Common Heritage Festival, a Cultural Bridge bet. Nations
2006-6-21 - 23:5 - Pendar
Tehran, 24 April 2006_Soudabeh Sadigh (CHN) -- Maintaining the common culture and heritage and creating unity among the Caspian Sea regional countries were the most important achievements of the first Festival of Common Heritage of Caspian Sea Littoral States and Central Asia which was held in the cities of Sari, Babol, and Ramsar of Mazandaran province, northern Iran, from 15 to 19 of April this year.
The festival which provided an opportunity for the Caspian Sea regional countries to gather and discuss their common cultural background for the first time was held with the effort of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization of Mazandaran province and with cooperation of Gilan, Golestan and Ardabil cultural heritage organizations. The festival was attended by representatives from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Afghanistan. Turkey was the only absentee in this event which was supposed to attend the festival along with other countries who share the Norouz tradition. However, according to Delavar Bozorgnia, director of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization of Mazandaran province, the Turkish officials have announced their willingness to take part in the festival from now on. The Caspian Sea festival will be periodically held in other countries of the region from next year.
A seminar was held on the side of this festival with main topics covering Norouz, Culture, Art, and handicrafts. Having a special focus on Norouz (Persian New Year ceremony), the first session of the International Festival of the Common Heritage of Caspian Sea Littoral States and Central Asia with the title of "Norouz in Iran and Neighboring Countries" was consisted of two sections: scientific seminars during which different aspects of common cultural, traditional, artistic, and historical heritage were discussed by the lectures from different countries, and the second phase consisted of holding picture exhibitions, screening documentary movies about Norouz, performing traditional music from different countries, and also holding handicrafts exhibitions from the participant countries. All of these programs showed how close the Caspian Sea regional countries are as far as traditions and culture are concerned. In order to have a fair understanding of art, especially music, and to be able to establish a connection with it you do not need to understand the language, a fact which was proved in the first session of the festival of the common heritage of Caspian Sea regional countries. Music performance from different countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan which was accompanied by Norouz citing revealed the deep influence of Persian culture, especially the tradition of Norouz in the music of the neighboring countries. Performance of traditional music from different countries presented the audience with a unique chance to experience a spiritual feeling together.
In addition to appreciating Iran's action in holding this festival, all the participants mentioned the importance of holding such ceremonies to strengthen the cultural alliance between the regional countries in order to protect their common cultural heritage and believed that holding such festivals would pave the way to reach this goal.
"Iran is the motivator of cultural coordination in the region. It is Iran which brings together the regional countries with common culture, tradition and beliefs to preserve and maintain their shared values. Iran is not only geographically close to the Central Asian countries, it has also transferred its rich culture to these countries. The Caspian Sea regional countries have a lot in common in terms of their cultural values which have a root in the original Persian culture," said M. Auezov, cultural advisor to the President of Kazakhstan.
The participant countries believed that Norouz has it roots in ancient Iran. Dr. Saffar Abdullah, from Kazakhstan who is fluent in Persian language, said “Recently I have written a book in 350 pages in Russian language which will be published in a near future. With reference to historical evidence, I have proved that Norouz originates from Ancient Persia. Thus based on historical and cultural resources, I rejected what some people use to claim Norouz to belong to themselves.”
During the opening ceremony which was held on 15 April, Dr. Tavakol, the representative of National Commission in UNESCO, explained about the meaning of Norouz and the importance of holding this festival in introducing Norouz to the world and inscribe it in the list of UNESCO's Intangible Heritage. "Norouz is the ancient tradition of Iran which marks the arrival of spring. A year ago, a file describing this ancient tradition was submitted by Iran to UNESCO to be inscribed in its third intangible heritage list. However, the Norouz file was rejected due to its incomprehensiveness. Now Iran and regional countries of the Caspian Sea who celebrate the traditional Persian New Year are working again on Norouz file in order to resubmit it to UNESCO for its inscription in the List of Intangible Heritage. Holding of this festival is considered a major step in preparing a more comprehensive file for submission to UNESCO," said Tavakol in his speech in the opening ceremony.
This festival gave the chance to the participant countries to share their common experiences and crisis they confronted with over the course of the history to preserve this cultural heritage. Since Norouz was known as a religious ceremony, it was forbidden to be celebrated during the former Soviet regime. "We tried a lot to convince the previous regime that there is no relationship between the Norouz ceremony and religious beliefs," said Dr. Ghahar Rasoulian, Professor of history and literature from Tajikistan, in his speech with the title of "Norouz in Tajikistan". About the importance of Norouz in Azerbaijan, Dr. Solmaz Tohidi Rostamava, explained: "Norouz is so important for Azerbaijan people that they struggled seriously to maintain it during the Soviet regime, just like what Iranian did after the prevailing of Arabs. All of these indicate how maintaining this tradition was important for the people of these countries."
In addition to bringing together the countries who share the tradition of Norouz, holding of the festival in Mazandaran province had another advantage which was introducing the natural, historical and tourism attractions of this province to the participant countries. “Holding of this festival in Mazandaran was a good opportunity for the region to introduce the great potentials that exist in this part of the country,” said Delavar Bozorgnia.
All the participations expressed hope that this festival continue in the following years to bring the regional countries with common cultural values closer to each other. They all unanimously believed that Norouz deserves to be dubbed an international cultural heritage and holding this festival will not only help registering Norouz in UNESCO’s List of Intangible Heritage, but also allow the world to learn of such an ancient tradition practiced today in many countries.
The festival finished on 19th of April, and after visiting some tourism attractions of Mazandaran province all the guests left Mazandaran for their own country looking forward for gathering again in the next year’s festival.
In the closing ceremony, the statue of the festival was also offered to handicraftsmen and women from Mazandaran, Golestan, Gilan and Ardabil provinces of Iran, as well as Sharif Zadeh, director of Iran’s Research Center for Traditional Arts, and Emami, director of Maznadaran’s Handicrafts Organization.
Besides, the statue of the festival was presented to handicraftsmen representatives from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. Some gifts were also given to all the guests of the festival.
Dr. Solmza Tohidi Rostamava from Azerbaijan, Professor Mirzoian from Armenia, and Dr. Jan Hamid Hamedi from Uzbekistan also received the statue of the festival.
A special commendation letter and a golden penholder were given to Mr. Delavar Bozorgnia, director of Mazandaran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization for his efforts in holding the festival.
Kazakhstan and Armenia were the countries who announced their readiness to host next year’s festival. However, according to Bozorgnia, it is more likely that next year’s festival be held Kazakhstan.
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