Happy New Year!

A traditional dance to celebrate Nauryz.

Nope, you didn't click on an archived post :)  It's the New Year in Kazakhstan!  Like much of Central Asia and the Middle East, Kazakhstan celebrates Nauryz, or the Persian New Year on March 21st and 22nd.  This holiday marks the coming of spring, an important time for the ancient nomadic steppe tribes because it meant their livestock could feed better and cold temperatures were on their way out.  Through a lot of searching, and contacting the University, I discovered a few local celebrations, however, due to illness and previous plans, we were unable to attend any of them. :(  But, you can be sure we will be Rockin the Persian New Year next year, hopefully with a new little Persian!  Okay, we're not adopting a Persian child, modern day Persia is mostly Iran and I have a feeling that adoption route is closed tighter than Russia, but you know what I mean ;)

It's considered best if you cannot see any part of the table!

So what does one do for a good ol' fashioned Kaz New Year?!  Well, let me tell you!  Because the holiday is closely tied with spring, many of the traditions associated with Nauryz represent a newness, a freshness.  People clean everything, purchase special new clothes, and put up decorations-sound familiar?  And of course, just like holidays across the world, Nauryz features food, food, food!  I actually found a little Middle Eastern Grocery store just a few miles from my house!  Because we've been sick, and because I now keep the Kaz Embassy's list of requirements for the dossier open on my desktop, so I can spend time stressing about it, I broke one of the rules of celebrating Nauryz-all food should be homemade.  I do love to bake-as witnessed by my Irish brownies over the weekend (you may have never heard of Irish brownies, let's just say you can make anything "Irish" ;)). And next year I look forward to hosting a full on Nauryz Party, but for this year, I learned as much as I could (read more here) and then adapted it to what would work for us, right now.  The number 7 is also very important and the traditional Nauryz food, Kozhe, features 7 ingredients.  Further research has led me to believe this dish, like their tradition of drinking fermented mare's milk, may be an acquired taste that I will save up for experiencing when I am actually in Kazakhstan!  But our trip to the deli was successful and I created some treats, all featuring the 7 main ingredients with a Kristin twist-bonus points if you can figure out the item that represents me.  Yummy! There are many other events associated with Nauryz.  Planting trees and cleaning up parks, sporting games-mostly involving horses although a goat's head may also be found (!), big family gatherings, charitable events, and shows.  A mixture of honoring old traditions and celebrating them in a new way.

My own version of Nauryz Kozhe!

As a history major, I love the idea of learning about ancient traditions.  And as an adopting mom, I love even more the concept of merging something old with something new; expanding, growing, developing.  So today we got out our Kazakh music CD, we read our book on folk tales from the steppe, we ate our treats from the deli and we prayed for our little baby brother.  There's no way that the girls can fully understand what bringing a new family member into our home will mean for them.  There's no way that I can imagine what this new year will bring to us.  But I do know that change, even when painful, brings growth.  And that when we grow, we transform into something new, something previously unknown.  So Happy Spring and Happy New Year! Embrace the newness, it will make you stronger, more unique, and who knows?  Maybe your life will be transformed this year, in ways you cannot even possibly imagine!