Nawrez/Nevruz is a spring festival celebrated in the Balkans on the 21st or the 22nd of March at various ethnic and religious communities
as Alevi, Pomaks, Albanians, Gagauz, Crimean Tatars and others. The day is associated with various names (Nawruz, Newruz, Sultan Nevruz, Mevriz, Kırklar, etc.) and rituals; however, everyone who honours it is haunted by the idea that a new life is starting, as the New Year comes the earth awakens. In Bulgaria and Romania, the festival in its traditional form is generally weak, although in some villages some rituals are still performed. There is a tendency for "recovery" through various cultural programs and initiatives (e.g. in the Bulgarian districts of Silistra, Dobrich, Kardzhali and Blagoevgrad, as well as in the Romanian district of Constanta). This report examines the celebration of Navrez of the Crimean Tatars in Bulgaria and Romania; it traces its specifics of the past and today.
Nawrez as a tradition in the past
The Crimean Tatars in Bulgaria and Romania compactly inhabit the historical region of Dobrudzha. Before the last fixing of the Dobrudzha Bulgarian-Romanian boarder in 1940, they constituted a single homogeneous community with its very own culture- including a festive system defined by ethnic and confessional characteristics. Then, under the Treaty of Craiova, the field was divided between Bulgaria and Romania - Northern and Southern Dobrudzha or Dobrudzha and Cadrilater; while the Crimean Tatars are left separated, as well as, other ethnic communities. By becoming citizens of two separate states, the ethno-cultural development, henceforth, is determined mostly by policies towards them as an ethnic and religious minority (Muslim).
Information for the traditional celebration of the Nawrez feast of the Crimean Tatars can be found in the earlier ethnographic and historical Romanian, Turkish, Bulgarian researches and descriptions, as well as in the memoirs of the oldest members of the community. In the recent past it has been celebrated on the 21st or the 22nd of March, same as the other ethnic groups, such as the day of the vernal equinox, symbolizing the beginning of the New Year – „new day, new year, new life“, and its duration is 3 days to 1 week.
Most and earlier written sources refer to North Dobrudzha, where the holiday is also referred to as the Feast of Fire (Ateş Bayramı), First Summer Holiday (Ilkyaz bayramı), and „Twist of the day“ (Gün dönümü). Generally in the villages inhabited by the Crimean Tatars, performing the following manners: children gather and jump over fire (Dumitrescu 1921: 372-378); they beforehand learn the Nawrez song; on the day of the feast they collect flowers (Nawrez şeşeğĭ), which are put in a vase or used as a decoration for a young tree with branches, they circle each house singing and telling that the winter is gone and spring has come, they give to farmers (or hostess) flowers, and they in return give them a handkerchief on which are embroidered flowers, towels, boiled eggs, money, sweets, etc. ; predictions are made about fertility and ritual practices with initiating character (for example, girls are decorated with snowdrops for their hair to grow faster); ritual foods are prepared (Nagi, 1962: 95-138; Ulkusal 1966: 87-88; Onal 1999: 85-95; Yurtsever 2003: 15-18). Tatars slaughtered the chickens that no longer gave eggs, and they brewed greasy and delicious soups in large cauldrons. If the broth boiled and spilled over then the year would spill over from fertility ... bereket de oyle taşar ... (Yurtsever 2003: 18).
