By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

The Azerbaijani Embassy in Pakistan has taken part in the spring festival held in Pakistan.

Along with the Azerbaijani embassy, the embassies of other countries celebrating Novruz - Turkey, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan took part in the festivity.

Foreign ambassadors, diplomats, members of the public and the media attended the event

The Azerbaijani Embassy presented Azerbaijan's culture, national and spiritual values, as well as national cuisine.

Numerous photos and visual materials on the country's tourism potential were demonstrated as part of the festival.

The event aroused great interest among the guests of the festival.  

On March 20-21, Azerbaijan celebrates Novruz, known as one of the most ancient and beloved spring festivals.

Before the holiday, people mark four pre-holiday Tuesdays, each of which is dedicated to the awakening of one of the natural elements called Su Charshanbesi (Water Tuesday), Od Charshanbasi (Fire Tuesday) Hava Charshanbasi (Wind Tuesday) and Torpaq Charshanbasi (Earth or Last Tuesday).

People do house cleaning, plant trees, paint eggs, make national pastries such as shekerbura, pakhlava, shorgoghal and a great variety of national cuisine. Children jump over bonfires and run through the streets and knock on doors to ask for treats.

The holiday was given the status of an official holiday in Azerbaijan by a presidential decree dated March 13, 1990.

In 2009, Novruz was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and since then, March 21 was declared the International Day of Novruz.