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Nauryz, Almaty 2004

Nauryz is the name of the first month of the year in the Kazakh traditional calendar and the first day of this month is celebrated as New Year's day, with a national holiday and lot's of eating, drinking and partying. The first day of Nauryz falls on the 22nd of March and usually the weather is warm and dry. This year, however, as you can see from the photographs, the day was cold, wet and windy.

I took these pictures in Republic Square in Almaty, where there's a big concert every year featuring modern and traditional Kazakh music and dancing.

There was a lot of food on sale but most of it contained meat. The big pan in the photograph above on the left contains plov, a Central Asian party staple made of rice, meat and vegetables. Vegetarian plov is delicious and I've got a couple of recipes if you want to try it.

On the left, a small establishment catering to vegetarians. Not many takers, as you can see.
On the right, one of the many horsemen offering rides to kids. Kazakhs are proud of their horseriding skills and it is often said that many Kazakh children can ride before they can walk. Nowadays you don't often see horses in the city, except on festival days, but in the countryside, using horses to get around is still very much a way of life.