Afghanistan is that land of
violence whose culture has been hidden by bloodshed and Taliban and Islamist
groups fighting since 1970s to get hold of this beautiful land, its people and
its culture wounded and children born after 1970s came to be called as CHILDREN
OF WAR in the process. But before that, Afghanistan was a beautiful country
with beautiful traditions.
There was a time in Afghanistan
when young and beautiful children played along the sidewalks, the buzkashi, the
nowroz festival and many more festivals like that, while Ahmed Zahir’s
doste darom used to blare in the background and young Afghan women used to work
as teachers, doctors, professors.
NOWROZ literally means new day
and this festival marks the beginning of Afghan New Year, also celebrated as
farmer’s day. Nowroz contains many festivals on its own, some and
main of which are, Guli Surdh , which is tulip festival, Buzkashi, which is the kite flying
tournament, Haft Mewa, which is a festival during which seven dried fruits are
served in their own syrup, such as resins, pistachios, almonds, Hazlenut,
Apricot. Jashn e Dashqan- which means festival of farmers , in which farmers
walk the city streets dancing and celebrating as a sign of encouragement to
agriculture.
So what changed all this? The
Afghan war, rather these were a series of wars,the Soviet Russia, the Taliban,
the American invasion…But we are here to talk about love not
war, and it is only the royal Pashtun resilience that love and life has
prevailed under covers, sleeves, scarves and landmines, that the culture of
Afghanistan not only sustained, but is also reviving now. The main language spoken in Afghanistan are
Dari and Pashto, and main sects in Afghanistan are Pashtuns, Hazaras, Uzbeks,
Mochis and Balouchs, with Pashtuns dominating in numbers. And it is fight of
these factions for power that dominated Afghanistan in late 1990s. Almond cakes
of Afghanistan are a famous snack, almost in every Dari book ,there will be a
reference of carrying Almond Cakes on long journey as a sweet snack and almost
every time there will beautiful “hamshireh”* tagging along her grandfather “agha
jan*” and both of them sharing almond cakes on their beautiful long
journey via mountains of Kabul.
That brings us to Kabul city, the
heart of Afghanistan. Kabul city is believed to be cultural centre of
Afghanistan, but lately many centres like Hairat and Mazri Sharif have
developed as cities and big cultural centres. Hairati accent of Dari and Pashto
is very famous in Afghanistan, you can almost recongnise a Hairat*i person
because of their thick Pashtu accent.
Then there is famous late Afghan
singer, Ahmed Zahir, although I do not understand Dari and Pashtu, but this man
made me fell in love with this foreign language, his voice is so magical. A lot
of young Afghanistan women are taking interest in music* now, after decades of
suppression at the hands of Taliban. Performing Arts, law, medicine are famous
professions chosen by women after that of teaching, and more than 7 million children
of Afghanistan are taking up education. Some factions of Afghanistan people
also know Russian, mostly those on Uzbek side. Besides, Afghan weddings are a
lavish affair and attan, which is traditional dance of Afghanistan, is
performed at weddings, almonds, almond cakes, walnuts, cashews, saffron are
famous food gifts of Afghanistan.
And a famous line which all women
sing for the bride leaving for her home to be in Dari is:
“Ahesta Boro maahe maan*”
Which means, “Go
slowly my lovely moon”.
Aghan proverbs are famous for
being crisp and precise and quirky , along with Mullah Nasrudden jokes*.
And it is to see that modern
Kashmiri language has many many Dari and Pashto words, and so does Hindi*.
There is always a granny or a
loyal servant performing “sadka*” when you go out of the house to ward
off the evil, and then always some football fans, lovers hiding, and a Hairati
carpet shop, or some quirky hamshireh tagging along wying to get small plate of
ferni* or serbet*. Always.
And there is always a hill to cross.
Afghanistan is mainly hilly,and most of the population follow simple way of
life, waking up for Fajr*, going downhill to collect water , and naan for
breakfast, and then bathing and going for work.
The Afghan way of life is simple
and still evolving after many decades of war, like they say in Dari:
Qattra Qattra Dariya Mey Sha.*
River is made drop by drop.
KhodaHafiz!
#References and Meanings#
·
Hamshireh: language- Dari, meaning: Daughter.
·
Agha Jan: language- Dari/Urdu/Pashtu, meaning:
used to address some elder male of family, mostly father, elder brother or
grand father, in many cases, used by servants for male members as a sign of
respect.
·
Hairat/Hairati accent: Hairat is a very famous
cultural city of Aghanistan, it is 3rd largest city in Afghanistan
and is important as it has links with Kandahar, Mazr I Sharif, and also Iranian
city Mashhad by a small village named Islam Kala.
·
People of Hairat speak Dari and Pashto with a
very thick accent that is easy to recognise, this accent has also been locally
a butt of joked for Afghan people and is used in many comedy and parody videos.
·
Afghan women interested in music and arts:
Training is given by CCAA (Centre for Contemporary Arts, Afghanistan) and
programs in Kabul University.
·
Ahesta Boro Mahe Maan:
This is a famous wedding song which is
mainly sung in Afghan weddings. It literally translates to, “go
slowly my lovely moon”. Translations and full lyrics for this
Pashtu song are available on youtube.
·
Mullah Nasruddin Jokes: Mullah Nasruddin used to be a famous
character for local jokes, and these jokes are famous in south asian countries
of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. This character always used to be in trouble
due to his over smartness.
·
Dari
and Pashtu words in Hindi: Common Hindi used these days in north india is also
referred to as HINDUSTANI language is a mix of words from many dialects of
ancient India, ancient India that comprised of Pakistan and parts of
Afghanistan, and hence we find many words common to these languages. Some
examples are : Saaya, pareshan, ahmaq,
darwazah, mast, beparwah, shahr, pasand ( from Persian word “pasandidan”)
and so on.
·
Sadka:
sadka is performed in order to ward off evil from the people of family who go
outsideto work/play etc. It mostly involves reading an islamic dua by someone
who is not going out.
·
Ferni/Serbet:
Ferni is a sweet dish of rice and milk and Serbet is a cold drink made by milk
and added flavous such as rose or dry
fruits etc.
·
Fajr:
Fajr is the namaz performed at dawn.
·
Dari
Proverb: Qattra Qattra Dariya Mey Sha
·
There
are many more quirky Dari proverbs such as:
·
Durugh
go hafiza nadarad: A liar is always forgetful.
Eisha Tomar
