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From among the variety of public holidays only two are widely celebrated in Tajikistan - the Day of Independence (September 9) and the Memorial Day (February12) introduced to commemorate the victims of armed conflicts in Dushanbe in February, 1990.
More favored are religious holidays such as Navruz. It is celebrated by all Muslim countries on March 21st and is considered New Year's Day according to Muslim lunar calendar. March 21st, the day of spring equinox, marks the beginning of the New Year, new life and new hopes for all who love and celebrate this holiday. After the civil war Tajiks started to celebrate another bright and colorful holiday - Navruz-bairam. Not only entire families but also entire villages prepare for this festival: they cook meals characteristic only to this season - sumalyak, khalisa, nishalda and others, fry twiglets, bake cookies. The tables nearly burst with all that food. Lots of festivals are held on this day. People wear national costumes and go out with songs and dances.
Another respected and admired holiday in Tajikistan is Ramazan - religious ritual festival - the time when all Moslems observe obligatory fast - they abstain from food and drinks from sunrise to sunset. The fast ends with plentiful feast called Aid-al-Fitr; and on the day called Aid-al-Aja a domestic animal is sacrificed. The cooked meat of this animal is given away to relatives and poor.
All Tajikistan holidays are rest-days.
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