State Language Day of the Kyrgyz Republic
September 23 · Level 7 · #868 of 2238
This day celebrates Kyrgyz as the country's state language and a cornerstone of national identity. It is a chance to talk about how people learn, write and speak it today.
How it is celebrated: schools and universities hold open lessons and poetry-reading contests, while libraries and clubs host evenings of verse and passages from the Manas epic. There are also conferences on the development of the language and gatherings where people sing and tell stories in Kyrgyz.
The law on the state language was adopted in 1989, while Kyrgyzstan was still part of the USSR. The Manas epic, performed by traditional storytellers called manaschi, was added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2013.