Tajikistan revamps ancient festivals

President Rakhmon has reinserted Tirgon, the ‘rain festival’ which according to tradition took place on the longest day of the year, a tradition linked to local epics, but which today takes on a new meaning in the fight against the drying up of rivers and basins throughout Central Asia.

Dushanbe (AsiaNews) - Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon has decided to include the festival of Tirgon in the list of national holidays, adding it to the ‘Holidays Act’ already approved by the two chambers of the Dushanbe parliament.

Tirgon is one of the most ancient celebrations of the Tajiks, together with Sada, Nawruz, Mekhrgon and others linked to the succession of the seasons, and it indicates the ‘rain festival’. It is observed on the longest day and the shortest night of the year, when all the crops in the fields reach maturity, especially wheat, thus completing the autumn and spring agricultural activities.

Now the Tajik holiday calendar is even more full, starting with New Year and the ‘Mother's Day’ on 8 March, Nawruz on 21-24 March, the Soviet Victory Day on 9 May and National Unity Day on 27 June, Independence Day on 9 September and Constitution Day on 6 November.

The beginning of Ramadan (in Tajik Ramazon) and the festival of Kurbon, the linguistic variant of Kurban-Bajram or 'Īd “al-”Aḍḥā, the Islamic festival of sacrifice that concludes the pilgrimage to Mecca, which is held 70 days after Uraza-Bajram, the end of fasting or Id-al-Fitr, the main Islamic holidays.

The Tirgon is designated by the government, and celebrations began in the summer of 2023 with the apricot festival and the dried fruit exhibition.

How and when it will be celebrated this year has not yet been clarified, based on weather forecasts and other considerations related to the development of agricultural activities, considering the expectation of late summer rains in the month of Tir, the fourth of the Iranian calendar, consisting of 31 days and corresponding to the period 22 June - 22 July.

Many ancient stories are recalled about the origin and essence of Tirgon, in the recovery of the folklore and epics of the Tagiks, when at the end of the month of Tir people gathered to invoke rain for the irrigation of the fields, flooding each other with torrents of water, as reported in the epic legend Šakhnam by Firdousi and many works from ancient times, dating back to before the 14th century.

In particular, the Tirgon is realised when the rainbow appears after the rain, which is called the Tiru kamon, the bow of the bogatyr (knight hero) of Tir and ‘angel of the rain’.

In another text, Avesta, he is referred to as Tištar, while in most texts he remains Tir, the one who collected water from the river Farokhkart to throw it like arrows of rain over all the lands of Akhura Mazda, fighting the demon of drought, called Apaoša, who wanted to destroy every living being on earth. In the first battle, the demon won and blocked the course of the river, but in the second the angel Tir got his revenge, and the land bore great fruit after the downpours of the long-awaited rain.

These legends are now being reinterpreted in a more positive and scientific light, in the fight against the drying up of rivers and reservoirs throughout Central Asia, where rain angels are being sought in all universities and institutions dedicated to agricultural work and the study of climate change.

It seems like we're going back to the mythological kingdom of Puruza Sasani, which experienced seven years of drought, during which time flocks of birds, plants, animals and even men died.

The king then gathered the people to celebrate the rain-invoking rites of the fire-worshippers, who obtained the desired result with the prayer of Obrezgon, which the Iranians celebrate annually in memory of yet another deliverance from the heavenly curses.

These rites are now based on the sprinkling of the Tirgon, pouring water in and out of the houses, purifying all filth and dressing in immaculate clothes, wearing on the arm the bracelets of the seven colours of the rainbow made of silk called Tiru bod, which are untied and thrown to the wind ten days later, on the day of the Wind, the Ruzi Bod, expressing the deep joy of the year that renews life for the entire population.