Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Novruz holiday is knocking the door..."water" Tuesday..."Su Çərşənbəsi"...

When I think about four elements of nature the first thing I recall is The Fifth Element movie. If you have watched it at the end of that movie heroes need to "break" mystery and those were four elements of nature etc etc...
Anyway...today...is first Tuesday when we "acknowledge" approach of Novruz in Azerbaijan and this Tuesday is "water" Tuesday as we call it here. May sound confusing...Please read my earlier post on Novruz here so that you have some info on our tradition to celebrate beginning of spring...before we celebrate actual Novruz we start four or so weeks earlier by celebrating each element of nature every Tuesday...i.e. we may start thinking about sweets that need to be prepared for holidays, make fire or just start getting cheerful :) It is believed that in nature water is renewed first of all and then everything else...If you are in Azerbaijan and say spill water by accident don't get surprised if you hear people saying to you "su aydınlıqdır" meaning that water is purity and you shouldn't worry...or if many people want to drink water we say "yol böyüyün, su kiçiyindir" meaning that oldest people should be let to walk in/out first but water firstly is served to youngest (sorry for this hasty and awkward translation...) not sure if these beliefs have anything to do with Novruz but just so that you know :) Su çərşənbəniz mübarək! Happy Water Tuesday! :)
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1 comment:

Lowell said...

Very beautiful waterfalls.