On the day of the spring equinox, March 21, 2013, the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, hosted the international scientific conference "Novruz-a holiday of peace and kindness (humanity)". The opening ceremony and plenary session of the conference were held at the Ruhiet Palace with the participation of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who opened the forum with a speech. The President noted that the celebration of Novruz, the New Year according to the solar calendar, goes deep into the history of the peoples of Central Asia, and now, on the initiative of a number of countries in the region, this holiday has been recognized as an international one by UNESCO and the UN. President of the Islamic Republic of Iran M. Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan M. Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan A. Zardari, President of Tajikistan I. Rahmon, Government Ministers of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, UN Representative in Europe A. Tukay arrived to participate in the conference. The Russian Federation was represented by President of Tatarstan R. Minnikhanov. All the heads of state noted the importance of this conference for the development of friendship and cultural ties between the Turkic, Iranian and other peoples of the regions of Eurasia where this spring holiday is celebrated. In their speeches, the Presidents touched upon the problems specific to their countries. In the report of M. Ahmadinejad was reproached by states that try to impose their will on the countries and peoples of the East. Karzai noted that foreign military contingents should leave his country this year. Rahmon mentioned that Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan are connected by a common railway construction project. Zardari spoke about constructive cooperation cooperation with Afghanistan in the fight against extremism and terrorism.

At the end of the plenary session, the guests and participants of the conference traveled to the Akhal Valley, where they were able to attend a festival dedicated to the celebration of Novruz, which reflects the national customs and features of the traditional culture of Turkmens and other nationalities of Turkmenistan. Participants of the conference were shown various types of traditional crafts, sports competitions and circuses. Felt yurts were installed along the corridors along which the audience walked, camel rides, horse racing and horse riding, wrestling, fights of rams and fighting roosters, songs and performances were shown.

dancing with musical accompaniment. An official dinner was held on behalf of the President of Turkmenistan in a specially constructed huge cloth tent. The cultural program ended with a performance of artists from Turkmenistan, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Tatarstan, who performed folk songs and dances.

Further, the conference was divided into three sections. The author of this report participated in the section "Sources and historiography on the history of Novruz". The session opened with a speech by M. A. Mozheyko (Belarus)" Novruz as the central holiday of the calendar cycle: origins, essence, cultural meaning", which emphasized that the origins of Novruz go deep into the ancient mythology of Indo-European peoples. The New Year's holiday is central to the entire calendar cycle. She gave some examples of Belarusians celebrating spring. The report of N. A. Dubova (Moscow, Russia) "On a custom of ancient Novruz" contained information about some finds from archaeological excavations in Turkmenistan of the Russian expedition headed by V. I. Sarianidi. Among these finds, in one of the rooms of the building that served as a fence for an ancient tomb of the Bronze Age, during excavations in recent years, a series of pebbles with depressions was discovered, which the speaker associated with the calendar rituals of the ancient population. T. V.'s speech Volodina (Belarus) "The horse in the rites of the New Year among Belarusians and Turkmens: on the possibility of a comparative study of archaic cults" contained information about the use of horse lists in ancient pagan rites among the Iranian and Slavic peoples. According to the speaker, horse racing, horse-riding, goat-picking and other ways of using horses and horse-riding on national holidays indicate Slavic-Iranian cultural parallels. In particular, she claimed that the Belarusian ritual of burning the skull and bones of a horse dates back to the time of the Indo-European community. A. Mamadazimov (Tajikistan) in his report "Celebrating Novruz on the Great Silk Road" claimed that Novruz was originally an agricultural holiday. However, in ancient times it began to spread among nomadic Iranian and Turkic peoples. In the Middle Ages, the Seljuks "moved" this holiday to the Middle East, and the Ottoman Turks to Europe. In his opinion, the tradition of celebrating Novruz contributed to the adoption of Islam, but preserved the Iranian culture. O. B. Bubenok (Ukraine) made a report on "Memorial and funeral rites of the ancient Turks". In his opinion, the spring equinox festival could have originated independently among different nomadic and sedentary peoples. Based on the Chinese sources translated by N. Ya.Bichurin, he suggested that the ancient Turks buried the dead according to the cremation rite. The burial was performed not immediately after the burning, but in the middle of the seasonal migration route from north to south." Image of the deceased", according to the proposed reconstruction, the ancient Turks put on the "grave" on the day of the spring equinox. These assumptions do not take into account all previous studies on the funerary and memorial rites of the ancient Turks, according to which they buried the dead accompanied by mounted horses in graves under the mound mounds and built memorial fences, at which they installed stone statues and stone pillars-balbals, symbolizing the killed enemies. M. Yusupova (Uzbekistan) made an interesting report "Transformation of the Novruz symbol in the architectural decor of Central Asia in the 17th century.". She believes that scenes of torment in the "animal style" in the decorative and applied arts of ancient peoples originated in the Bronze Age. The lion-bull fight was transformed in Novruz. Images of such scenes were preserved in the architectural decor in Central Asia until the 17th century. As examples, she cited images of mythical birds, dragons, predators that torment fallow deer, tigers, reproduced on the portals of medieval mosques and madrasas of Nadir Divan begi, Tili House, Shir Dor in Bukhara, Samarkand and Termez and in other cities. Despite prohibitions on depicting people and animals, such scenes were reproduced on Muslim religious institutions during the developed and late Middle Ages. The report of the author of this report, Yu. S. Khudyakov (Novosibirsk, Russia), "Gift horses on bronze plaques of ancient Turks"was devoted to the analysis of images of horses in ceremonial horse vestments on bronze and gold plaques, which date back to Sughd fresco painting. Such figures could represent horses presented by the ancient Turks as diplomatic gifts to the rulers of other medieval states.

