Festivals and Annual Events

Navruz is a national holiday celebrated all over Uzbekistan including Tashkent. It is the celebration of spring and it marks the start of the Persian New Year in Central Asia. People from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds take part in the festivities. Since the start, it has been a pagan and a folk holiday and it is has been celebrated for more than 3000 years. People prepare for it by cleaning their towns and cities and huge feasts are prepared. Navruz is celebrated over the period of one month, starting 21st March.

Independence Day is celebrated on the 1st of September and marks the gaining of freedom from the Soviet Union. Outdoor events, fairs and concerts take place around the city and in parks on this day. The country’s best singers, actors and dancers come together to perform at the Alisher Navoiy National Park in celebration. At night the sky is lit up with a fireworks display that can be seen all around the city.