Nevruz Spring Festival: Offers food, fun to hundreds who flock on ‘first day of spring’ 

Nevruz Spring Festival: Offers food, fun to hundreds who flock on ‘first day of spring’ 

By Yshmael Cabana

Have you tried a baklava, chak-chak, helva, or samosa? Have you heard a kubyz played or other entertainment of folk songs and dances from the countries along the Great Silk Road? It’s a family affair inside a small auditorium in northwestern Toronto. And the goods have been an intercultural marriage of different delights from Albania to the Philippines.

The Nile Academy High School is a chockfull display of homemade pastries as the Intercultural Dialogue Institute organized the 5th Nevruz Spring Festival on April 5 in North Etobicoke, Toronto.

Nevruz—which translates to “new day”—coincides with the first day of Spring and the beginning of the year. The spelling in English appears in a number of variations depending on how the word is transliterated from the various Turkic nations in a region too wide a geography. Today it is celebrated by peoples from the Balkans in southeastern Europe, the six “stans” of Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkeminstan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan to northwestern China.

These countries, including modern states of limited recognition, have been a crossroads between different civilizations and have kept the observance of the arrival of spring with traditions that date back thousands of years.

For Esat Gokce, Nevruz is of great significance although celebrations may not be as huge as in his native of Turkey. “It stands for renewed minds and carrying out spring cleaning to welcome the new period,” says the high school teacher who has been in Toronto for three years.

Some Filipinos participated in the event among the 18 countries invited. Ben Ferrer of Silayan Community Centre proudly represented his kababayans.

“It’s a great honour for the Philippine community to be involved in this. As I observed, all the different countries here right now are very friendly and very accommodating,” says Ferrer donned in a warm peach-coloured traditional Barong Tagalog.

Weaving one’s way through the tables, colourful fabrics of ethnic fashion astound—chapan cape of green and blue worn by Afghan men, light linen of Mongolian deel, and large black sheepskin hats called telpeks.
Propulsive and ecstatic sounds call across the hall. Out of silverware and precious prayer rugs on either side, ebru artist Hanife Selcuk demonstrates how she transfers the colours from a bath of viscous liquid to the surface of a paper. Here seems the Grand Bazaar in Turkey recreated.

“I think it is wonderful that all of you here are together not only with the baklavas and the burik, and my recent discovery, kadayif,” MPP for North Etobicoke Dr. Shafiq Qaadri says on behalf of the government of Ontario. “In any case, whether it’s the heritage, the language, the culture, or the foods, most importantly, the spirit of the people… is something that all of us can appreciate,” he adds.

Like the spring festival in the Philippines, where the more popular Chinese lunar New Year is recognized as an official holiday, Nevruz or Nowruz was added to the national calendar of Canada through a unanimous consent of the Canadian parliament in 1999.

However, according to program manager Mehmet Gul, the organisers continue to seek support for intercultural dialogue through festivals such as this to be recognized by the provincial legislature in Queen’s Park.

“In this regard, we hope to increase solidarity among diverse groups towards social action, enhanced awareness of regional and provincial intercultural efforts in the area of social cohesion that holds a society together, through common values, beliefs, and behaviors,” said Gul in a statement.