In all periods of socio-cultural progress one needs to celebrate the most important events in one’s life, changes in nature and success at work, as well as to pour out one’s feelings and thoughts in sorrowful moments. This emotional impulse is a source of all ritual culture. At the same time this natural requirement of human existence was a foundation for the formation of festive traditions, which have been one of the most important forms of socio-cultural life throughout the history of humankind.

Festivals are one of the most stable components of social life. They reflect the system and mode of the life of an ethnos, the means of life, its main critical moments and its sense of happiness. For this reason festivals constitute a "temporary ideal life". Beruny called festivals "the most important days in human life"; Makhmud Kashgary, "days of common joy and merriment"; Omar Khaem "heavenly time".

We can see clearly the process of the creation and development of festivals in the example of ancient nations. With regard to the Central Asian nations, the ethnic Uzbeks had the most ancient traditions and rich festive-ritual culture. To trace the source to just one ethnos is impossible, because the deeper one researches this ethnos in history the more difficult it is to distinguish one nation from others. The sources of the festivals of the Uzbek and many other nations, which have a close historical fate, lie in the depths of human history. According to archeological information, ancient and medieval sources, scientific hypotheses of philosophers, histories and culturologists, we can see something of the genesis and sources of festive-ritual culture. The first object of our research is hunting games, held before the hunt, and especially after successful hunts, as a solemn, joyful ritual. Noological festivals appear to have been the most interesting. One festival (40-41 thousand years B.C.) was connected with the totem bear.

After the noological revolution, which took place in Central Asia two to three thousand years B.C., there were created new cults and labor ceremonies — cattle-breeding rituals and landowners’ festivals. A special place in the life of ancient tribes and their members were the rituals of initiation into manhood, which held the most important role in the development of the culture of the tribal system and was the first step in the ethnic diversity of human culture.

In the late paleolithic age when stable religious ideas were created in the territory of Central Asia we find such different religions as: totemism, fetishism, animism, magic and so on. The main manifestations of these religions were special rituals: in droughts to call for rain (syst kchotin), in strong winds (choy memo), in bad weather adoration of the Sun (kueshda ciginish), in loss offerings (kurbonlic), in illness charms (badic aytash) and so on. These ancient rituals are the sources of the modern folk festivals. Though they were simple and primitive, as was the life of primitive people, they were an ingenious discovery of the tribes. It was a special mechanism for interaction with the environment and an important means of spiritual health. At the same time, these rituals played an important role in the spiritual value system as the sphere of organization of culture and the spiritual education of the people of that time. They were the most important factors in the formation of the foundation of human culture and social progress.

Ancient Festivals of Central Asian Nations

The period from the origin and development of Zoroastrianism (VIII c.b. N.E.) till the dissemination of Islam (VIII c.b. N.E.) was a rich and interesting page in the history of culture. With the development of landownership, the appearance of new towns, the foundation of such states as Sogd, Khorezm, Baktriya, and the development of Zoroastrianism, under the influence of such cultures as buddhism and ancient Greece new forms of ritual culture, religious customs, and state festivals were created. Regarding the festivals of Central Asia the richest heritage can be found in the creative works of a scholar of the 10th-11th centuries, Al-Beruny, Monuments of Past Generations. This work includes voluminous information about the traditions, customs, rituals and festivals of the ancient peoples.

Of great scientific interest is the information about the time-tables of rituals and festivals of the Sogd state, such as: "Navruz" — the beginning of year; "Romysharam" — the festival of the fire temple; "Mokhirdge", "Nikch Odam" and "Ams-khvora" — dedicated to food; "Bobakhvora" — the festival of the grape juice; "Kashmen" — the festival of trade and market; "Nim sorda" — at mid year. Khorezm also had different festivals, such as: "Apudgo suvon" — the festival of dress in overcoats; "Adzor" — the festival of bonfire; "Frbrikh" — the departure of relatives to war; "Asdokand-Khvora" — the festival of winter; "Mina’s night" — in the early spring mourning for the woman who died of cold weather and "Vaksh Angom" — the day of worship before water.

