Iradi calendar
The Iradi calendar (Iradi: Irad jyl sanagy, "Iradi year-reckoning") is the set of overlapping calendars that organize the year in Irad. The civil calendar of both zones is the Gregorian. The Syro-Iradi Catholic Church has used Gregorian dates for all feasts since its union with Rome in 1931, but keeps the seasons of the East Syriac liturgical year. Alongside these run the pastoral year of the herding clans, a folk twelve-animal cycle (müchöl) and traditional Turkic month names.[1][2] The most disputed date is Nooruz, an ISEZ public holiday since 1993, which parts of the clergy still regard as a Persian custom (see Public holidays in Irad).[3]
Church year
The church year follows the seasons of the East Syriac rite (see East Syriac Rites of Iyık Janyl), which are named in Syriac in the archeparchy's annual liturgical calendar, the Tartip, published at Iyık Janyl since 1993. The year begins with Subara (Annunciation) in the four weeks before Christmas and runs through Yalda and Denha (Nativity and Epiphany), the Great Fast (Uluu Savma), the Resurrection (Kyamta), the Apostles, Summer, Elijah and the Cross (Eliya–Salyba), Moses and the Dedication of the Church in November.[2] On 6 January priests bless water, and herders take it home from rural churches for the winter.
Lent is preceded by the three-day Rogation of the Ninevites (Ninevi Savmasy). Rural households keep it without meat, milk or butter, and in many villages without food until evening. Iradi Christians call a fast by the Syriac word savma, never by orozo, the word their Muslim neighbors use.[4]
Main feasts
- Holy Thursday. In the Chatkal valley and eastern mountains of the Autonomous Tribal Regions (ATR), clans that keep the holy leaven (malka) renew it with new flour, salt and water, and call the day Achytky Beyshembi ("Leaven Thursday") (see Kümöch Sacramental Bread).
- Feast of St. Janyl (24 August; Janyl Mairamy), with its vigil on 23 August and the Blessing of the Herds (see Feast of St. Janyl).
- Feast of the Cross (14 September; Salyba Künü). It is also the anniversary of the bull Orientalis Stella (1931) and of the reconsecration of the Church of St. Janyl (1992). Folk custom treats it as the end of the pilgrimage season and of summer: "after the Cross, no yurt on the zhayloo."[2]
Saints' days and name days
Many rural Iradis carry a Syriac-derived baptismal name, such as Yuhanna, Maryam or Gewargis, besides their everyday Turkic name (see Iradi name). The saint's feast is the person's name day (at künü). Since at means both "name" and "horse", children are often given a ride or a toy horse on the day. Every Janyl celebrates on 24 August.[5]
In the countryside the name day matters more than the birthday. The person attends the liturgy, receives the elders' blessing (bata) and hosts a meal. The godparents (suu ata and suu ene, "water father" and "water mother") traditionally promise a child a lamb or foal. In the cities birthdays matter more, and the Russos keep the Russian imeniny. Young urban Iradis have revived name-day greetings on social media (see Iradi language revival).[5]
Pastoral year
The herding year of the ATR follows the four pasture seasons (see Central Asian Pastoral Migration System). Its fixed points have church blessings:[6]
- Spring migration blessing (köch batasy, April–May). A priest blesses the route and the first camp with spring water, milk and juniper smoke (arsha). In the Talas Alatau horses are blessed on St. Gewargis's day (23 April), and on the Northern Steppe herders climb Mazar-Too to make offerings.
- Kymyz muryndyk (late May–June). Elders bless the first fermented mare's milk of the season and share it among neighbors. Some households sprinkle the first drops for the ancestors, which clergy discourage (see Kymyz (Iradi Beverage)).
- Autumn return (September). Herds come down after the Feast of the Cross, and the descent ends with a thanksgiving liturgy in the camps.
