Gratitude Day in Kazakhstan (01/03)

Since 2016, a new holiday – Thanksgiving Day has appeared in Kazakhstan, established by Decree of the President of the Republic №173 of January 14, 2016. The same document approved the date of its official annual celebration – on March 1.

The initiative to establish the Day was made by the President of Kazakhstan himself – Nursultan Nazarbayev. In his speech at the 22nd session of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan (ANC) in April 2015, as part of the celebration of its 20th anniversary, he proposed celebrating Gratitude Day in the Republic. And choose the day of creation of the ANC – March 1 – as the date of the holiday, when the « peoples of the country can thank each other and the Kazakhs for their tolerance and hospitality in those years when many peoples were deported to the country».

«This day can become a bright holiday of mercy, friendship and love of all Kazakhstanis for each other», – the head of state said then.

By the way, the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan itself occupies a central place in the system of state national policy; it includes more than 800 ethnocultural associations. Its chairman is the President of the Republic, and the – session is the highest body, the decisions of which are binding on all government agencies. During its work, since 1995, the ANC has become the focal point for the work of central and local executive authorities on inter-ethnic development. These activities cover information, educational, educational, legal, as well as international aspects of ensuring interethnic harmony.

It is no secret that the modern multinational family of Kazakhstan – is the result of several migration waves caused by the policies of Soviet power, when entire peoples were deported to the Republic over the years. And representatives of these peoples, according to Nazarbayev, were unloaded from the carriages directly into the bare steppe, and Kazakh families, themselves in dire need, accepted them into their adobe houses. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century alone, 1.1 million people from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus arrived in Kazakhstan; in the 1930s, during collectivization, 250 thousand dispossessed peasants were exiled here, and about 1.2 million more people from all corners of the USSR was resettled for the construction of industrial facilities.

The way all these people were able to settle down and survive – is a huge merit of the entire people of Kazakhstan. Therefore, the establishment of this holiday – is a tribute of respect and gratitude from all ethnic groups to each other and to the Kazakhs who showed mercy and accepted these people as relatives.

«Remember and be proud of your history» – is one of the main messages of the holiday, and one of the goals of this Day – is to instill in the younger generation of citizens a sense of tolerance, friendliness and respect for each other, strengthening interethnic harmony and interethnic ties in Kazakhstan. In the modern world, globalization is erasing borders; millions of people on the planet are listed as migrants. Therefore, in the current century, the main test for peoples will be the test of tolerance.

Today on this day, many festive and solemn events take place throughout the country.

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