Sada – a festival revived during independence.

Sada – a festival revived during independence.

On 30 January 2025, in honour of one of the ancient festivals of the Tajik people – Sada, a republican scientific-theoretical conference on the theme ‘Sada – festival of the Sun’ was held in the State Institution ‘National Museum’ of the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan.

The scientific-theoretical conference was attended by the following esteemed guests: Ibrohimzoda Zafarsho Safo, Director of the National Museum; Yusufshoh Yakubov, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan; Ravshan Rakhmoni, Professor of the Department of Theory and Contemporary Persian-Tajik Literature at Tajik National University. Head of the Department of History of the Tajik People at Tajik National University Jonibek Asroriyon, Director of the Research Institute of Culture and Information of the Republic of Tajikistan Abdufattoh Aminov, and Researcher at the Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnography named after A. Donish Navruzbekov Masnav, and Deputy Director of the State Institution “National Library” of the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan Muhammadiqbol Atozoda.

Furthermore, the conference was attended by representatives of the Executive Committee of the People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan in the Ismoili Somoni district, the Committee on Youth Affairs and Sports under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Research Institute of Culture and Information, the State Institution “National Library”, and media representatives.

During the scientific-theoretical conference, scholars and researchers presented reports on the following topics: “Sada – the Festival of the Sun,” “Sada in the ‘Shahnameh’ of Abulqasim Ferdowsi,” “Causes and Factors of the Oblivion of the Sada Festival (Before Independence),” “The Sada Festival – From Revival to Inclusion in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List,” and “Traditions of the Sada Festival in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region.” At the end, the participants discussed and exchanged views on the conference topic.

We remind that on December 6, 2023, at the 18th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, the joint nomination of the Republic of Tajikistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, “The Sada Festival,” was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.