The largest part of those festivals was connected with fire worship. After the appearance and spread of the Zoroastrian calendar, festivals were transformed into stable traditions and were celebrated on definite days. Of special interest are the Zoroastrian calendar festivals at the beginning of every season: "Forverdin-Markh" (beginning of summer), "Tir Makh" (beginning of winter), "Dey-Makh" (beginning of spring). These festivals were the most important proof of the level of culture. Their meaning, content, form and organization arose from the real biological-social needs of the people, which testify to the high level of knowledge of the environment, the depth of philosophical ideas and the breadth of the creative abilities of the people of Central Asia. The materials about the ancient values of the festive-ritual culture had not been recognized as having historical significance, but today this is recognized. The organization of festivals has great interest first of all because many examples testify to the interaction between humans and nature at the beginnings of the creation of human culture. "Navruz" as the day of vernal equinox is the festival of the New Year, in the spring the renovation of nature was celebrated. At the period of summer solstice there was celebrated the festival "Angom" dedicated to water, which was the most important value in Central Asia. At the moment of autumnal equinox there was celebrated the festival "Mechrgon" (another named "Chary-Rudz" or "Nim Sorda") at the beginning of autumn as a harvest festival. At the period of the winter solstice "Cada" or the festival of fire was celebrated.

Beginning from ancient times the peoples of the Central Asia created a system of festivals celebrated during the year. Each festival having a definite place in human life satisfied the natural and socio-cultural requirements of the population. The socio-ecological system of festivals is the heritage not only of the peoples of Central Asia, but of humankind.

These folk festivals were greatly transformed, first of all through the Islamic religion. After the Arabian conquest of the Central Asia, there were included together with Muslim culture such Islamic festivals as "Iyd-al-curbon" (local name is "Kyrbon-khait"), "Iyd-al-firts" (local name is "Ruza-khait") and so on. At the same time a religious context was included in the ancient Central Asian festivals.

To create good conditions for Muslim culture, not only were mosques and medrasas built, but also special festival buildings, such as "Nomozgokh" (place for praying), "Musulla-al-iyd" (place for praying during festivals), "Iydokh" (place for festivals) and others, which were cultural-religious centers during festivals and after the festival were places for rest and enlightenment. In those special buildings and out-of-town mosques, on the days of festival there were the morning prayers, sacrifice, regaling, trade and so on.

There is especial interest in the festivals of the Uzbek people which related to the natural, climatic conditions, especially of labor and culture. The main festivals were celebrated in the early spring before field labor, in summer before the harvest; and in winter when cultivators had more free time.

Spring festivals celebrated a renewal not only of nature, but of the human spirit and generated emotional inspiration, enthusiasm, entertainment, magnificence, etc. Research on the history of the traditions of "Navruz" — "Yil-Boshy" (beginning of the year) — show that this was complex and had a number of aspects: before the festival "Khayria" — support for beggars; "Khashar" — improvement of house; visits to teachers, relatives, old people and the graveyard; and cooking of ritual dishes — "Sumalak" and "Chalim". The second stage is the organization of the festival, the election of the chairperson of the festival (Rais or Bayram-osh). Usually the festival lasts from three days to a month. A typical plan for festival days consists of: games of chance; wrestling; kurash; ulok; kunkary; horsemanship; the performance of "mascaraboze" (clowns); festival dishes; guests and others. The end of the festival was a ritual measure "Dalada kysh chicarish" (preparing of the wooden plough). This festival consists of: "Kush oshy" (the cooking of ritual dishes); "Shock toy" — greasing of oxen, horse and ploughing; "Ok fotikha" — blessing by old people; and "Kush oshy" — beginning of sowing.

There was a special place among spring traditions for different festivals of flowers (Gul sailary), such as: "Boychechak" (snow festival), "Kizil gul sayli" (festival of the red flowers); "Lola saily" (festival of tulips), "Sumbula sayli" (festival of hyacinth) and also festivals of the blossoming of fruit trees: "Bodom guli" (blossoming of the almond tree), "Uric gulsayli" (blossoming of the apricot tree), "Bekhi guli" (blossoming of the quince tree). These festivals were expressions of the deep feelings of the Uzbek people toward nature and beauty.

