SEVEN SIGNS OF SPRING

After a while, as you begin to get older, you begin to realize that you want to return to your roots and to peace, since the beginning of spring - or, rather, the end of February - is when you feel the awakening of nature and its presence more than any other time of the year. It is then, on the last Tuesday of winter and the first Tuesday of Novruz (Su Carsanbasi) that you begin to be filled with the soft aroma of spring. It warms your heart, the light singing of birds joins the noise of the city, and it grows closer and more cosy as it gets dark a little later. At such moments the soul, set free, wishes to sing, and in each thing of nature you see God's creation.

Spark. From a spark comes a flame - the flame of the candle and the fire of the last Tuesday (Od Carsanbasi) before Novruz. Oh, how you want to jump into childhood and be immersed in it, to be carefree. To pick flowers, small wildflowers so priceless to a child, and as if borne aloft on wings run to mother, and before handing her the bouquet, in anticipation catch the satisfied flash of her eyes. You already understand that this is what makes life worth living. To a child all is the present, today is an eternity. The smell of the bonfire always takes you back to childhood - happy voices, laughter, the heat and reflected fire on your face, friends, family, and all the other little ones. On Novruz you want to live with every fibre of your being.

Samani, the holiday table, family, candles, pilaf, the scent of the narcissus blossoms, sweets, Azerbaijani music. It enchants and seeps into your consciousness; it always pulses in rhythm with your heart; to its beat you always want to either cry, if it is sad, or dance, if it is joyful. You cannot resist it. It is made of extremes, but genius is always made of extremes. On Novruz it is joyous, a background to laughter, merrymaking, the sweet-smelling heat from the oven. Vaqif Mustafazada and his "March" are too light for it, too contemplative, too anticipating. All of that is still to come - the spring uproar of colour, the warmth and a hot summer. It seems that an entire lifetime is to come: on Novruz this feeling comes, you imagine, even to the oldest man. And the mugam is the music of the universe.

Grace. It lies deep within us. Grace and respect for one's elders, respect for the memory of those who are no longer with us. It is an absolute to which every self-respecting person strives. It is seen more than ever on Novruz by the example of our parents when they, themselves no longer young, no longer in their best health, their hair streaked with grey, bow at the feet of those who are their elders. On these days, immersed in the holiday spirit and spring euphoria, no one forgets their elders - they are wished a happy holiday first. Seeing this, we gradually begin to do the same, deeply believing that our children will do the same - hoping for that, we are thinking more about the health of their hearts and souls. But before all this, we make sure to remember those who have passed on. They are always with us. 

The splendour of clouds. Nothing disturbs them - neither the coming winter nor the spring. Just like the sun. But at the beginning of spring, in the early morning, the sun's rays pierce the fluff of the white clouds to make a road to the heavens, sparking a desire to embrace the infinite. And if rain falls, it will not be sad - it will be an affirmation and will be a rain of hope: wet streets, the smell of the earth, the laughter of a child running through puddles in rubber boots, life. No, it is not a fall rain with cold that burns your face; it is a spring rain and a prelude to the holiday. It is the saplings and the swelling buds on them, the sprouting seeds of the samani. And soon the fruit trees will bloom. So it will be forever, even when we are no more.

The Creator is love, because when we talk about faith, we talk about love. To stay positive is to learn about yourself, to free yourself from false precepts and convictions, to widen the narrow confines of your "I" and gradually discover God within yourself. This means to learn to love. Love the world and people as God loves them. And happy are those who have understood this sincere belief in God. To possess such a faith, to live with this desire - that is the only correct, the only vital, even the only effective position. It is spring, the Novruz holidays that dispose the right-minded, thinking and believing person to discover God within himself. There should be more such people. We believe in that. The purity of one's intentions and purity of heart - that is what supports us in the rhythm of modern life, in this far-from-perfect world. 

Аzerbaijan is like the intoxicating aroma of the spices with which the Creator has abundantly blessed our land. The spice of which there is so much on these days - in the national sweets, in the foods that have become almost an element of Azerbaijani blood, of its symbols, of the air. The variety of our Homeland in its incredible bounty, the beauty of its nature, its harvest-rich fields, the strength of its way of life, its dances, its patience and tolerance, family traditions, the diversity of its peoples, hospitality, the simplicity and kindness of the most everyday people, its capacity for gratitude, its patriotism. One wants to believe - oh, how one wants to believe - that each will be rewarded according to his heart and soul, just as is our Homeland, so close, so dear, so precious. A Homeland with such a big heart. A Homeland on a level with our parents. A Homeland meeting a new spring.

Happy Novruz!