Yesterday was by far one of the most spontaneous and interesting days we have had since arriving in Tajikistan.  June 27th is National Unity Day, and marks the anniversary of the signing of the peace accord that ended Tajikistan’s brutal civil war that devastated the country from 1992-1997.  On that day 16 years ago, representatives from the government and the opposition met in Moscow under UN supervision to sign an accord and begin a process of reconciliation that seems to me to have brought a national pride and unity to the country.  I’m sure that somewhere, people are unhappy, but that’s the way that countries work.  In any case, it is an important day to Tajiks, and serves as a solemn reminder of their country’s suffering on its journey to independence.

I began my day by sleeping in until 10.  Because it was a national holiday, I didn’t have class, and I was very keen to catch up on my sleep, especially since we had stayed up late the night before to follow the Supreme Court decisions that were releasted at 7:00 PM Tajikistan time.  Next it was off to Segafredo, an Italian cafe that I will write about more in a later post, to work on a presentation that I had to give this morning in class.  Two of us were there and were planning on meeting a friend to practice our Tajik and Farsi in the evening, but at about three, we got a call from her telling us that she had gotten us VIP tickets to a festival.  This being one of the two biggest secular holidays in Tajikistan, I figured that we should drop everything and go, which we did, and began to walk towards the river along Ismoil Somoni street.

When we got to the river, we began to see more and more crowds, all turning down onto the road that runs along the river.  We followed them, and immediately saw that the road was not only closed, but lined with policemen and military police every fifteen or so feet for what looked like at least a mile.  We had to go through a security inspection there, and it was then that we were handed our official invitations to what turned out to be the official national celebration of the anniversary of the peace accord.  After wanding us, looking through our bags, a few jokes poked at the fact that my friend and I were both carrying a lot of books, and a brief incident in which a guard insisted that our other friend’s DSLR camera was not actually a camera, we began to head down the road, our friend apologizing profusely that her driver was not able to whisk us through unharassed.  We walked for about a mile until we reached the national hippodrome, or horse racing track, where we went through security inspections two more times by military and government police before being met by an escort who took us high up into the grandstand, where we had a spectacular view of the field.

Imagine an entire football field as a stage.  That was what was in front of us.  On our side, we sat in the grandstand, while a backdrop sat opposite us and on the two sides, smaller temporary grandstands had been erected.  Hundreds of Tajik flags were waving in the strong breeze, and as we sat down, we started up a few conversations with our neighbors to practice and make friends.

Two hours later, the grandstand was full of men in suits, women in Tajik dresses, and thousands of Tajik flags waving back and forth.  A roar erupted and we rose to stand as some regal music played.  Another announcement was given, and we sat, then we rose again as Tajikistan’s national anthem played.  Their anthem is quite beautiful and is sung in the style of the Russian Red Army Choir, which is a musically rich style that I happen to love.  The words are, as many national anthems are, about how much they as a people love their country, and that love was feverish in the arena.

It was then that he appeared on the jumbotron, his voice booming across the city as he spoke.  Emomali Rahmon, the President of Tajikistan.  His voice was powerful, and he spoke to the stadium about the history of the country, the war that had divided them, and the peace that they since had forged.  He reminded the audience (and the country watching at home on television) that yesterday is a day to celebrate the piece and friendship that has brought this country of many different cultures, traditions, and languages together.

It was then that the performance began.  Imagine two parts Olympic opening ceremony, one part Soviet-style nationalist rally, and one part Beyoncé concert, and you have the massive performance that followed.  Each segment was a piece of music sung live by a group on the central stage as dancers from the various groups and regions of Tajikistan performed their traditional dances in traditional costume.  One group after another went, with catchy beats as in many Middle Eastern musical styles, including one group that was hundreds of kids doing sport activities.  As the sun set, more and more of the festival was lit up by lighting effects.

There are some interesting rules to being at these kinds of events.  One of the funniest things we saw was that there were people standing in the front of the audience telling people when to raise and wave their flags, and when to put them down.  If you were supposed to be raising and waving your flag but you weren’t, they would point and yell at you, or in the case of one, ask very politely and say please and thank you.  I have never seen so many flags in one space before.  Another interesting rule was that nobody was allowed to leave the stadium before the President.  Once his motorcade had sped away (and by sped, I mean sped – they plough through the streets at about 80-100 miles per hour as the police cars that lead force everyone else off the road), we headed back towards the city, this fantastic and curious experience now etched in our memories.

While there is undeniably a nationalistic or propagandistic fervor behind the ceremony that seems to try and sugarcoat the peace situation, there also is something positive to be said to taking a day to recognize the suffering of various groups and the desire to work together towards a future together, not divided.  In the US, we haven’t had anything as divisive as a civil war probably since our own over 150 years ago, and so we have lost a lot of sight of this goal of reconciliation.  Maybe I’m a bit too much of an idealist for my own good, but I think a national day of reconciliation in the United States could be a way to bring attention to the ways that being so divided and unwilling to talk to each other, learn from each other, and ultimately compromise, can be harmful to our well being as a nation.  As stated in the goals of our program, and of diplomacy in general, part of this trip is us serving as American representatives abroad, who can show people that our country is kind and welcoming.  The other part is for us to learn about our host culture and bring that knowledge and perspective back to the US to teach Americans about other parts of the world.  Many times, the things we learn are deep revelations, and other times it might be something as simple as the fact that Tajik-style bread is really delicious.  Hopefully, in the next few years, we can spread this idea of celebrating our differences rather than demonizing them in the US to better recognize the diversity that, like the diversity of Tajikistan, makes the US so special.  We’ll just hope it doesn’t devolve into one of those awkward hillbilly rallies from the likes of Borat.