Developing Friendship and Mutual Understanding between Peoples and Countries: LETI International Students Celebrated Nowruz

International students of ETU "LETI" prepared performances and traditional cuisine so that the participants could better know and feel the holiday of renewal and the beginning of spring.

31.03.2022 671

On March 26, Nowruz festivities took place in the assembly hall of Dormitory 1 of LETI. Today Nowruz, as a symbol of peace and goodness, promotes friendship and understanding between peoples and countries. Students from Syria, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, India, and Nepal made performances and helped everyone plunge into the atmosphere of fun and celebration.

Anastasia Minina, Vice-Rector for International Affairs at LETI, opened the event: "I am glad to welcome everyone and start this spring together. For me, spring is always about rebirth, inspiration, love, and the dawn of something new. It is great that there is a holiday such as Nowruz, which allows us to feel this. Nowruz is known and celebrated all over the world, and I am glad that we already traditionally celebrate it at LETI with our large international team."

Nowruz traditionally sees many dances, and the concert began with students Yulia Lyapina and Anastasia Smirnova from Kazakhstan, who wore bright red costumes and performed a Kazakh folk dance. Aldaabool Nagham from Syria did an oriental dance in traditional attire.

Ajap Agamiradova, a student from Turkmenistan, and Salar Sali, a student from Syria, spoke in Russian and English about how Nowruz is celebrated in their countries. Salar also prepared a video in which he collected the highlights of the festivity in Syria in previous years.

In the musical part of the concert, the participants fostered an atmosphere of cultural unity with songs in different languages. Alexey Belenkiy played the guitar and sang in Ukrainian, while Olusanya Joshua Oluwatosin from Nigeria sang in English. The participants also listened to Le Duc Quoc Bao from Vietnam playing the flute. Students from Kazakhstan, Ivan Korablev and Artem Drevs, concluded the concert by singing in Kazakh to the accompaniment of guitars.

"What I love most about Nowruz is that it brings people together. Everyone gathers together, wears traditional clothing, which most often gets passed on from parents to children, dances, and sings. I would like to thank the organizers and participants of today's event, who helped me feel the real atmosphere of the holiday. I learned how people celebrate Nowruz in other countries, saw other students' performances, and tasted their traditional cuisine. All of this helped me feel like I was celebrating Nowruz in my own country."

After the performances, students enjoyed dishes prepared by international students from different countries, such as manti, bawïrsaq, kozhe, beshbarmak, and shelpek.

"We were born and raised in Kazakhstan, so of course, we are used to the fact that Nowruz is always accompanied by lavish and noisy celebrations. No celebration can do without bawïrsaq, the national dish of Kazakh cuisine. We are very happy to plunge into the celebration of Nowruz today and feel the homely atmosphere," shared Anastasia Smirnova and Yulia Lyapina, students from the Faculty of Radio Engineering at LETI from Kazakhstan.

In the end, students made wishes and tied red ribbons on a blossoming tree so that their dreams will come true.

Celebrating Nowruz is part of the adaptation program conducted by the International Students Office of LETI. International students of the university make friends, learn more about other cultures and life in Russia by celebrating major international and local holidays together. Office staff help students discover their talents at city competitions and find the right professional path at career guidance meetings.

For reference

Nowruz has been one of the most important holidays among the Turkic and Iranian peoples for many centuries. This ancient holiday is celebrated today in Kazakhstan, the Middle East and Central Asia, Bashkiria, Iran, and some other countries. Nowruz in Farsi means "New Day," falls on the day of the vernal equinox, and is associated with spring, the forces of rebirth and fertility, symbolizing the renewal of nature and humans, the purification of souls, and the beginning of a new life.

In recognition of the importance of this ancient rite, Nowruz was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.