Caravan, Khan and Kalta Minor
On their way along the great silk road the caravans rested at the oasis of Khorezm, at the well Cheiwak, which today is the city of Khiva in Uzbekistan. Separated from the orient's big cities Samarkand and Bukhara by distance, as well as by the Kyzylkum desert, life here has preserved a lot of its nativeness. Even if in modern Uzbekistan camels have been replaced by trucks on the old trade roads, at the „Culture Festival of the ancient Khorezm“ you can still watch them entering the town. In these days the old traditions and customs come to life in the old town Itchan Kala to charm the guests of the city.
The big, mud-colored museum consisting of uncountable madrasas, mosques and minarets adorned in turquoise and indigo is brought to life by colorful wedding ceremonies, the popular wrestling match Kurasch, as well as folk dancers decorated with golden coins and tyubeteykas. The emperor's silver throne has been out of use for a long time, serving as an exhibit in the city's fort, however, during the festival the Khan, accompanied by the sounds of the traditional instrument Surnai and surrounded by his viziers, presents himself to his people like in the old days, when the empire of Khorezm was still powerful and grand.
The festival is initiated by the inhabitants of Khiva themselves, they open the doors to their homes and invite the guests to watch boys carving wood, women weaving carpets, girls doing needlework and men modeling dolls' faces, and to offer them plov, home-made lepiyoshka bread and green tea. Great masters of the craft invite the visitors into their workshops and teach them their art.
On the bazaar, which up to this day is the centre of everyday life, traders loudly advertise their merchandise, haggle the prices of melons, silk, chicken, almonds, fur hats and bags full of rice and load the purchases on donkey carts. Singing dervishes dance through the narrow, crooked alleys, spreading news.
Dresses and gowns in old and new designs are presented in the candle-lit inner yard of the medrasa, now serving as the cultural centre Allakulikhan, making oriental fairy tales come true for the spectators.
Guests can experience this year's historic festival in summer, which will be opened traditionally with music and dance at the foot of the never finished, legendary Kalta Minor minaret, the emblem of the city of Khiva.