The country is taken over by street festivals involving traditional song and dance, tightrope-walking and the comical characters of Kecel and Kosa, who theatricalise the struggles between winter and spring. The largest festival of this kind is held in the capital, Baku. Other Azeri traditions include painting eggs; jumping over roaring bonfires; fortune-telling to foresee if and when girls will get married; and visiting the graves of relatives. For the most part, Afghanistan heralds the new year in a similar way to its neighbours. It’s celebrated predominantly in the north of the country, particularly in the Balkh province, which some believe to be the spiritual homeland of ‘Nowroz’. Although contested, it’s said that Zoroaster, the ancient Iranian prophet who founded Zoroastrianism, lived and first preached in Balkh, one of the oldest cities in the world.
