Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan were relatively unfamiliar to me until the dismantlement of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Tajikistan embassy in Seoul highlighted the core of peace, tolerance and new beginnings marking Navruz on Monday. Navruz means "New Day," symbolizing the rejuvenation of nature and the start of a new year. The festival is celebrated on the first day of spring, typically on March 21, coinciding with the astronomical vernal equinox. The festival is said to have a historic tradition of thousands of years i.