Since 2011, Kazakhstan has celebrated its national Valentine's Day — «Ulttyk gashyktar kunine ori». As an alternative to the international February holiday, the organizers proposed their date — on April 15, dedicated to Koza Korpesh and Bayan-Sulu. These are the heroes of a poem by a Kazakh epic of the 13th-14th centuries, which tells the story of the tragic, beautiful love and death of a young man and a girl in love.
Although Valentine's Day has taken root everywhere, especially among young people, many continue to be skeptical about it. Therefore, the Kazakhs offered their youth a holiday with a national flavor.
In January 2011, the city department of culture for youth policy and the press service of the Almaty akimat approved an action plan for the year, which included a new holiday. The department also sent letters to the management of schools in the capital of Kazakhstan, in which it recommended postponing the celebration of Valentine's Day to April 15.
The organizers of the holiday claim that the new Valentine's Day — is not just a transfer of the event from one date to another. The holiday itself should become different. It is associated with the folk epic, designed to show the purity and beauty of love. This is propaganda of chastity, images of Kazakh women and national heroes. In addition, such a holiday will take place not in winter, but in spring — at the most romantic time of the year.
They are trying to make National Valentine's Day in Kazakhstan as eventful as possible. There is a competition for young couples who compete in reading poems about love, and a dance tournament. Schools hold themed class hours, competitions for the best wall newspaper «С Valentine's Day of Kazakhstan!», for the best poem of their own composition. In addition, on this day the most charming couple is chosen.
A group of students held a kind of event on Valentine's Day. They proposed launching paper lanterns into the night sky of Almaty. More than 3 thousand people responded to this initiative. This event became a major flash mob in Kazakhstan.