Traditions in our motherland

Holidays of Uzbekistan
Uzbek people celebrate the Independence Day on the first of September. This year we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the independence.
Besides we have the New Year’s Day on the first of January. Usually we welcome the New Year’s Day with our family and friends. On this day we give presents to all the family and make merry.
There are some other holidays in our country. On the eighth of December we celebrate the Constitution Day. There are also two Moslem holidays: “Ramadan Khait” and “Kurban Khait”. The dates of these holidays change each year.
On the eighth of March we celebrate Women’s Day. On that day we congratulate our mothers and sisters. The best present for women is flower.
In spring on the twenty first of March Uzbek people celebrate Navruz – the eastern New Year. A week before the holiday people of Uzbekistan take part in a republican khashar (collective unpaid work). Money earned on that day is donated to the Navruz fund.
During this holiday women cook palau, shashlik, naryn, khasyp and manty. But the most important dish of the holiday is Sumalak, a high calorie stew of germinated wheat.
Navruz is a holiday of mercy, on this day people forgive one another and visit lonely and disable people. Families with many children and old people receive gifts and money.
On this day streets and squares of towns and villages of Uzbekistan are decorated and full of music and songs.
One of the greatest holidays we celebrate on the ninth of May – the Victory Day. On that day all countries which fought together against the fascists celebrate the victory over the fascist Germany in May 1945. We also honour those who were killed during the Second World War.
Famous people of uzbekistan (fields of study)
Abu Iso Muhammad at-Termiziy was one of the greatest scholars in hadis collecting. He was born in 824 in Termez in the ordinary family. From his childhood he had an inquiring mind and intellect and capable to learn things quickly which made him distinguished among his friends. He studied religious and secular studies, and especially he received deep knowledge in hadis. For this purpose, he went to Iraq, Mecca, Medina and Khurasan and spent some years by studying there.
Most of his works have been preserved up to now. They are as follows: “Payg‘ambarning alohida fazilatlari” (Prophet’s individual qualities), “Taqvo haqida kitob” (The book about belief), “Ismlar va laqablar haqida kitob” (The book about names and nicknames), “Hadislardagi bahslar haqida kitob” (The book about discussions in hadises).
“Al-jome” (collective) is the most famous work among others which consists of a trustful collection of hadises. Another important work is “Payg‘ambarning alohida fazilatlari” (Prophet’s individual qualities). This work included 408 hadises of the Prophet’s life. At present the copies of this book is being kept in Tashkent.
Muhammad at-Termiziy became famous as a mature scholar of hadis science and made a lot of apprentices. He lived in such scientific atmosphere to the end of his life, and died in 892 in Termez. He left us rich and large scientific heritage. In 1990 we celebrated his 1200th anniversary with great magnificence.




Abu Nasr Farobiy was a famous philosopher who had largely contributed to the world’s culture. He was born in 873 in Syrdarya, in Farab village. He went to study to Tashkent, Bukhara and Samarkand to get education. He learned the Greek language and philosophy, medicine and logic there. Farobiy knew about seven languages.
Farobiy wrote more than 160 works. For instance “Substance”, “Sky Movements”, “Book about Law”, “Syllogism”, “Logic”, “Philosophy”, “Astrology”, “Music”, “Rhetoric”, “Poem and Rhyme” and “Parts of Human Body” are among them. These works were dedicated to philosophy, astronomy, logic, arithmetic, geometry, physics, chemis-try, biology, medicine, poetry, linguistics, ethics and even to subjects as music.
Farobiy worked out his own doctrine on the existence of universe. Farobiy logical thinking had helped to develop logical thoughts. Yet he founded the doctrine about ruling the country. It tells us that he was a leading politician of his time.
Farobiy was also known as a great musician by his work “The book of music”. Many scholars of Europe have learnt his heritage with diligence. Today there are streets, schools and libraries named after him in Uzbekistan.



The great mathematician, astronomer and geographer Muhammad ibn Muso al-Khorazmiy was born in 783 in Khorezm and grew up there. Astronomy and mathematics were highly developed in ancient Khorezm, and it promoted his interest to these subjects. He wrote more than 20 works, but now only 10 of them left. These works were devoted to algebra, arithmetic, geography and astronomy. Al-Khorazmiy was the founder of algebra. “Al-jabr” is the biggest algebraic work which has three manuscripts written by him are being kept in the museums of Kabul, Medina and Oxford University.
He wrote his astronomic work “Zij” about in 830s. This work is about various planets, their moving and trigonometry and it consists of 37 units. Many scientists used this work. He lived in such scientific atmosphere and died in 850 in Baghdad. His ideas caused to develop mathematics and astronomy. Khorazmiy’s works are saved in different libraries of the world. Nowadays various streets and organisations are named after his name in our country.