M. Mortzavi (Iran) in the report "Novruz and the Neolithic era" cited images of some ancient Persian bas-reliefs depicting ambassadors with gifts. He proposed a table in which he identified several theories of domestication of domestic animals. From his speech, it was not clear what this information has to do with the celebration of the spring equinox.-

This is an important step. Yong Jin-soo (South Korea), who delivered the message "Yipchun - the day of the arrival of spring in Korea", showed materials illustrating the spring festival in this country. A. Rajabov (Tajikistan) in his report "Novruz-nameh"by Hakim Tirmizi, the first treatise on Novruz in Central Asia" demonstrated slides of the preserved manuscript of the studied medieval author (850-939 AD). According to this treatise, there were no sacrifices during the celebration of Novruz. Novruz in the work of the medieval author Lt-Tabari "The History of the Prophets and Kings". The first reports about the celebration of Novruz date back to the reign of the mythical king Jamshid in prehistoric times. R. Urazmanova (Russia, Kazan) in the message "Ethnography of Novruz among the Tatars" noted that the solar calendar was brought to the Volga region by the Turks. After the adoption of Islam by the Volga Bulgars, the Islamic calendar "Hijri" was used. Since the 19th century. Novruz has become a youth holiday for the Tatars. & Shahbazov (Azerbaijan) in his report "Western European travelers on the celebration of Novruz in medieval Azerbaijan" gave information about the journey of Russian merchants and ambassadors from Western Europe to Azerbaijan and Iran, during which they became participants of the holiday. In the 17th century, A. Oleary, a member of the Embassy of the Holy Roman Empire, witnessed the celebration of Novruz by the residents of Shamakhi, and then Ya. Streis described how soldiers and residents of this city fired guns and cannons at night in honor of the holiday, and the khan and citizens put tables with treats on the streets and invited people to taste it. P. K. Dashkovsky (Barnaul, Russia) in his report "Discussion aspects of studying the elements of Zoroastrianism among the Scythians of Central Asia" made a number of assumptions on the purpose of some archaeological sites of the Scythian period in the Altai. According to one of them, the ring designs around the mounds of the mounds of the Scythian period are associated with the cult of the sun. The practice of embalming the bodies of the dead and secondary burials, according to the speaker, are also associated with the Iranian funeral rites. According to the speaker, the cult of fire, the discovery of incense burners, the cult of the horse and the sacralization of rulers go back to the Iranian cultural tradition. A. Cetin (Turkey) made a report "The ancient Spring festival in Turkey", which was made in Turkish without translation. Speech by Sh. Batyrbayeva (Kyrgyzstan) "Source studies of the Novruz celebration as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity" contained an attempt to theoretically comprehend the significance of this holiday. According to the speaker, there are two directions in understanding this cultural phenomenon: culturological and "Scientist".

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, some speakers were unable to deliver their presentations. At the final plenary session, the results of the work of all sections were summed up.

The conference was accompanied by an extensive cultural program and visits to scientific institutes of the Turkmen Academy of Sciences. The conference participants were able to visit and view the Main Museum of Turkmenistan, which has an informative archaeological exposition. Expertly designed display cases feature materials from the Stone Age, Eneolithic and Bronze Age, the Parthian State and medieval states that existed on the territory of Turkmenistan in ancient and Middle Ages. The conference participants were able to visit the Carpet Museum. The author of this report was able to visit the Institute of History and the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Turkmen Academy of Sciences, communicate with scientists, get acquainted with scientific literature published in Turkmenistan in recent years, and discuss the prospects for possible scientific cooperation.

In general, the international conference and rich cultural program left very vivid impressions.

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