 15, a festive event dedicated to the longest night of the year — Yalda Night — was held at the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The event was organized by the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Almaty. In ancient times, the Turkic peoples celebrated the Nartugan festival on the eve of the winter solstice, that is, on December 22. What does the word “nar” mean? In modern Kazakh, sacred light is referred to as “nur”, while in ancient times the concept of the sun was called “nar”, a word that was later replaced by the Arabic term “nur”. It can be said that the Nartugan festival has largely faded from the collective memory of the Kazakh people. Today, among the Turkic peoples, only the Chuvash retain limited knowledge of this tradition. The Hungarian people have also preserved this ancestral custom and continue to celebrate it in Europe under the name “Karachun”. In recent years, the Tatars and Bashkirs have likewise begun efforts to revive the tradition.

In Iran, Yalda Night was included in the list of national cultural heritage in 2008. The celebration has a nationwide character. On this night, relatives and friends gather together, enjoy fruits and various grains, and read the poetry of Hafez or excerpts from the Shahnameh.

The evening was opened by Gaziza Kudaibergenovna Nurgalieva, Director of the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Welcoming speeches were delivered by Ms. Suna Ahmadi, Consul General of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Mr. Hossein Aghazadeh, Head of the Iranian Cultural Center; Ms. Sima Mokhtari, expert on political and public diplomacy at the Consulate General; and Saltanat Zhakubayeva, Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Kazakh National Women’s Teacher Training University. Gaukhar Omarkhanova, a master’s student of the Faculty of Oriental Studies and a translator, presented a report entitled “A Review of Literature Dedicated to the ‘Yalda Night – Nartugan’ Festival.” During the event, students of the Iranian Studies Department performed songs and recited poems in Persian. At the end of the evening, guests were invited to taste traditional dishes prepared specially for Yalda Night.