...Sheki halva...

My today' post is about Sheki Halva. Halva is a sweet prepared from nuts, walnuts, butter, sugar and spices and other food stuff that I don't know. Halva is something that Sheki is very famous for. If anyone goes to Sheki he makes sure to bring at least a box of halva back with him. Halva goes very well with tea and is something that Sheki people are very proud of.

Now on pictures:

1. On the first picture you see big tray with halva. This kind of tray with halva is prepared for occasions (for example for engagement parties and weddings). You can see on the picture red rhomb patterns on halva. This is usually the only pattern used and it is done by using saffron.

2. On the second picture you see the sign board of halva pastry shop that belongs to the man with the name Mahmud and I think his sons now.

3. On the third picture you see the woman who is working in Mahmud's pastry shop and is one of the people who is preparing halva.

Unfortunately I am not able to pass you the taste of halva by this post but you will have to trust me on this one :)

Have a good week!

P.S. Lately someone is leaving comments saying "please see here" in the comments to my blog. Do not press on that comment or on the links to it as it is virus :( I keep deleting these comments and I hope hackers will leave alone my blog soon...

...Everyone knows him in Sheki...

Today I am posting a photo that may seem very strange to you...

This is the photo of one old man in Sheki who makes living by displaying the stuffed wolf that he carries around with him.

Since I remember myself I recall seeing him around...the fact is that I think everyone knows him in Sheki and has seen his animal already but in order to support the living of this old man everyone continues to give him some money...

Scenario is such that usually he brings his stuffed animal covered with a fabric (that you can also see on the picture next to him) to places where people have picnics and people give him money so that he opens up the material and shows the animal; or he firstly shows the animal and then gets the money, I am not sure about the sequence...Then everybody gasps or sighs and the event is over :))

The truth is that most people give out the money not because they want to see the stuffed animal but to support the man. I hope he will live long and people will have hearts kind enough and pockets full enough to support him and his creative "enterprise"... :)

...Spring is in the air in Sheki...II

No annotation again :)

...Spring is in the air in Sheki...

Spring does not need any annotations...

...Sheki welcomes spring...

Sheki welcomes spring and opens its doors to new life :)

Have a great week, everyone! :)

...Black Gold...

Those who have never seen oil rigs and are not familiar with the oil industry might not realize what they see on these pictures....

These are oil rigs...in the middle of Baku village "Suraxanı" (to be pronounced [Surakhani]).

Suraxanı is the first location in Azerbaijan where first oil and gas resources were discovered...

Oil is what attracted to Azerbaijan Nobel brothers and the Rockefellers, in early XX century, fuelled the Soviet Army weapons to win World War II and made Azerbaijan economy the fastest growing economy in the world with 35% GDP growth rate in 2007. (to name only a few major facts...)

As everyone knows nowadays, oil is a mixed blessing. It gives vast opportunities and wealth but it also gives lots of radiation (initially labourers were actually extracting oil with buckets just going into the well; as you can see on the pictures there are people that still live on these lands, fuelled with oil radiation); "friends" to the country that are friends only because the country has the energy (and you know what happens when loyalty of friends is only caused by wealth) and laid-back attitude to the citizens. But of course every threat can be turned into opportunity, I believe, especially now, in XXI century, when there are so many examples in the history...

Today we are having a beautiful spring weather in Baku and Sheki and it is a shame that I am posting these pictures I took on a gloomy day...but I came across them among my pictures and decided to share the pictures and a bit of a history with you...

...Novruz...

This week everyone in Azerbaijan is on leave. The reason is that the country is continuing to celebrate Novruz. Novruz has a very ancient Zoroastrian origin. We celebrate the arrival of spring, arrival of new life and new beginning.Starting four weeks in advance of Novruz each Tuesday we celebrate Tuesday of Wind, Tuesday of Water, Tuesday of Fire and Tuesday of Earth. Evening of 20th of March and 21st of March are actual Novruz celebration days. 20th of March falls on the spring equinox, the first day of spring. At the time of the equinox, the sun is observed to be directly over the equator, and the north and south poles of the Earth lie along the solar terminator; sunlight is evenly divided between the north and south hemispheres. No matter which political regime Azerbaijan always celebrated Novruz. We have many traditions connected with Novruz such as jumping over fire (to drop past year troubles into the fire), prepare special Novruz deserts (to energize the batteries of the body that get exhausted during cold winter) and visiting the families and relatives. Usually we call March crazy…since it is impossible to guess the weather during this special month. Special because everybody is looking forward to warmer weather and spring and appreciates every extra sun light we receive. March is playing with people offering different weather every day…This year we are lucky as the weather during Novruz is great. Since the holidays are long everyone is either in the regions or abroad traveling and having a good time. I don’t have special pictures unfortunately…this is the picture of Novruz pastries and growing wheat "səməni" (also a must thing to have for Novruz in every household)… Happy Spring, everyone!!!