In the short summer, festivals were fewer than in the spring. There were traditional festivals connected with the cult of water: "Sust khotin" (ritual of calling rain), "Sul saily" (worship before water). But the end of summer and the beginning of autumn were rich in festivals and wedding ceremonies. Cultivators celebrated the agricultural festivals: "Obla-baraka" (festival of the wheat harvest), "Kovun saily" (festival of the melon); "Pachta-saily" (festival of cotton). At such festivals the harvest was divided among the people.

After finishing the work season cultivators had free time. Very popular in this season were "Gon-gashtac" (leisure); "Korboshy" (first snowing); and "Kurultoy" (Folk meeting of cultivators and stock-breeders). The nature-landowner calendar of festivals shows that the people of Central Asia, particularly the Uzbek people, had a deep respect for the Earth, planets, animals and water. The people demonstrated a high level of ecological culture.

Mass folk festivals changed at the second part of the 19th century. After the conquering of Central Asia by the Tsars and especially before and after the first years of the October Revolution there was an ardent political struggle between different political trends and groups, who related differently to social, national and religious traditions. The majority of the intellectuals wanted a renewal of culture, but one part held the position of "panturkizt", Islamic ideology, while another part preached the need to develop local culture along with the values of European and Russian cultures.

Different opinions existed in the community of European and Russian military people, intellectuals and revolutionaries. One group created in Tashkent in 1919 "the society of proletcult" (proletarian culture) whose position of "Cultural Negativism" rejected all cultures created before the Revolution as feudal and called for building a new common culture for all nations. Another group, organized for the first time, was the social-democrats. This post-Bolshevist revolutionary movement called for inculcating new traditions into the old mode of life.

Soviet power, organized such revolutionary festivals as May 1st, March 8th and the Anniversary of the October Revolution, using new forms of celebration such as theatre meetings, concerts, mass rallies, theatre propaganda among the masses, carnival processions and so on. The 1930s-1959s were years of mass repression, hunger, war, and the deportation of nations. The Soviet power tried to show to the world that socialism is the best system, and that the people of the Soviet Union were happy and supported the Communist party and the government. At that time it was very popular to hold "Spartakiads" of athletes, "Olimpiads" of art, military parades, cults of personality, demonstrations of might, and the propaganda of a "cloudless, happy life of the Soviet people". At the same time, a struggle was waged against folk traditions, and national rites were condemned as nationalistic.

In th 1960s, when the cult of personality was exposed, positive changes took place and some national traditions were allowed. At that time a new approach to folk traditions was developed. They were divided into two groups: progressive, such as labor traditions, and reactionary, which included religious traditions. According to such a primitive division many traditions, rituals and sometimes the mode of life of the Uzbek people were forbidden because they had some religion elements. At that time the main slogan was: "For a new life — new rituals", and the main place was held by labor holidays and family rites. In the middle of 1980s again traditional national religious rites were forbidden. For example, the centuries old festive "Navruz" was changed into the new festival, "Novbachor". This had a negative influence on the moral atmosphere of the Republic of Uzbekistan and created dissatisfaction with the government.

According to social history, change in the political, social and economic spheres influenced the spiritual and festive-ritual culture. After the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan Uzbek festivals were changed. There were favorable conditions for a restoration of the festive-ritual culture: from 1991 to 1993 the President of Uzbekistan decreed the celebration of such celebration festivals, forbidden during Soviet times, as Navruz, Ruza Khait, Kurbon Khait and others. In 1991, after separating from the Soviet Union, the Parliament of Uzbekistan founded a new festival — "Independence Day of the Republic of Uzbekistan" — which is celebrated every September 1. On December 8, 1992 the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan was accepted, and now this day is celebrated as "Constitution Day". On March 2, 1992 Uzbekistan was received in the United Nations Organization; this is now a political holiday in Uzbekistan. After Independence a new music competition "Uzbekistan — vatanim manim" (Uzbekistan is my Motherland) was created. The international forum: "Shark taronalary" (Melodies of the East) is held in Samarkand, where the best music masters of the world, not only demonstrate their musical heritage, but have a wonderful opportunity to come to know the musical masterpieces of other ethnoses. The celebration of the 2500 anniversary of the ancient cities of Bukhara and Chiva (1997), under the auspices of UNESCO, became not just propaganda for historical culture, but a demonstration of the role of our ancestors in world civilization.

