Twelve countries, where Nauryz is celebrated on a large scale, held their annual reception at UNESCO Headquarters on the occasion of the essential spring holiday under the coordination of the Permanent Delegation of Kazakhstan to the International Organizations in Paris, DKNews.kz reports.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay participated in the event. President of the General Conference of UNESCO Simona-Mirela Miculescu and Deputy Director-General of the Organization Xing Qu addressed the participants with welcoming remarks.
He congratulated everyone on Nauryz, emphasizing the importance of this festival as a treasure for all humanity that reflects the shared heritage of the vast region with millennia-old cultural traditions.
Speaking on behalf of the twelve countries, Permanent Delegate of Kazakhstan to UNESCO Askar Abdrakhmanov noted that Nauryz unites around common values the people of peace and goodwill, transcending religious, ethnic or linguistic boundaries.
“All over the world Nauryz brings rebirth not only in nature but also in our souls, symbolizing inevitable victory of warmth over frost, light over dark, hope and love over despair and hatred” Askar Abdrakhmanov
Many noted the coincidence of Nauryz this year with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which underscores the interconnectedness of cultures and the shared values of compassion, empathy, and solidarity.
The celebration of Nauryz was attended by UNESCO’s management, diplomatic missions of Member States, the Secretariat staff, delegates to the 219th session of the Executive Board and representatives of the diasporas of countries where this holiday is widely celebrated.
The rich concert program of the event featured among other pieces of traditional music of the Land of the Great Steppe performed by soloists of the Roza Baglanova Qazaqconcert State Academic Concert Organization Perizat Turarova (dombra, vocals) and Aigerim Yelemesova (zhetigen).
Attendees were also treated festive national meals, including Kazakh ones.
This December, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at its regular session in Asunción, Paraguay is expected to approved the renewed nomination Nowruz/Nauryz for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on behalf of 13 countries – Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Mongolia, which has officially requested to join the file, based on the scale of its celebration by ethnic Kazakhs.