Azerbaijan: The nicer side of Baku by Lindsay Fincher

Poor Baku just can't get a break. It's like the Houston of the Caucasus. Forbes magazine recently listed it as the dirtiest city in the world, which is quite a blow to their long shot aspirations of hosting the 2016 summer Olympics:
Unless you're in the oil business, there's little reason to brave the choking pollution of Baku, Azerbaijan. Fetid water, oil ponds and life-threatening levels of air pollution emitted from drilling and shipping land the former Soviet manufacturing center at the bottom of this year's list as the world's dirtiest city.
On the contrary, I found Baku an interesting city to visit. It's not all leaking pipelines and fetid pools of oil (but yes, there is plenty of that to see).

This is a view of Old Town Baku from the top of the Maiden Tower. Besides a large population of carpet salesmen, the Old Town consists of the aforementioned Maiden Tower (12th century), the Palace of the Shirvanshahs (15th century), and beautiful, narrow streets that would rival those in Dubrovnik. In 2000, the Walled City of Baku, the Maiden Tower, and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs were deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

If this doesn't quite win you over, you could always visit the gigantic Dubai like "Death Star" hotel they are building on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The beach, as shown in the artistic rendering of the hotel (complete with tiki torches and beachside dining), sure does look tempting.

URL: http://www.lindsayfincher.com/2008/03/azerbaijan_the_nicer_side_of_b.html

Video on Azerbaijan...

This is where I come from.

Azerbaijani children stories...now in English...

I am happy to post today the cover of the book that my cousin Rahim Salayev and his family: Arifa, Anar and Rosie are getting ready to publish in USA.

The book will contain Azerbaijani children stories translated into English. This is the joint work of the family that proves Azerbaijani saying "El bir olsa, dag oynadar yerinden..." meaning "Jointly people can move mountains"...

To be able to read what the back cover says please click on the picture...

Happy New Year!

Dear All,

Greetings from Azerbaijan! Happy New Year!

This year for New Year celebration people in Sheki received a present from heaven: Beautiful snow that they discovered in the morning on 31st. Isn’t it fairy? I wasn’t in Sheki for New Year celebration but felt very happy for everyone especially kids (who mms-ed me the pictures btw).
You would agree with me that anyone who discovers snow from the window in the morning (especially if it wasn’t there yesterday and especially on 3112) would at least smile and definitely feel the festivity and happiness of the day.

Have a great year!!!

Modern symphony of Baku...

Sheki doesn't have traffic jams yet thank God. But Baku, the capital, does.

I am posting today an extract from the article that my colleague Axel Reiserer wrote in our corporate newspaper about traffic jams in Baku. As you know there are different ways of looking at everything in life...:) Wishing you a cheerful start for the business week!

"The most important part of a car, you learn in Baku, is the horn. There are more ways of honking than there are ways of saying “I profusely and unreservedly apologise” in Japanese. There is a kind of honking to warn someone. There is honking to greet a friend. There is honking to yell at somebody. There is honking to threaten a hostile moving object. There is honking to scare away pedestrians (a certain class of imbeciles who, luckily, are becoming less and less frequent in Baku and whose extermination thanks to traffic accidents scientists predict by 2025.) There is honking to express joy because the road is free (rare during daytime, but very popular between 2am and 5am). There is honking to express frustration because the road is jammed (all other times). There is honking because someone is honking at you. And there is honking because someone has not honked at the right time, in the right place or in the right style. The latter is also important, because there are various techniques of honking: loudly, aggressively, tenderly, amicably, shyly, with hostility, relentlessly.
Honking is the symphony Bakintsy compose to celebrate their city every day. It all becomes a carpet of sound which has no ending and no beginning and encloses the whole city like the magic carpets in oriental fairy-tales. And surely magic is the only plausible explanation of how Baku residents manage to move their cars while being preoccupied using the horns.
But then this is the Orient after all."

Lamp...

