Azerbaijan starts celebrating Nowruz

Starting from March 19, Azerbaijan began the celebration of Nowruz Bayram the holiday of spring and New Year. On that occasion, Baku organized celebrations.

The ceremony has started at the Maiden's Tower, where President Ilham Aliev has lit the major celebrating bonfire of the country.

Then, officials crossed Neftyanikov Avenue and entered Primorsky Boulevard, where theatrical performances were organized: performances of tightrope walkers, strong men competitions, performances of folk art artists, pop groups, and comedians. Baked sweets and dried fruits were brought there from different regions of the country.

Azerbaijan treats Nowruz as one of the most revered holidays. The main attribute of Nowruz holiday table should be decorated with seeds of wheat, rice, dyed eggs, nuts, dried fruits, baklava, and shakyar-bura. Baklava is made from puff pastry stuffed with nuts, hazelnuts or almonds mixed with granulated sugar. The same stuffing is made for filling shakyar-bura, which looks like a cake, decorated with patterns.

People start preparations for the holiday dinner seven to ten days in advance. Typically, during this period, food prices rise sharply.

"Prices are high," says Sakina Badalova, who works as a medical attendant in one of the Baku hospitals. "In the Soviet period, there was a shortage; however, we had enough money to bake 100 pieces of baklava and 100 pieces of shakyar-bura. Then, kids enjoyed those baked sweets almost till late April. At present, we hardly cook 15-20 pieces of baklava and 15-20 pieces of shakyar-bura to have these sweets at least for holidays."

The woman was particularly indignant about rise in prices for meat beef and mutton, which had already exceeded 10 US dollars per 1 kg: "We can still afford cooking meat side dish for holiday pilaf; however, some of my women-neighbours say that they will serve rice at the table with beans and smoked fish."