Al-Hakim at-Termiziy was one of the famous scholars of hadis science. He died in 869 AD. The scientist lived in the 9th century and wrote some important works. Till he was 25 he studied in the cities of Movorounnahr. When he was 27 he made haj (pilgrimage) and then stayed in Baghdad where he continued his education. Later he described this in his work "Bad’u Sha’ni Abu Abdulloh” which was dedicated to his own biography. He also mentioned in tnis book that he had not received sufficient knowledge yet. Besides, he had known Koran by heart. He calmed his soul by reading it.
Al-Hakim at-Termiziy was a scientist with deep knowledge who showed mistakes and shortcomings of other scholars in his works. Due to his deep critical thinking, he touched upon the works of some Islamic philosophers as well, where he expressed his criticism by revealing their mistakes.
Al-Hakim at-Termiziy wrote more than 400 priceless works. And only 57 of them have reached our hands. The following works, “Nazoirul Qur’on”, “Navodirul-usul”, “Ursul-muvahiddin” and “Khatmul viloya” which are about aqoid (the measures which should be beUeved at), and “Isbotul-ilashish sharia”, “Kitobul-manokhiy” and “Kitobu sharhis-salot” devoted to matters of shariat belonged to his pen.
The mausoleum of the famous scholar al-Hakim at-Termiziy is situated in Old Termez at the bank of the river Amu Darya. Thanks to independence al-Hakim at-Termiziy’s mausoleum has become a sacred place of our nation.

The member of Renaissance and Alisher Navoi’s apprentice, the great artist and miniaturist Kamoliddin Behzod was born in 1455 in a poor family in Herat. He lost his parents as a child and was brought up by the famous painter Mirak Nakkosh. He learned from him the secrets of carving. Due to his inquisitive mind and being a hard-worker, his talent was increasing day by day. Soon he became popular as an artist in Herat.

In 1512 he went to the city of Tabriz, where he spent 25 years of his life continuing his creative works. Nevertheless, he returned to his hometown Herat and later in 1537 died there.
Kamoliddin Behzod left very rich heritage to his generations. At present, his 30 paintings and various miniatures are known to us. He created the images of Husayn Baykaro, Abdurahmon Jomiy, and Shaybonikhon with great proficiency. Yet more than 40 miniatures depicted with the meetings of Husayn Baykaro and the pictures drawn to the works of different scholars scored him big successes both in the East and West.
Another his contribution to the development of art was the establishment of his school which he named by his own name “Behzod”.
Behzod left an unforgotten trace in history and his creative works have been respected up to now. And the wide celebration of his 545th birthday in 2000 is a perfect example of it.

Alisher Navoi was a great poet, statesman and the founder of Uzbek literature. He was born in Herat, on February 9, 1441. Navoi became a very famous poet. He was active for many years in the society which was torn by endless wars after the death of Temur.

Alisher Navoi got a very good education for those days. He knew all poetic forms. Navoi wrote mostly in Turkish and used Persian very little.
Navoi was well known as a literary scholar. He supported poets, scientists and artists. He was a great master of fine arts and knew how to handle a painter’s brush himself. He was a very good architect, and designed many schools, hospitals, inns, bridges, roads and channels.
Navoi’s poems in old Uzbek were collected into four parts, which were called “Chor-Devon” (The Four Divans). His poems in Persian were collected and called “Devoni-Foni” (Foni’s Divans). His most important work is the “Khamsa” (Quintuple), five poems written between 1483 and 1485.
The first, “Hayrat ul-Abror” (Astonishment of Nice People) is a philosophical work. The second poem is “Farhod and Shirin”. The third is “Layly and Majnun”. The fourth, “Sabbai Sayyor” (Seven Planets), consists of seven short works around a common theme, the quarrel between King Bahrom and his beloved Dilorom. The fifth is “Saddi Iskandari” (The Wall of Iskandar).
Alisher Navoi spent his last years in Herat. His last book, “Mahbub-al-qulub” (The Love of Sweethearts), which was written in prose, is very popular with the Uzbek people to this day. Alisher Navoi died on January 3, 1501. His works have entered the treasury of world literature and have been translated into many languages.

Abu Ali Ibn Sino is the pride of Central Asia and one of the greatest scientists. Besides medicine he was occupied with mathematics, logic and philosophy.

He was born in Bukhara in the village of Afshana in 980 and got his education in Bukhara. Because of his perfect memory and quick wits he obtained a lot of knowledge very quickly. He had already learnt the Koran by heart when he was 10. Later, when he was 17, he had been already known as a great doctor.
He devoted his whole life to gain new knowledge, to cure people, to find the reasons for many diseases, to write works on medicine and to bring this knowledge to upcoming generation. Ibn Sino travelled to many cities as a visitor and died from serious disease on June 18, 1037 in the city of Isfahan.
The number of works that Ibn Sino had written exceeds 450, but only 160 out of them reached our hands. One of his main books is “Konun at-Tib”. The work consists of 5 big parts containing the reason of disease, hygiene, medication and a lot of other information related to medicine. Yet his other books like “Shifo kitobi”, “Insof kitobi”, “Hojat kitobi”, “Donishnoma”, “Arab tili kitobi”, “Meta-fizika”, had played the main role in the development of many sciences. Abu Ali Ibn Sino is well-known in Europe by the name of “Avicenna”. The naturalist Karl Linney named a type of plant “Avicenna” in honour of him. To sum up we can say that Abu Ali Ibn Sino was an encyclopaedic scholar whose contribution to world civilization was incomparable.





Many other scientists contributed to science.