In every house in Sheki there is a lamp like the one on this picture. This is an oil lamp that is used if the lights go off. Our grandmothers left them to us. During our wedding ceremonies there is always someone that walks in front of the/next to the bride and carries a lamp or candles as the symbol of light that bride would bring to her new family and home…

I like the shape of these lamps and touch of history that they carry…and even if we don’t have to use them (thankfully) often now it is still nice to have one in the house.

Airplane...

I was in Georgia last week and the plane that took me there had "Sheki" written on it. I assume that this is the plane that used to fly to Sheki when the airport there was working. Currently the airport is not working but I hope one day it will resume its operations and getting there will take only 45 minutes.

I was scared to take this photo as security could get angry but I did it quickly as I thought that it is some kind of "fun" photo.

End of Ramadan

Every year during 30 days Muslim people fast during the month of Ramadan. Each year the month of Ramadan is moving backwards. Fasting people wake up early in the morning until the Sun comes out and eat (this is called imsaq) and fast the whole day until its dark. When Moon comes out people break their fast (this is called iftar as mentioned in my yesterday’s post). When fast is open fasting people drink a bit of water, taste salt and eat dates first…In addition to fasting, fasting people can not/do not/should not drink, smoke, make love, gossip or behave badly during the month of Ramadan. Sorry for this dilettante way of Ramadan description. Thorough information can be found on sophisticated websites.

12 October, has been the end of Ramadan this year and public holidays continue in Azerbaijan until tomorrow. The tradition is that on Ramadan people go and visit as many fasting people they know as possible and congratulate them with the holiday. Fasting people receive presents and sweets and lots of attention. Many meals are prepared for dinner and guests come and go the whole day. The atmosphere is very festive. Women do a lot of cooking and get tired of course...Also one of the main and serious traditions is “fitra” – allocation of some sum of money which has to be equal number of members of the family multiplied by a certain sum of money per head (it can be also much more money of course than the formula gives :) depending on income and generosity of the family) and give it to poor so that they can prepare holiday dinner.

On holiday I visited my parents who fasted to congratulate them with their holiday and have dinner with them and pass small presents that we have prepared to them with my husband. We have already given out our “fitra”. This is a picture of "plov", so called "king of dishes" in Azerbaijan and its kind of dressings that my mom prepared. I will have separate post on plov one day.

Personally I have never fasted…initially I never thought about it, then I always had an excuse not to fast cause I thought that fasting and studying and working in parallel would be too hard. Ramadan is a psychologically hard month for non fasting people because they feel remorse each time they eat and drink while people around are fasting. There are many people around me who choose/are able to fast and I deeply respect their belief, discipline and strength of will. Therefore these days are their days. I can imagine the euphoria and pride they must feel for their belief, accomplishment, strength of will and discipline. Well done! Congratulations and respect!!

Ramadan...Iftar...

As you might know it is the month of Ramadan in Muslim countries now including Azerbaijan. During Ramadan people fast from dawn to dusk and when in the evenings they break their fast their relatives, friends invite them for "iftar". Iftar is said about stopping the fast in the evening. We say that it is "savab" (something that is considered as a good deed before Allah) to invite fasting people to iftar. This good tradition is followed nowadays and people enjoy breaking their fast in the evenings together or invite fasting people to iftar. Usually there is plenty of food on the table and women try to be very creative and prepare many different kinds of food. It is also very common to help poor people so that their iftars are as rich as possible.

Today I am posting photos of the iftar we were invited to recently by our relatives. I am not fasting but my parents are so I joined their iftar. The atmosphere at iftars is very festive and respectful and food is delicious...

Caucasian Albanian Temple in Kish

There is a belief that inside the Kish temple there is a spot on the wall where one can make a wish and try to "stick" a coin on the wall just by pressing the coin upon the wall...the coin would stay on the wall only if you are making a wish with a pure/clean heart and if your wish would come true...this kind of a belief about the place means that the place is very sacred...

please see the previous post on the temple for reference...

Caucasian Albanian Temple in Kish

These are pictures of Albanian temple built on the most ancient sanctuary in the territory of former Caucasian Albania in Kish village of Sheki. There are many interesting exhibits in the temple including graves of Albanian people of I-V B.C. There are many ancient Caucasian Albania temples in Azerbaijan. This temple and overall this museum complex was restored with support of Norwegian government. World famous Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl after his visit to Sheki and Kish said that he believed that ancient Norwegians migrated from Sheki/Kish area...interesting...

Kebab sessions...

