Nauryz, or Nowruz, meaning ‘New Day’ across Kazakhstan and Central Asia, occurs in early Spring and is the traditional new year holiday. A celebration of fertility, friendship and peace, it is non-religious, 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. After a sometimes brutal winter, the days become warmer and the snow begins to thaw, 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 2025 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
Our first Nauryz was in 2023 when 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.
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.
On the way back, we’d warmed up enough to stop at Abai Square. They had their own celebrations, 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. Loud music is a pretty common cultural thing in Central Asia and we have since invested in some noise-cancelling headphones for our youngest!
In 2024 our Nauryz experience was a little tempered by our location. We had traveled to Shymkent for the Nauryz weekend, thinking the celebrations would be even bigger than Almaty’s given it is considered to have a stronger Kazakh influence there. Unfortunately the holiday coincided with Ramadan. The city was not so organised to enjoy Nauryz and we saw very little of any celebrations. Even our concierge at the hotel thought there would be nothing on as the month of fasting was being observed by many of the local people. Ramadan has overlapped with Nauryz for the last few years so I suspect there is just some variation in how the 2 cities approach these events.
Prepare yourself to enjoy Nauryz
If you’re more stoic than us, or more prepared (warm clothes and perhaps those noise cancelling headphones 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 2025 Almaty appears to be hosting a concert at Astana Square on the 21st March – I haven’t seen anything about a parade on instagram yet. It starts at 11am, and given the warm weather we’re currently having, you might as well arrive on time and find yourself a good spot. When the temperatures are low (as they were in 2023) then I usually recommend arriving fashionably late, especially if you have little kids! The parade has historically moved along Abay Avenue (from the Dostyk Avenue end), turn at Abylai Khan Avenue and then end at Astana Square. It had yurts on wheels, camels, silks and carpets, and other incredibly cool Kazakh specialities. It sounds like they’re going for something new in 2025 according to Visit Almaty (an English language instagram account).
Make sure you try the festive specialities , such as baursaki and kozhe, the hearty soup made of 7 ingredients. Speaking of, check out the series of Instagram posts by Sandyq Restaurant and the US Consulate General in 2024. A diplomat from the Consulate tried different Nauryz kozhe made from the traditional recipes of 5 different regions of Kazakhstan. It’s super cute, and he did 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. You’ll need to use the Instagram translation tool as its all in Russian.
- 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! 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:
- The Best View In Shymbulak: Le Mont Hotel Review
- An 80s Era Room & Excellent Lamb Cutlets: A Review Of Ak Bulak Hotel
- Why visiting Abay Opera Theatre is a great idea
- How to get the most out your visit to Arasan
- What to see when you visit Almaty’s Panfilov Park
- Visiting Kok Tobe: What to expect and how to have a great time
- Fly to Almaty from Perth: A review of the new Air Asia route
- The best things to do in Almaty with little kids
- The best time of year to visit Almaty, Kazakhstan
- Why I think Kazakhstan is safe to travel to
And of course I have a page dedicated to skiing in Kazakhstan!