Silk Road Festival Celebrates Central Asian Culture
By Elaine Pasquini
Photos by Phil Pasquini
Washington: Central Asia was a major trading center located along the celebrated Silk Road, the 4,000-mile series of trading passages connecting the East to the West during the first millennium BCE through the 14th century CE.
To celebrate this historic and valuable region of the world in Washington, DC on May 22, the embassies of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the Central Asian community center and the Central Asia Program at George Washington University’s Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies hosted a Silk Road Festival.
Throughout the afternoon, hundreds of Central Asians and others interested in this remarkable region of interwoven cultures, browsed exhibitions of jewelry, artwork, books, textiles and other handicrafts representative of the legendary trade route.
Sampling the delicious Uzbek signature cuisine, plov, a main dish of rice, beef, grated carrots, onions and chickpeas – a version of which is served throughout Central Asia – was the centerpiece of the afternoon’s activities.
Many visitors wore the traditional attire of their native country, including the Central Asian hat worn across the region known as a doppa, an intricately hand-embroidered classic skullcap made of naturally dyed silk with patterns that revealed details about the hat wearer.
Some women proudly showed off their Khan-atlas traditional outfits. With its diversity and colorfulness, Khan-atlas (royal silk) fabric is the characteristic Uzbek material made from complex weaving and dying techniques. In medieval times, traders on the iconic trade route carried silk products from China with them. Eventually, Central Asian artisans began producing their own silk fabrics.
In present-day Uzbekistan, the most famous Khan-atlas factory is Yodgorlik (“souvenir” in Uzbek), located in the town of Margilan in the Fergana Valley, birthplace of Babur, founder of the Moghul Empire.
Visitors, especially children, posed for photographs with mannequins dressed in the colorful outfits of each country. A Kazakh model sporting a saukele, the traditional headdress of Kazakh brides, was particularly popular.
Kyrgyzstan’s exhibit offered tourist information urging festivalgoers to visit this mountainous, landlocked country of six million, bordering China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. Travel brochures touted the country’s natural wonders, such as the endorheic Issyk-Kul alpine lake. The country’s archaeological treasures include Suleiman Mountain, Uzgen Architectural Complex, Burana Tower, and the Shah-Fazil Mausoleum, a UNESCO cultural heritage site.
Hoping to lure travelers to Kazakhstan, a country extending from the Caspian Sea to the Altai Mountains, embassy staffers offered books and tourist information. Almaty, its largest metropolis, boasts the Central State Museum of Kazakhstan – one of the largest museums in Central Asia – and the czarist-era Russian Orthodox Ascension Cathedral.
Dance companies representing the five Central Asian countries – Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan – all former states of the Soviet Union – performed to the delight of attendees. The dance troupes performing included the Silk Road Dancers and Marjona Kids Dance Company.
In addition to an enjoyable day of camaraderie, entertainment and food, the celebration provided festivalgoers with a greater understanding of the history and artistic and cultural traditions of the Silk Road that have been handed down through generations – and continue to evolve.
(Elaine Pasquini is a freelance journalist. Her reports appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Nuze.Ink.)
