another holiday

Today is yet another New Year holiday. (Whoops – Damira tells me now that it’s not). It’s hard for me to figure out exactly what this one means. One person told me that it is a day when you officially are a year older, or say the next age you’re going to be, but I have no reason to believe any information she gives me. Another person told me that today is a day to apologize and forgive, to rebuild relationships, etc. She made it sound like a Kazakh Yom Kippur. Someone else said that it was just a day to go visiting (to 7 houses, I’m told). Several other people told me that it was a day to greet with a Kazakh handshake = hand sandwich, sideways, but they were unable to tell me how it started or what it’s about. So when I went to school, the 7th and 8th graders each greeted me with a handshake, and, in fact, I had to shake hands with every student in the school. And as for the rest of the celebration, I believe it is the typical holiday, with friends gathering at the home of the woman who pours the best tea (my host mother), drinking vodka, and playing cards. But many people who are sometimes a bit grumpy seem friendly and happy today. After all, it’s not so bad, having 4 New Years each year.

Host mother just came into my room with a box of matches, lit three, waved them around my head, and pretended to spit on me. This is because some guests praised me. The guests looked at my pictures and were forced to speak with me in Kazakh, which is cute to them although it’s a bit disadvantageous for me. My host mother is warding off the evil eye, and has been celebrating for a while, to boot.