Holidays and Festivals of Uzbekistan contents

coming year will be safe and the crop will be plentiful. The holiday is 

accompanied by competitions of national singers and storytellers, single 

combats of horsemen and fights of strong men.  

Tadjiks, whose ethnic roots are more Persian than Turkic, have slightly 

different traditions. In a Tadjik household, the owner of a house or his elder 

sons must prepare fried shish kebab and a sweet pilaf made of rice and other 

cereals. These dishes symbolize the wish for the coming year to be as "sweet" 

and happy.  

Some mountain settlements have a special custom. Before the holiday, young 

men will try to secretly clear out the cattle shed of a prosperous man with a 

marriageable daughter. If they succeed, the owner must treat them 

generously; however, if they fail, they must treat the owner. In Afghanistan,