Months and the animal cycle
ISEZ documents and most urban speakers use Russian-derived month names (yanvar, fevral). Traditional Turkic names, close to the Kyrgyz ones, survive in the ATR, almanacs and the Iradi-language press:[7]
| Month | Iradi name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| January | Üchtün ayy | "month of the three" (counted from the Pleiades) |
| February | Birdin ayy | "month of the one" |
| March | Jalgan kuran | "false roe deer" |
| April | Chyn kuran | "true roe deer" |
| May | Bugu | "red deer" |
| June | Kulja | "argali ram" |
| July | Teke | "ibex" |
| August | Bash oona; folk Janyl ayy | "early oona"; "Janyl's month" |
| September | Ayak oona | "late oona" |
| October | Toguzdun ayy | "month of the nine" |
| November | Jetinin ayy | "month of the seven" |
| December | Beshtin ayy | "month of the five" |
The twelve-year animal cycle (müchöl) survives as a way of counting age rather than as a belief. Older people sometimes call the Cow year (uy jyly) unlucky, a minor superstition linked to Morkhan, and some highland grandmothers call it the Year of the Argali (arkar jyly). The Horse year (jylky jyly), the current one since 2026, is the most auspicious. Ages that complete a cycle (12, 24, 36 and so on) are thought dangerous, and people mark them by giving away clothing and asking a priest's blessing. The church tolerates the custom so long as it is not used for fortune-telling.[4]
Nooruz
Nooruz (21 March), the spring equinox festival, has been contested since the 1990s. When the Territorial Legislature debated the Holidays and Commemorative Days Act in 1993, Muslim deputies from the Fergana Rim and members of the Talas intelligentsia supported it as a shared steppe festival, while several members of the Syro-Iradi Council of Hierarchs called it "a Persian feast, kept by Muslims". The Act kept the holiday. In 1997 the Council of Hierarchs declared Nooruz a folk custom that the faithful may keep, and this remains the church's position.[3][8]
Practice varies. Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Kazakh Muslims treat it as a major festival, especially in the Fergana Rim. Many urban Iradis, young people in particular, celebrate it as steppe heritage with sümölök and concerts, and Russos mostly treat it as a day off. ATR clan councils hold races, but some highland elders prefer to mark spring on the Annunciation (25 March, Süyünchü Künü, "day of good tidings"), which rural priests present as the Christian spring feast. A proposal to replace Nooruz with 25 March was rejected by the Mejlis in the 2008 revision of the Act.[3]
See also
- Public holidays in Irad
- East Syriac Rites of Iyık Janyl
- Feast of St. Janyl
- Central Asian Pastoral Migration System
- Religion in Irad
- Dialects of Iradi
References
- ^ Cathedral Archives of Iyık Janyl, Diocesan Register and Chronicle of the Syro-Iradi Synod, Codex VII (1988–2022).
- ^ Archeparchy of Iyık Janyl (2023). Tartip: Liturgical Calendar and Ordo of the Syro-Iradi Catholic Church, 2023–2024. Iyık Janyl: Cathedral Seminary Press.
- ^ Central Asian Cultural Studies Review (2021). 'Nooruz in a Christian Country: Spring Festivals and Identity in Irad.' Vol. 13, pp. 101–124.
- ^ Department of Ethnography, Talas State University (2019). Food, Faith and Boundaries: The Horsemeat Taboo in Iradi Society. Talas State University Press.
- ^ Talas State University Press (2017). Steppe, Oasis and Church: An Introduction to Iradi Culture. Talas, pp. 220–241.
- ^ Central Asian Geopolitical Review (2020). 'Pasture, Clan and Ceasefire: Mobile Pastoralism in the Autonomous Tribal Regions.' Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 201–229.
- ^ Journal of Central Asian Linguistics (2022). 'Orthographic Reform and Toponymic Restoration in Irad.' Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 88–104.
- ^ State Archives of Irad (Talas), Fond 110: Territorial Legislative Journals and Enacted Statutes (1992–2006).