The smell of Noruz • El olor del Nouruz


Noruz, 21 March, New Year’s Eve in Persia and in the neighboring countries:
Happy New Year, Persia
A rich Noruz table
Equinox
Children’s paintings for Noruz
The return of Noruz
The great feasts of childhood have special smells, which can summarize and, even after many years, extract in full detail the images of the feast. Christmas has the smell of resin and burning sparklers, Easter the smell of jasmine and incense mixed with that of light rain and wet earth. But what do the feasts smell like, in which you never participated as a child? What is the smell of Noruz?

Noruz has a pungent smell of smoke, the smoke of the steakhouses and the smoke of the bonfires made in the squares and courtyards for the night fire-jumping. The cool smell of cellars, as we cut through the narrow streets of the old town of Baku on our way to the festive dinner. The smell of honey, saffron and sultana.

Las grandes fiestas de la infancia guardan sus aromas en el recuerdo y basta un olor preciso para resumir y revivir con todo detalle, por más años que pasen, las imágenes de entonces. Navidad huele a resina y a bengalas encendidas, Pascua tiene el olor del jazmín, y el incienso se mezcla con la lluvia y la tierra húmeda. Pero ¿a qué olerían en el recuerdo aquellas fiestas en las que nunca participé de niño? ¿Cuál es el olor del Nouruz?

Nouruz es un olor acre a humo, el humo de los asadores sumado al de las hogueras en las plazas y patios preparadas para el anochecer, para saltar el fuego. El olor fresco que sube de los sótanos cuando nos apresuramos por las angostas callejuelas del casco antiguo de Bakú para llegar en punto a la cena de la fiesta. El olor de la miel, el azafrán, las dulces pasas sultanas.


Habil Aliyev (kamanche): Bayati Shiraz. From the CD Kaman Möcüzesi (2002)

bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz bakunoruz


4 comentarios:

Julide dijo...

Noruz, Nevruz is also an edible flower I have found out last year. Eaten mostly in Eastern Anatolia.

First day of spring!

Araz dijo...

Thank you for the post, Studiolum, these must be old photos from your visit, I believe. By the way, earlier this month they started shooting "Ali and Nino" in Baku - some photos here and here.

Studiolum dijo...

Yes, they were taken when you and me roamed the city together.

Thank you for the photos! They and the shooting gives me an excuse to finally publish my review on Ali and Nino, written long ago.

Jardzy dijo...

Will you write about "Hıdırellez"?