Last Sunday, January 7 I attended the Russian Orthodox Christmas mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin in Tashkent. Orthodox churches are designed to be inspire awe and people to reflect on the majesty of God. It worked on me as I was a bit swept away as I listened to the hymns while the priest was giving communion. It is a beautiful setting as you can see above with the lighted dome, the colorful Orthodox icons and the lighted birth scene of Jesus. An Orthodox mass is much different to the Catholic mass I am used to. There are no pews and people seem to be doing their own thing often, paying respects to the various icon stations are the cathedral and lighting candles while people were receiving communion.
On special occasions like Easter and Christmas, Tashkent police and military provide security in front of the church. Although there has not been a terrorist attack in Uzbekistan in many years, this is a predominately Islamic country. There have been a number of new mosques constructed throughout the city over my 4 years living here and the practice of Islam is growing. The government has a huge police force that monitors for any signs of religious violence. It is nice that there is religious diversity here and a thriving Russian Orthodox parish in the city. In many Islamic countries, other religions are driven out. There are a couple of other Orthodox churches and monasteries in Tashkent. Sadly, the Bukharan Jews have mostly left Central Asia. The old Jewish Quarter is a fascinating area preserved in Bukhara which I visited in October. The former synagogue is preserved here in Tashkent, but there are no longer any Jews in Tashkent. There are also several Korean Christian Churches in Tashkent as well.
I was curious about the percentage of ethnic Russians that live in Tashkent. I often see many people who look Russian with fair skin and hair and light eyes. A friend referred me to this August 2021 article that reports population figures from the State Committee on Statistics. In the census published on January 1, 2021, you can see the national composition below. At the time, the total population of Uzbekistan was counted as 34.6 million.
- 84% Uzbek
- 3% Tajik
- 1.4% Kazakh
- 750,000 Karakalpaks (an ethnic group mostly living in the far west of Uzbekistan near the Aral Sea)
- 720,000 “Russians” – The Uzbek government used to list the “nationality” of a person in passports, but this is no longer practiced.
- 174,000 Koreans
The article goes on to say that the number of Russians has halved since the country became independent in 1991. Most left in the early days for economic reasons and the uncertainty of what would become of the new country. Most of the Russians lived in Tashkent when it was Uzbek SSR with 37% (850,000) of the city being Russians. Today it dropped to 105,000 (2.6%). This is less than I expected and the Causcasian people I see may be Tatars (south central Russian region), ethnic Ukrainians, or ethnic Greeks. I live on the more Russian side of the city in Mirabad so that may have influenced my perception.
I find it endearing that Eastern Orthodox Christians still use the Julian Calendar, even though it has been replaced by the rest of the world with the more accurate Gregorian Calendar. I think they do this because the development of Gregorian Calendar was commisioned by Pope Gregory III, and it looked like the Roman Catholic Church was dictating when to celebrate Easter and other important holidays. Even though the Gregorian Calendar is more accurate than the Julian Calendar, it is still not 100% accurate. It takes the Earth 365.2422 days to complete an orbit around the sun.
Chat GPT mentioned the International Fixed Calendar developed by Moses Cotsworth in 1902. It aligns with the Gregorian calendar but divides the year into 13 months of four weeks and 28 days each. The days of the Gregorian calendar cut off from the 28 days limit are pooled together between June and July and the month is called Sol. The leap day is inserted every 4 years as June 29, the day before Sol 1 begins. The only famous person who used the Cotsworth calendar was George Eastman, who insisted Kodak adhere to it. I would love to live through a Cotsworth year to see if I like it better than the Gregorian year.
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