Nawrez of the Crimean Tatars in Bulgaria has also been the subject of longstanding scientific searches; the information is collected primarily through the memories of community representatives (Tasheva 1975: 72-76; Miglev 1997: 152-156; Antonov 2004: 135-138; Erolova 2010: 82-83; etc.). The holiday is celebrated to the 1970s; in the case of mixed marriages with Turks (Sunnis) who did not celebrate it, the fest probably dropped even earlier. The customs that are performed are similar to those in Romania; there are some differences and nuances. For example, in Bulgaria Nawrez is universally associated with the spring crocus flower. According to the memoirs of the Crimean Tatars, the feast had no fixed date and was celebrated during the crocus blooming (Antonov 2004: 135). A more detailed description of the festive rituals gives Ivan Miglev, who during the 90s visited various villages in Southern Dobrudzha. The first person from the village, who would see the blossoming crocus, would communicate to the other people in the community that the „crocus has come (blossomed)“ (Nawrez keldı). This news spread quickly in one of the coming days to celebrate the holiday. On the eve of it, little boys and young men gather in a house and learn a special song for Nawrez. At sunrise they go to raise crocuses, cut a small tree or branch, on which they decorate flowers. They fasten them with prepared coloured threads, making the „Tatar node“ that becomes loose with one draft. The tree or the branch is called nawrez teregı. Then the boys go round the houses in the village (including Bulgarian and Turkish), sing the song for Nawrez, and give to the housewives the flowers that are tied to pole. In return, the hosts give to them embroidered towels, scarves, sweets, eggs etc. which the children will later separate between them. On this day predictions are made about whether the year will be fertile (from the eggs, collected under the moon). During the evening aşure is consumed (Miglev 1997: 152-156).
In both parts of Dobrudzha, the song that is performed for Navrez, is central to the rituals performed. Through time, the text is undergoing some changes, but overall it remains unchanged from the earliest to the latest submission of the registration. I will not dwell on the different versions of the song, and I will quote only an excerpt from its most popular option:
....Nawrez Keldĭ körĭñĭz / Look, Nawrez Has Come
Körĭmlĭgĭn berĭñĭz / Give Me the Gift
Cennet bolsın cerĭñĭz / May Your Place Become Paradise
A za, nawrezĭm mübarek ... / Aunt, Happy Nawrez!
In short, Nawrez of the Crimean Tatars in Bulgaria and Romania, in its traditional form takes the same customary ritual cycles (preparation, proper customs – the fire jumping called "colourful procession", singing a song) donation predictions and divination. During my field research in Northern and Southern Dobrudzha (2007-2012), the memories of the oldest members of the community were that from that day the summer comes- it is an old holiday, non-religious holiday, an occasion for mutual visits between relatives and friends. Although the holiday has become weaker, the knowledge of it makes it part of the cultural heritage of the Crimean Tatars and therefore functions as a marker of ethnic and cultural identity, distinguishing them from the surrounding population (including Sunni who do not celebrate it) and it is maintaining the connection with their historical homeland or the Crimean homeland.
In fact, the traditional celebration of Nawrez in Dobrudzha and in Crimea has many characteristics in common: a belief that comes a new (agricultural) cycle time; the notification of the coming spring from the youth; the donation; the performing songs; the preparing of ritual meals (cooked eggs); and enchantments. The Tatars in the Crimea also sent the old and welcome the New Year on the 20th or 21st of March. The night before Nawrez, the girls perform a number of predictions about how they will proceed the year, boys and young men after dark, are circling and singing from house to house, some of them put animal masks. Owners give them sweets. On the day of the feast eggs are boiled - a symbol of new life and kobete is made – a type of pastry with minced meat. They are handed out in the cemetery, where commemoration prayers are read. Farmers make the first furrow on this day. In the households festive food is prepared. Beside the boiled eggs and Kobete, there is halva, soup of chicken and noodles, which is also believed that if it is brought to boil, the year will be fertile. Small boys and girls again go round the houses dressed in clothes of flowers and they are singing songs dedicated to Nawrez (Kozlov and Chizhov, 2003: 308-309).
If we compared the festive customary ritual of the complex Nawrez of Dobrudzha with the one in the Crimea, the first could be defined as incomplete because it lacks the visit to the cemeteries, the commemoration prayer and other rituals, but there may have been separate ceremonies that have dropped probably in the first half of the last century.
