Author: Petr Lyukimson, Israel, exclusively to VK
Two days before the Jewish holiday of Passover in Israel, Novruz Bayram was celebrated. It should be noted that the Arabs do not celebrate Novruz Bayram and, as the correspondent of VK understood from conversations with his Arab friends, do not even know anything about it. Therefore, Novruz Bayram in Israel is completely devoid of religious connotations and is perceived as a spring festival celebrated by people from the post-Soviet Turkic states - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. For them, Novruz Bayram is the holiday of memories of good relations with former neighbors and trays of sweets decorated with saucers full of sprouted wheat which they gave to each other in these spring days. And, of course, the possibility of plunging into the atmosphere of the places where they were born and grew up and feeling the connection to the "prehistoric homeland', as the country of origin in Israel is jokingly referred to.
In any case, dozens of people from Azerbaijan who arrived in Ashdod on the initiative of the Association "Israel-Azerbaijan" (AZIZ) from different cities in Israel to celebrate Novruz Bayram for a few hours just felt in Baku. AZIZ organizes Novruz Bayram celebrations since its foundation, but this time the celebration coincided with the message on the normalization of Israeli-Turkish relations, the Turkish journalists urgently needed positive material about Israel - and the Turkish TV crew made a visit to the natives of Azerbaijan.
Opening the evening, Director of the Azerbaijan Cultural Center Egyana Salman spoke about the history and traditions of Novruz Bayram and its celebration in the Turkic world. The guests were greeted by the representative of the International Association "AZIZ" in Azerbaijan, Mr. Wahid Bayramov, who specially arrived to the event. He congratulated everyone on the holiday of spring and noted that Baku knew and appreciated the work of the organization.
Director General of the Association "AZIZ" Lev Spivak congratulated those present on the favorite holiday and wished them happiness and prosperity. Then there was the traditional quiz on Azerbaijani folklore and national customs, where Azerbaijani souvenirs and books were given to the winners. The guests were presented with the magazine "Baku". But the most important thing at the festival, of course, was a very special atmosphere of friendship and unity with a touch of nostalgia for Azerbaijan in general and Baku in particular.
Of course, those who had to sit at a table with old former Baku residents could find out the amazing recipes of Baku baklava, shaker-chorek, shaker-borax and other dishes that are considered to be essential attributes of this holiday.
