Navruz
21 March, the spring equinox — a New Year welcomed with cauldrons of sumalak, green samsa, street festivities and neighbourhood clean-ups.
Ramadan and the Eids
© BeshevI, CC BY-SA 4.0
Iftar evenings in the month of fasting, the sweet table of Eid al-Fitr and the sacrifice of Eid al-Adha — festivals whose dates move each year with the lunar calendar.
Ramadan and iftar
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. In the evening families, neighbours and friends gather for iftar: the fast is broken with dates or water, followed by tea, bread, shurpa and plov. A favourite on Samarkand’s iftar tables is snow-white nisholda. In 2023 ‘Iftar and its socio-cultural traditions’ was inscribed on UNESCO’s list by Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Türkiye.
Ramazon hayiti — Eid al-Fitr — falls on the first day of Shawwal. In the morning men attend the festive prayer at the mosque, after which families visit relatives and neighbours, especially households that have recently lost someone. Children go from door to door calling ‘Hayit muborak!’ and are rewarded with sweets.
Qurbon hayiti
Qurbon hayiti — Eid al-Adha — comes about seventy days after Eid al-Fitr, on the 10th of Dhu al-Hijjah at the climax of the hajj. It commemorates the devotion of the prophet Ibrahim: families who can afford it sacrifice a sheep or other animal and share part of the meat with the needy and their neighbours.
Both Eids are public holidays in Uzbekistan. Because they follow the lunar calendar, they move about eleven days earlier each year and are officially announced each time. Mosques and shrines are busy over the holidays — a wonderful time to experience the festive mood, as long as you respect prayer times.
Traditions
Traditions
Mahalla and hashar
The neighbourhood community gathered around its guzar square, which shares weddings and funerals and keeps its streets in shape through hashar — the backbone of Samarkand life.
Hospitality and the dastarkhan
‘A guest ranks above your father’: in a Samarkand home the guest takes the seat of honour, and bread, tea, sweets and hot dishes reach the dastarkhan in turn.
Weddings (toʻy)
From matchmaking to the bride’s bow — an Uzbek wedding is a chain of rituals, and in Samarkand its story reaches back to the age of Timur.
The teahouse and the gap
Every mahalla’s teahouse is the daily club of its men, while the gap is a long-standing custom of friends taking turns to host one another.
Maqom and musical heritage
The subtle modes of Shashmaqom, Hoji Abdulaziz and his ‘Samarkand Ushshoq’, and the Sharq Taronalari festival — Samarkand’s musical memory.
