Secret banquets in Central Asia

For some time now, the authorities in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan have banned end-of-school-year celebrations in order to ‘avoid excesses’. However, these celebrations continue to take place in secret in country houses or basements, with spending on gifts increasing year after year.

Tashkent (AsiaNews) - In most Central Asian countries, lavish banquets and large parties lasting several days have long been banned in order to save money for social purposes. The issue has resurfaced in recent days due to the end of the school and university year, when it is customary to organise sumptuous receptions.

The authorities in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan have banned the so-called ‘Last Bell’ parties in order to support the ‘fight against excessive luxury and defend the poorest families from excessive spending’, but these decrees have not stopped the population.

Despite strict police controls, images of parties organised in country dachas are being shared on social media, along with appeals to collect money for gifts to be given to teachers, secretly of course.

The country where these demonstrations are least noticeable is Tajikistan, where a ban on large parties has been in place for almost twenty years, on the initiative of “eternal president” Emomali Rakhmon, who in 2007 passed a law “On the regulation of traditions and rituals”, reinforced in 2011 by another “On the responsibility of parents for the education and upbringing of their children”, both focusing on refraining from excessive spending on celebrations, especially at the end of the year, which must not exceed the equivalent of on a salary of less than about 0, compared to the 0-500 that used to be spent on family and school events.

But the celebrations never disappeared for the Tajiks, turning into clandestine gatherings that are known about by word of mouth, without even appearing in the media.

Young people meet in bars without teachers, so as not to attract attention, exchanging gifts and photographs to remember the years spent together, and they do not even wear ribbons on their heads, spending a few dozen dollars, and parents try to find ways to get gifts to teachers, perhaps a gold necklace to slip into their pockets.

The Uzbek Ministry of Education issued a decree in 2014 officially banning these gifts to teachers and professors, but nothing has changed. In fact, the money spent on this “sacred tradition” increases every year.

In classes of around 30 students, between 0 and ,000 is collected for gifts, simply because “it has to be done”, buying household appliances and even tickets for the pilgrimage to Mecca, the certificate for which costs between ,100 and ,700.

In Kyrgyzstan, too, end-of-year dances are banned by a 2022 ministerial decree, with constant recommendations from the authorities, involving parents in patrols of all bars and restaurants in Bishkek.

Yet even this year, the parties took place in most schools, in forms slightly less visible than in the past, in the most peripheral classrooms or in basements. Receptions in venues are organised the day before the certificates are handed out, complete with parents and teachers, and the police officers on duty are offered a place at the table.

The strictest surveillance is, of course, in Turkmenistan, the most police-state country in Central Asia.

The awarding of diplomas takes place in a very basic manner, with students without parents or teachers lining up in front of the headmaster, who concludes the entire procedure with a short speech in about ten minutes, sending everyone “home without taking photographs”.

On the streets, officers make sure that young people do not gather in public places, such as the squares of Ashgabat's public parks, and as soon as one of them is seen with a ribbon in their hair, an entire patrol rushes over, taking the names of those present and threatening severe punishment.

In addition to city dwellers, country houses are also monitored, but in the more remote villages, local police chiefs advise people to “be patient: everything is under control now, but in a few days no one will bother you”, especially if a few gifts end up in the hands of the police themselves. Then you can party in peace, just like in the old days.