Nawrez in our time
After the 60s and the 70s of the twentieth century, Nawrez in its traditional form is no longer celebrated, but the reasons for this may be sought in the industrialization and urbanization during the socialist period, the imposition of an official holiday system, cultural, linguistic and ethnic assimilation in settlements with predominantly Turkish population (in Bulgaria). It is possible that its mark in the region of Dobrudzha and Rouse is transformed in meaning and belief in the next great celebration for the community - Kadarlez (May 6) and/or Tepresh/Tepreş/Tepreç. There is a widespread belief among Tatars, Turks and Bulgarians that Kadarlez /Hıdırlez/ St. George's Day marks the beginning of a new agricultural cycle. Part of the rituals performed in the past in Dobrudzha and in the Crimea for Nawrez as a fire jumping commemoration prayers, divination and ritual foods are inherent for Kadarlez as well. For some Tatars in Dobrudzha the two holidays mix (Yurtsever 2003: 20) or the very celebration of Kadarlez called Tepresh, thus it is „etnisised“, in particular, the holiday becomes „Tatar“. According to the interlocutors, Tepresh means „First Spring“ in Tatar. Bulgarians say first spring. Tatars gave it that name. Tepresh comes from „teferuch“ - the birth of new life. „Tepreshmek“ means the rebirth of nature. For other members of the community - Kadarlez and Tepresh are two different holidays, the second is celebrated on the first Friday after Kadarlez or the last Saturday and Sunday of May (Erolova 2010: 82-86). Currently, young Crimean Tatars in Bulgaria have no knowledge of Nawrez unless they have learned that there is such a celebration from the academic studies, literature or from older relatives. For them, the traditional spring festival is precisely Kadarlez (with or without Tepreshmek). In North Dobrudzha, Tepresh has a different meaning. It is not perceived as a spring festival as a meeting of the community, which to this day the most respected and remarkable custom is to conduct the so-called „Tatar wrestling“ held from May to September. This, in return, in addition to the vast number of Crimean Tatars and their active cultural development in Romania probably leads to the preservation of Nawrez as a separate holiday.
Although nowadays the ritual celebration of Nawrez is just a memory, then both parts of Dobrudzha attempt to „restore“ it from different Tatar associations in the context of their social activity. Since 2007, on the initiative of various structures of the Democratic Union of the Turkish-Muslim Tatars of Romania, in separate settlements in the area of Constanta (Constanta, whiting, Tuzla, Ovidiu etc.) different forums that relate memories rural population are organized. Local cultural formulations perform a festive program full of dance, poetry and songs. The ethnicization of individual ritual elements continues. If in the past the tree or branch was worn by young boys, there were gifts (flowers, embroidered towels and towels), tied with „Tatar knot“, today is placed the Crimean Tatar national flag (light blue with a gold emblem of Geray dynasty that ruled the Crimean Khanate from 1449 to 1783). One could say that Nawrez has its large place in the contemporary festive system of the Crimean Tatars in Romania, similar to the Crimea, where it is one of the most popular holidays.
In Bulgaria, the „legacy“ of Nawrez is reflected in the name of one of the community organizations in the city of Dobrich, founded in 2002. The reconstruction of the rites of the celebration was made in 2013 in the town of Tervel as part of the joint project „Together in school“, representing the culture of ethnic groups in the municipality.
To sum up, it can be concluded that if the Nawrez in Dobrudzha of the Crimean Tatars in the past is a symbol of their common ethno-cultural unity, then today it is a holiday, which operates in different ways in both parts of the region. While in Romania it has been „restored“ and serves as a powerful marker of the identity of the Crimean Tatars, in Bulgaria the festival is reserved mostly as a memory among the older members of the community, and attempts to „rebirth“ its timid. Like the North Dobrudzha, Nawrez could be preserved in the Southern Dobrudzha through the efforts of the existing Tatar cultural organizations in terms of support from the local municipal authorities (municipalities, town halls, community centres).
The report was presented at the round table „Novruz - A Celebration of a New Beginning“, held in Sofia, April 27th, 2016
References:
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Erolova, I. (2010) Dobrudzha - Borders and Identities. Sofia: Paradigm.
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