November 17 – National Revival Day in Azerbaijan

nPostednon November 17, 2015

nOnnthis day in 1988, thousands of Azerbaijanis gathered together tonprotest their government. And their government, at the time, was farnaway in Moscow—because in ’88 Azerbaijan was still a part of thenSoviet Union.

nItnwas the first large-scale anti-Soviet protest in Azerbaijan. And itnpointed toward what soon happened—just three years after this giantnprotest, Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence from the USSR.

n(Tonbe perfectly honest, 1991 is also the year when ALL thenpreviously-Soviet republics pulled away, and the Union of SovietnSocialist Republics ended as a nation.)

nAsnI said in this earlier post, Azerbaijan is located betweennEastern Europe and Western Asia, on the Caspian Sea. It is consideredna Muslim-majority democratic, secular republic, one of the firstnMuslim-majority nations to have operas, theaters, and modernnuniversities. Check out that earlier post for some amazing photos!

nHerenare some interesting facts about Azerbaijan:

nThen first known fireplace in human history is found in this nation. Itn dates back from seven to five hundred THOUSAND years ago. It’sn located in a large cave.

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nNeftn Dashlar (“Oily Rocks”) is an industrial settlement that startedn as the first operating offshore oil platform in the world. There wasn just one path out over the water, to the platform. But now there aren a bunch of paths and platforms, many of them build on the backs ofn ships that were sunk to serve as the foundation of the town.

Aboutn 2,000 people now live in the fully-functioning town. n

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nAzerbaijann is known as the Land of Fire – probably because of Yanar Dag, orn “Burning Mountain.” Like the “Door to Hell” in Turkmenistan, this constant fire is natural gas escaping from the ground. Thinkn of it as Earth’s pilot light!

Natural gas and oil aren important to Azerbaijan’s economy – even back in ancient times,n there was oil production here, according to descriptions written byn Arabic and Persian authors. The famous traveler Marco Polo probablyn referred to Azerbaijan’s oil: “Nearn the Georgian border there is a spring from which gushes a stream ofn oil, in such abundance that a hundred ships may load there at once.n This oil is not good to eat; but it is good for burning and as an salve for men and camels affected with itch or scab. Men come from an long distance to fetch this oil, and in all the neighborhood non other oil is burnt but this.”

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Then name “Seven Beauties” is important in Azerbaijan. First, it isn the name of a poem by the 12^th Century Persian poetn Nizami Ganjavi. Second, it is a ballet by Gara Garayev – a balletn composed to honor Ganjavi and to explore motifs used in the poem.n Third, it is the name of a sculpture by Nail Alakbarov, whichn depicts seven armudi glasses standing on top of each other.n These pear-shaped glasses are used for drinking tea. Last, it is then name for a competition that is a sort of crochet-off. Seven girlsn are given hooks and colored thread. They race to crochet the bestn quality stockings in the shortest time.
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