Thus, since the foundation of independent Uzbekistan little by little new ways of festive-ritual culture are being developed:

1. renaissance of traditions and festivals, which were created almost a thousand years ago, such as "Navruz", "Kurbon Khait" and others;

2. progressive international festivals, adopted in the 20th century, such as "New Year" (January 1); "The International Women’s Day" (March 8); and "Victory Day" (May 9);

3. new state festivals of Independent Uzbekistan: "Independence Day", "Constitution Day" and so on.

Progressively, Uzbekistan is shaping a new calendar of festivals which held an important place in the social life of the Republic. Research on the festive-ritual culture of Uzbekistan has shown that their number and kind is continually expanding. This is connected, first of all, with the restoration of folk traditions. Some festivals are of international significance, such as " International Women’s Day", "New Year" and so on; some festivals have national significance, such as "Navruz", "Gul-Saily", "Khosil bayrami" and "Kovun Saily"; and there are also such professional festivals as "The Day of Theater", "Farmer’s Day", "Builder’s Day" and so on. For classification, festivals can be divided into six groups:

1. Festivals of nature, because the human is a part and child of nature and these were the first festivals in the history of humanity.

2. Labor festivals, because through labor, humans developed and improved their lives.

3. Festivals of culture. Though all festivals are part of common culture, a range of festivals are connected directly with culture, art, enlightenment and sport; there are festivals of books, languages, music, folk festivals, film festivals, sports festivals and so on.

4. Political festivals which developed under the influence of historical processes. Each political festival has important significance for one historical period. The main political festivals in the Republic of Uzbekistan are: "Independence Day", "Constitution Day" and "Day of Membership in the UN".

5. Personal family festivals connected with memorable moments in the life of every human, such as birthdays, weddings and so on.

6. Religious festivals are a component of belief and as the Uzbek people adhere to Islam, the basic religious festivals are "Kurbon Khait" and "Ruza Khait" which are festivals of goodness, spirit and mercy.

Festivals were created by humans on the basis of their bio-social and spiritual needs and were transformed into one of the main obligatory parts of their lives. Festivals have existed through all human culture and are of perduring values of life. The social values of the festive culture have the following principles:

- first, festivals, as a part of life, are distinguished from the ordinary week-days and fix the most important events, celebrated as joyful and/or solemn;

- second, festivals give life its special rhythm, breaking its monotony;

- third, festivals mirror the culture of the people, reflecting the best aspects of their lives. That is why on these days people wear their best clothes and jewelry, cook the best dishes, sing beautiful songs, and so on. As Rudaky wrote: "At that time an old man is transformed into a young man, and an old world is transformed into a young world";

- fourth, festivals are for people days of happiness; on this day everyone tries to forget their sorrows;

- fifth, festivals are days off; on these days people are free from their weekday problems and cares;

- sixth, festivals are days of equality and expressions of folk democracy, because on that day everyone has equal rights;

- seventh, festivals are days of peace; on these days wars ended, injuries and quarrels were resolved, people were introduced to each other and began friendships;

- eighth, festivals have given belief and hope for a better future.

Folk festivals have three sources:

1. memory;

2. understanding of the particular day, joy, and participation in the solemn event;

3. belief and hope in a good future.

Therefore, the history of humanity shows festivals in all periods of its development, beginning from ancient times, to be one of the main forms of human culture. Created on the basis of people’s needs, developed under the influence of the conditions of the natural climate, labor and mode of life, they are one of the main parts of the sociocultural life of people. Every epoch gives birth to its own festivals and develops its own traditions. Some festivals have a long life, for example, "Navruz"; other festivals disappeared but after some time were restored, for example "Mekhrdzon". Many festivals were created in the context of a particular period of state government and ended with its creator or remained only as an historic memory. However, multifunctional festivals will continue as a most important sociocultural value through all ages.

1. M.M. Bakhtin, The Creative Work of F. Rableu and Folk Culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (Moscow, 1965), p. 11.

2. D.M. Genkin, Festivals for the Masses (Moscow,"Enlightenment", 1975), p. 44.

3. K. Ghigulevskiy, Festival and Culture (Moscow, "Progress", 1965), p. 30.