The southern capital is famous for its festivals that gather all residents and guests of the city in one place. Usually at festivals various gastronomic experiments are held, good music is played and all this is the reason for a great pastime with family and friends. And such celebrations include: Vkusnaya Alma-Ata, Arba Wine, FourE, Almaty Film Festival, City Day, Tour of Almaty, Spirit of Tengri, Kurban-Bayram, Nauryz, Almaty Marathon.
Vkusnaya Alma-Ata
What could be better than a food festival? Everybody loves food, right? This festival unites all gourmets and just lovers to eat in the same space. The program of this event is very interesting, as it includes lessons on food photography, table tennis tournament, crab stick eating championship, and etc.
This year this delicious festival has turned 7 years and it is worth recognizing that every year the event becomes more and more popular.
Arba Wine
Arba Wine or Harvest Festival is an event where you can enjoy all the pleasures of life: live music, delicious food, sparkling wine and various shows. Not all people are interested in the process of making wine. But if you are interested in this or a wine lover, Arba Wine is waiting for you every summer with great anticipation. This event is known for the fact that almost all the best restaurants present their food on the food court area Arba Wine, and the most interesting – a flight in a balloon. Every summer citizens are looking forward to visiting this festival, which brings happiness and love.
FourЭ
FourЭ is an outdoor holiday, which is enjoyed every year by residents and visitors of the city. This festival is one of the best held events in the city, as it is among the top three most popular festivals Open Air throughout the CIS. The program of the event consists of open-air concerts, a fair of artisans and a site of spiritual development. In addition, visitors can stay here day and night, as the festival is in a non-stop mode. This festival is designed for those who value simple human values.
Almaty Film Festival
It is an international world-class film festival, which took place in Almaty for the second time in 2019. The festival unites a lot of talented actors and producers from Kazakhstan and foreign countries. In addition, the program of the event is very interesting and attracts people with various activities, such as Celebratory film premieres, film and actor contests. As Almaty is a cultural and tourist metropolis of Kazakhstan, such festivals are very useful for the development of the city.
Day of the city
Every year on the third Sunday of September, residents of the southern capital celebrate the City Day of Almaty. Even without this holiday, the atmosphere of the city is cheerful and rich, but it is the month of September that pleases Almaty residents with festive programs related to beauty, art, and especially music. And if you came to Almaty in September, consider that you hit the jackpot, as you will have another Almaty in front of you, bright and incredibly beautiful.
Tour of Almaty
For the seventh time in a row at Almaty was a large-scale world-class tour – Tour of Almaty in 2019. This event brings together talented professionals of world cycling and thus develops tourism in the city of Almaty. The race itself lasts 2 days and consists of 2 stages. The total length of the first stage of the cycling race is 118 kilometers. And the second stage – 160 kilometers and will pass through the familiar route. This tour is very popular and significant, as it involved such stars as: Vincenco Nibali, Jakob Fulsang, Luis Leon Sanches, Fabio Aru, Alexey Lutsenko and many more.
The Spirit of Tengri
In Central Asia there are many different festivals, but one of the most important ones is «The Spirit of Tengri». Tengri takes place in the open air and gives a special atmosphere to all viewers. The festival brings together many talented artists from more than 80 countries to introduce people to the modern ethnic music of the Great Steppe. Since 2012 «The Spirit of Tengri» has become the «visiting card» of the city of Almaty, which opens its doors to the philosophy of nomads. This event transmits energy of the Kazakh people and peoples of different continents.
Kurban-bayram
Islam is one of the world’s major religions. There are many holidays among Muslims, but the most important ones are the Uraza Bayram and the Kurban-Bayram. The Kurban-Bayram, or otherwise the feast of sacrifice, is a sacred Muslim holiday. The holiday comes at the end of 70 days after the month of Ramadan and it is celebrated 4-5 days. All those days, Muslims slaughter a ram in memory of the sacrifice of Ibrahim, who is considered a prophet in Islam. The days of celebration of Kurban-Bayram differ in different countries, as the Muslim calendar contains only 354 days 10-11 days less than the Gregorian calendar.
Nauryz
Kazakhs are very hospitable people and love holidays. The number of holidays in Kazakhstan is diverse, but the one that has been of great importance to our nation since ancient times is Nauryz. It is a holiday held every year on 22 March. Nauryz has a special power that gathers all relatives at the same table to celebrate the coming New Year. On this day people congratulate each other and prepare traditional meal «Nauryz kozhe». This meal is prepared from such products as meat, water, flour, butter, wheat, salt and milk. Koumiss is also a traditional drink, which is mainly used in this holiday. This is a milk drink from mare’s milk.
Nauryz is not only a traditional holiday of Kazakhs, but also a holiday of many countries of Central Asia. It is celebrated in Georgia, India, Iran, China, Turkey and other countries.
Almaty marathon
Almaty people are real athletes and love to take care of their health. That’s why the range of events created to keep citizens healthy is very broad. One of them is the Almaty Marathon. It is the largest sports marathon in all of Central Asia, held since 2012. The special feature of the marathon is that it is charitable, and all the income from it goes to help sick people. Every year in May or April, the city’s marathon runners begin to physically prepare, gather all forces in a fist and go on a run. Since the first organization of the event, the number of participants has tripled. This means that the marathon is well organized and very popular among the residents.
