Holidays of Kazakhstan - Valentine's Day in Kazakhstan

April 15 is an alternative to February's Valentine's Day, but with bright notes of the originality inherent in the Kazakh people The holiday was initiated by the youth part of the Bolashak movement in 2011, who held large-scale protests against the celebration of the traditional international holiday It was considered propaganda of licentiousness, and, moreover, completely inconsistent with the religious beliefs of the country The new date is associated with the folk epic of the 13th-14th centuries, promoting the purity and beauty of true love It is based on the legend about the young man Kozy and the girl Bayan Engaged in early childhood, the lovers saw their lives only with each other But they could not resist the cruelty of circumstances: the girl had to be given by force to marry another man, Kodar, who seemed to Bayan’s father to be a more promising groom Kodar villainously killed the Goat, thinking that this would force the rebellious one to belong only to him Then Bayan, using her cunning, forced Kodar to go down into a deep well, holding on to her braids When Kodar did this, she cut off her long hair and threw stones at the well Having avenged her lover, Bayan committed suicide Kozy and Bayan were able to reunite after death - they were buried together The light of love left by the hearts of the horseman Koza and the beautiful Bayan has inspired playwrights, ethnographers, poets and historians not only of Kazakhstan, but also of other nations for centuries In order for the new holiday to take root among young people and become a full-fledged replacement for the traditional one, activists and the government are trying to make the program of events as rich as possible The celebration scenario necessarily includes a competition for young couples, a dance tournament, and the reading of love poems Schools organize themed evenings, all kinds of games and competitions, for example for the best wall newspaper dedicated to the celebration Young people organize flash mobs - launching paper Chinese lanterns into the sky