Lola festival: the Celebration of Human and Nature relation
Author(s)
Title
Lola festival: the Celebration of Human and Nature relation
Alternative Title
Сайри Лола – ҷашни пайванди инсону табиат
Publication Type
Language
tgk
Location
Tajikistan
Keywords
Festival
Tulip
Ritual
Flower
Relation
Lola festival
Relevance to ICH Safeguarding
ICH Genre
Description
The book "Lola Festival: The Celebration of Human and Nature Relations” is dedicated to the Lola spring festival. In the book, the author talks about the history, mythology, customs, and beliefs of the ancestors of the Tajiks—Sogdians—about the dying and reviving nature, and identifies the sources and roots of the Lola festival. This festival was held during the blooming days of the tulip among the residents of Isfara, Khujand, Konibodom, and other cities and regions. This holiday was also known as Saire Guli Surkh in other Tajik cities of Central Asia, in Bukhara, Samarkand, Herat, Balkh, etc. The essence and wisdom of the Lola festival is the connection between humans and nature and the revival of nature in spring.
During the blooming days of tulips, people gathered near shrines and holy places, sacrificed a sheep or a goat, cooked food, and opened a table. After eating food and prayers, they had fun and engaged in sports games, singing, music, and dancing.
In Isfara, the festival continues for three days. A day before the festival, young people went to the plains and mountains, picked tulip flowers, brought them to the village, and tied them to the ends of sticks. Also, the main object of the celebration was the tulip tree. Young people cut the top part of the poplar tree and tied tulip flowers to its branches, resulting in a tulip tree. In the festival, all the villages brought their tulip trees, and cultural contests were held.
Based on this information of various authors who have recorded from different regions of Central Asia, it is possible to conclude that in ancient times festivals of the festival Red Flower, Lola, and the like were held in memory of the god of the dying and reviving nature. In the beginning, they had mythological and religious contents, but gradually they changed their function due to the influence of the formation of the thinking of the masses of the people and the framework of the ideology of the period.
In our time, that is, in the 20th-21st centuries, such celebrations are now held only for entertainment and pleasure. Fortunately, the traditional Lola festival has been revived in the cities of Khujand and Isfara of Tajikistan.
During the blooming days of tulips, people gathered near shrines and holy places, sacrificed a sheep or a goat, cooked food, and opened a table. After eating food and prayers, they had fun and engaged in sports games, singing, music, and dancing.
In Isfara, the festival continues for three days. A day before the festival, young people went to the plains and mountains, picked tulip flowers, brought them to the village, and tied them to the ends of sticks. Also, the main object of the celebration was the tulip tree. Young people cut the top part of the poplar tree and tied tulip flowers to its branches, resulting in a tulip tree. In the festival, all the villages brought their tulip trees, and cultural contests were held.
Based on this information of various authors who have recorded from different regions of Central Asia, it is possible to conclude that in ancient times festivals of the festival Red Flower, Lola, and the like were held in memory of the god of the dying and reviving nature. In the beginning, they had mythological and religious contents, but gradually they changed their function due to the influence of the formation of the thinking of the masses of the people and the framework of the ideology of the period.
In our time, that is, in the 20th-21st centuries, such celebrations are now held only for entertainment and pleasure. Fortunately, the traditional Lola festival has been revived in the cities of Khujand and Isfara of Tajikistan.
Publisher
Istedod
Place of Publication
Tajikistan
Date of Publication
2024
ISBN
978-99985-816-4-7
Academic Field
Cultural Stidies
Mythology
Community/Ethnic Group
Isfara, Sughd region
Singers, rural people
Contributor
Active Contribution
Tajikistan, FY 2024