Azerbaijan is a country where people like eating meat...yes, we do have vegetarians but not so many...I would say that there is a cult of food especially in the regions including Sheki. People are very attentive to what they are eating, everything is mostly organic and very fresh, the culture of frozen and "ready to eat" food hasn't reached there yet...And one of the most preferred meals of course is "kebab". We do not call it barbeque we call it kebab. There are many kinds of kebabs but the most known and classic is kebab from mutton. Kebabs are prepared on charcoal. I personally think that the smell that comes from the meat oil that drops on charcoal is one of the most appetizing smells in the world. Yes, I am being subjective, because I love to eat kebab. Usually kebabs are prepared by men in Sheki and we say that it is a masculine job, but on these pictures I have women who volunteered to prepare the meal. Also preparation of kebab involves preparations etc. Therefore I am posting some pictures where you can see how people are getting ready to cook. This kebab is being prepared in the mountains in an open air...that is why the scene is so casual...Apologies to people who are fasting...please do not read this post until you open your fast.

...another old door...and optimism...

Here is a photo of another old door(gate) in Sheki...those smaller doors inside the gate are for people to use. It is fun to use these kind of doors/gates but people rarely have them now as they are considered uncomfortable...The gates are open completely for cars or cattle.

Extension that you the see on the left side must be the place where the house owners keep fodder.

I also like the sky...very often people forget to raise their head and observe beautiful sky above them...as if having a burden on their shoulders that bends their heads downwards...but beautiful sky brings a lot of optimism...I think :)

can you see the apples?...

can you see the apples on the tree? I really loved the tree and the spot and decided to share with you its photo.

p.s. you can read my article about Sheki here

...yellow door...

Today I am posting a photo of a yellow door that I came across in Sheki. I thought that the colour is quite cheerful...The house that you see behind it is quite old as its style tells it...actually the door and the house look quite old as well...

have a cheerful day!!

p.s. you can read my article about Sheki here

...about tea...

Hi. Missed you all and thank you very much for your comments.

Going back to tea subject…

Today I am posting a photo of a tea set. Please pay attention to at least three things on the photo: samovar (the usual), tea pot on it (as you might know we prepare tea leaves separately in a ceramic tea pot.) We never boil the tea. First we put couple of spoons of tea into the tea pot and then add just boiled hot water. Then we put the pot on a little gas or as on this picture on a samovar so that tea leaves open up…but if tea starts to boil it means that tea is wasted and another tea must be prepared…then I want you to pay attention to typical Azerbaijani tea glasses called “armudu” meaning pear-shaped. The idea of “armudu” is that tea stays hot in narrower lower part and becomes cooler on a wider top part (where one’s lips touch). On this picture as you can see lemons are in “armudu” waiting for tea to get ready and be served. This picture is taken in “çayxana” tea-house…at homes lemons are usually never put into the tea glasses in advance as preferences differ and people might want to drink tea without lemon. We never drink tea with milk…and sugar is added into tea mostly at breakfasts…one would scarcely find an Azerbaijani drinking sweet tea (as we call tea with sugar) during typical relaxing tea sessions…

Tea house in Ilisu village of Qakh...

As promised yesterday (please see the previous post) I am posting today pictures of the tea house / cafe / restaurant (call it the way you want since they are offering both tea and food) of Ilisu village of Qakh. We started with tea but then decided to have a meal as well. The waiter said that it looked like it would rain so we escaped to shelter (you can see the sheltered places on 1st and 3rd photos). Tea pot and glasses you see on the 2nd photo are very typical for Azerbaijan. Drinking tea non stop is also very normal for Azerbaijanis...I will go back to tea topic again at some point in future inshAllah...(means God allowing...this way we show that we know that notions like tomorrow do not really depend on us...but this is a completely different subject...) Unfortunately I dont have photos that would be without people...so thank you for bearing with me.

Have a good day :)

Ilisu...

Ilisu is the village situated in Qakh region of Azerbaijan. Qakh is located in 1.5-2 hours drive from Sheki. Both regions are blessed with beautiful mountains and in Qakh mountains are even closer (I mean that people live even closer to the mountains). Ilisu village of Qakh is famous for its healing hot(warm) springs but it is not possible to drive up to them but only go on horses. We didn't go up to those springs this time but only walked up to see the waterfall. Going up is quite difficult (especially to my husband who had to carry the child up there as well) and it is a walk of around 1km...but we made it...unfortunately there was no tea house up there...going down was easier :) and we rushed to drive and find a tea house in the village...if you wish to see the photos of the tea house wait for my tomorrow's post...:)