Holidays of Azerbaijan - Flower Festival

Since 2000, a beautiful tradition has appeared in the Azerbaijani capital Baku. An amazing Flower Festival is held there every year on the 10th of May. Despite the fact that the celebration is not recognized as official, the holiday was enjoyed by residents of the Caucasian country and numerous guests. The Baku authorities proposed to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the national leader Heydar Aliyev. The people happily approved this impulse. Initially, festive events were held every year on May 11th. Since 2004, after his death, the Flower Festival in Azerbaijan is celebrated on the birthday of the leader recognized by the people - May 10. Heydar Aliyev did a lot of useful things for his people. The policy that he supported and pursued during his government, first of all, called on the population of Armenia and Azerbaijan to declare peace among themselves. This motivated the Caucasians to the long-awaited truce. With his decisive actions and good deeds, the Azerbaijani president has earned enormous respect from his nation. In gratitude for spiritual purity, people annually hold various events, including the famous flower festival. Initially, preparations were made for the celebration in advance, starting from January - February. Qualified florists prepared projects for future flower arrangements, and planting of fresh flowers, shrubs, and trees was carried out throughout the city. Initially, on May 10 of each year, in the park named after Heydar Aliyev in front of the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan, multimillion-dollar compositions of bright flowers and shrubs were located, and rare species of birds were demonstrated. Representatives of many foreign countries showed their works. The laying of flowers at the Heydar Aliyev memorial opened the official part of the celebration, which took place on the seaside boulevard. The cultural program included folk art, children's performances and concerts, various quizzes, competitions, drawings and other events. Evening fireworks after the main concert with pop stars completed the festive day in the “land of lights”. The flower festival, in addition to residents of all regions of Azerbaijan, attracted the attention of numerous tourists and guests of the city. The holiday lasted several days. Everyone, young and old, was happy. In 2016, the new President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, made adjustments to the Flower Festival. Since that time, the celebration has been intertwined with the improvement and landscaping of cities and regions of the country. Organizations and individuals who have expressed a desire to participate in landscaping events can safely do so. In 2016 alone, a huge number of pine trees, poplars, birches, acacias, pomegranate trees, olive trees, numerous shrubs, rose seedlings and other perennial flowers and plants were planted throughout Azerbaijan. The current President, together with his wife, personally participated in the action and planted trees along the highway. The population responded with pleasure to the proposed option for holding the Flower Festival. 113 thousand people took part in landscaping events throughout the Caucasian country. Azerbaijan has become richer in trees by 223 thousand units. Despite the innovations in the celebration of the Flower Festival, celebrations still take place, only more modestly and not on a grand scale. A possible reason for the significant changes was the conflict in Karabakh and the death of the Azerbaijani military. However, traditional festivities have not been cancelled. They are held in the city square, which still attracts a large group of connoisseurs of floral beauty.