University of Wyoming’s RSO Central Asian Student Association (CASA) organized an event called Navruz Mubarok, meaning ‘new year’, on April 22 in the Union Ballroom to celebrate the most treasured holiday in Central Asia and to claim it as Central Asian Awareness Day.
Navruz Muborak is also known as Persian New Year, a chance to celebrate nature, to welcome a new year and to enjoy flavors of food. Navruz originated in Khorsan, in northeastern Iran about 3,000 years ago and is celebrated on the spring equinox, typically on March 21.
“The reason why we are doing it in April is because we try to incorporate all Central Asian countries, our students and do awareness,” Member of CASA Dilnoza Khasilova said. “So people not only know about Navruz, in addition to cultural awareness.”
The theme of this year was ‘Silk Road Learning.’ According to Ancient History Encyclopedia, “The Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce between 130 BCE-1453 CE.”
“It was interesting because I didn’t know so many stuff, like the dresses and the colors and the costumes,” UW student from South America Juan Vintimilla said. “They are pretty different [from] what I thought, so it was interesting.”
Khasilova said, “We have been doing a lot of workshops and a lot of trainings in different schools, talking with students, some projects about silk. And we thought that the people are interested in this topic.”
The event was free of cost to the students, as well as the community. ASUW funded the event, as well as various RSOs on campus such as the Global Engagement Office and the College of Education Religious Department.
The event started with a welcome dance, followed by a short video description of Central Asian countries. The Central Asian students also showed various cultural dances and a glimpse of the rituals that occur during their wedding ceremonies. Following the event, President Laurie Nicholas, Professor Anne Alexander and ASUW President Ben Wetzel gave a speech.
“We had little bit of problems with sound, but we checked it,” Member of CASA from Kazakhstan Magdi Sagarchi said. “People said it’s great and wonderful, food and dances were the best.”
The Russian students at UW also helped to facilitate this event, even though they do not celebrate Navruz Muborak, they are connected with Central Asia by the common language of Russia. “When we are talking about awareness, we wanna talk about how Russia is connected because the important thing is that all Central Asian countries speak one [common] language, Russian, so that unites us,” Khasilova said.
