Brilliantly lit evergreen trees ignite the night sky. Carols blast from the MacDonald's loud
speaker system. Santas fight for the attention of passers-by. People frantically shop for last minute presents. Children glow with greedy anticipation of a toy bonanza. Greetings of "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year" or "Joyous Kwanzaa" or "happy Hanukkah" fill the streets. This could be any "western" city in the world. They are the tell-tale signs that the holiday season is upon us. This is a "sacred" time of year for a lot of people around the world. And Baku is no different. Or is it?I have spent the last few years in countries that should, theoretically, not celebrate Christmas. Communist/Atheist China, Buddhist Cambodia, Orthodox Russia and Muslim Turkey just to name a few. Yet the commercialism of the holiday has spread like a wild fire to all corners of the globe.
Azerbaijan is a, predominately, Muslim country. While Islam acknowledges Jesus as
a prophet of Islam, he is not considered the Saviour as in Christianity. December 25th is considered by the general population as the birthday of Christ the Saviour. While many may dispute this date, like the Orthodox church, it is the most widely accepted day. Now Azerbaijan has no reason to celebrate this day. Yet all of the same traditions that one might see Christian countries are everywhere to be seen. Why is this? Well, it actually has nothing to do with Christ. And it has nothing to do with Christmas. During the days of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan "adopted" many of the same traditions as Mother Russia. Officially, all communist republics are atheist, so shouldn't celebrate any religion, including Christianity. But the U.S.S.R. was never one to be "left out in the cold" and adopted many of the Christian holiday traditions and called them New Year traditions. A Christmas tree was replaced by the New Years tree. Father Christmas was replaced by Father Frost. And Christmas present.... well you get the point. So i guess that explains why Azerbaijan follows these rituals, right?Well actually, not really. Azerbaijan was always one of the more different USSR republics. The
religions, languages and culture or the region is vastly different from that of, say... the Baltics. As in Central Asia, one of the largest celebrations of the year is Nowrus. Nowrus is the traditional Iranian new year holiday. Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian year. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox (start of spring in northern hemisphere), which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. It was also a Zoroastrian (an early religion of Azerbaijan) holiday. So even though they celebrate their own "New Years", they have kept the traditions of the USSR, even 17 years after Independence.I am certainly not saying that they should abandon the idea of partying this time of year.
At the end of the day it's all good fun!! I guess we should just chalk one up as a "victory" of globalization. Everyone seems more than happy to keep these traditions of their Soviet past. Smiles and enjoyment are what holidays are about. So I'll just play along with the Blue (not red) Santa. Not to mention, it certainly makes the city pretty. They government as strung thousands of lights from the tree and light posts, turning it into a winter wonderland. Although as I live in the centre of Baku, all the shiny lights are right outside my window, and my curtain suck!! Happy Holidays!!!
