i’ve been fascinated by nowruz, norouz, norooz, narooz, nawruz, newroz, newruz, nawroz, noruz, novruz, nauroz, navroz, naw-rúz, nowroj, navroj, nevruz, neyruz, наврӯз, наурыз navruz, navrez, nooruz, nauryz, nevruz, nowrouz, ever since i wandered into an outdoor nowruz celebration in chicago on a cold march day in the 1990s. it’s such a huge holiday for so many people (mostly living in a swath of territory from western china to eastern europe and from southern russia to parts of northern india) but which is almost completely unknown to most americans. one small silver lining to all of the delays we have experienced here is that for the first time i will be able to experience a real nauruz. it is arguably the biggest holiday in post-independence kazakhstan. starting tomorrow most people in kaz will have three days off work.
today isn’t exactly a normal work day either. because we live next to the central square, our street is one big construction zone today, with yurts going up everywhere we look.
we'll see what tomorrow will bring. rumor has it that insides each yurt will be free samples of traditional nauruz food as well as kumis and shubat! (mmmm, fermented dairy products)
