The best way to enjoy Nauryz in Kazakhstan

Nauryz, or Nowruz, means ‘New Day’ across Kazakhstan and Central Asia, celebrating the return of Spring

Two young female performers in Kazakh tradition outfits pose for a photo on Nauryz — Celebrations across Kazakhstan involve street performers dressed in traditional Kazakh costumes

In Kazakhstan, as in much of this region, the traditional new year occurs at the Spring Equinox, known as Nauryz. A celebration of fertility, friendship and peace, it is not a religious holiday, but very important nonetheless. It is a great opportunity for families and friends to meet, honour the return of spring, and prepare and enjoy special festive food.

Spring is a special time. After a sometimes brutal winter, the snow begins to thaw, the days warm up, and the earth comes back to life. Flowers appear, the rivers begin to flow again, and everyone is in a good mood. I can see why the ancient people of this region wanted to celebrate this time of year.

The celebration of Nauryz usually goes for several days in Kazakhstan. The villages and towns organise festivities giving you the chance to see national costumes, vibrant parades, and traditional games. The special swing, known as Altybakan, is frequently set up, and it seems to be quite popular with young people. In 2024 Nauryz officially began on March 14 with the Day of Greetings, followed by a series of other days dedicated to other traditions important to Kazakh culture. Nauryz begins properly on March 21, on the day of the spring equinox, and when the public holiday begins.

My Nauryz experience

We missed our first Nauryz in 2022 because we were visiting our family in Australia. But in 2023 we took a trip into downtown Almaty to watch the parade on the 21st March. We found bleachers set up at Astana Square, outside Kazakhstan British Technological University. The neighbouring streets were beautifully decorated in a spring theme with flowers, butterflies, and lots of colour. There wasn’t as many people headed toward the square as we expected but it was only 10am. Folks tend to start their day a bit later here than us so we were probably a bit early! By 11am we had settled ourselves down at the square.

A man and his children walk into the distance along a street with spring decorations above their heads — The streets of Almaty are decorated specially for spring by the time Nauryz begins

There were lots of people and because we had little kids we chose to find seats in the bleachers. This gave us that extra bit of elevation so that we could see the parade and performers. The weather was beautiful but of course it was still very cold, being mid March. We got to see lots of street performers, many of them on stilts. There were many beautiful people in traditional Kazakh attire. Some of these were performers but plenty were just there to enjoy the show. Food vendors were everywhere. We bought a bag of baursaki, delicious fried dough balls, and snacked on them. We lasted a couple of hours at the square before heading back in the direction of home.

Astana Square is decorated with a brightly coloured banner celebrating Nauryz, in the foreground is a child's head covered by a winter hat — Astana Square is a central point in Almaty for Nauryz, with a stage set up for performances and many performers keeping the crowd entertained before the parade arrives

On the way back, we’d warmed up enough to stop at the Palace of the Republic. They had their own celebrations on their square, with a stage set up for musicians, and lots of street performers moving through the crowd. And so many food tents. We ended up heading home not too long after we arrived as the music was too loud for the children.

There were also celebrations at the square outside the Palace of the Republic

Prepare yourself to enjoy Nauryz

If you’re more stoic than us, or more prepared (warm clothes and perhaps ear protectors for your kids) then you will probably enjoy taking in more than just a few hours of the celebrations, especially if the weather is fine.

In 2024 Almaty will again host a parade on the 21st March. It starts at 10am, though my advice would be to aim to be fashionably late, especially if you have little ones or don’t have a very warm coat. The parade will move along Abay Avenue (from the Dostyk Avenue end), turn at Abylai Khan Avenue and then end at Astana Square. Expect to see yurts on wheels, camels, silks and carpets, and other incredibly cool Kazakh specialities.

Make sure you try the festive specialities , such as baursaki and kozhe, the hearty soup made of 7 ingredients. Speaking of, check out the recent series of Instagram posts by Sandyq Restaurant and the US Consulate General. A diplomat from the Consulate tries different Nauryz kozhe made from the traditional recipes of 5 different regions of Kazakhstan. It’s super cute, and he does a great job (I think!) of speaking in Kazakh!

Follow useful social media accounts

Make sure you follow local media for updates on the Nauryz weekend:

Sxodim is a local Almaty-based instagram account devoted to whats on in Almaty. There are also sister accounts dedicated to other Central Asian cities
Almaty Today is a news and media account that also reports on cultural events in Almaty. Their Facebook page is worth a follow if your Russian is as basic as mine. More of the content goes into the captions on these posts, rather than the images. This is useful if you rely on the translation function to put it all into English!
Almaty Living is an instagram account run by a dear friend of mine and covers a lot of great events happening in our fair city. And she does it in English which is quite helpful 😉

What do I know about Nauryz?

I’ve been living in Kazakhstan since mid 2021 with my family, though as of March 2024 I’ve only been here for one Nauryz weekend! Visit my About Me page to understand more about my perspective. And check out my Kazakhstan page to find out more about why I think why you should travel to Kazakhstan!

Also take a look at my other posts on Kazakhstan: