Nevruz in Albania
nevruz day celebrated annually albania march sultan nevruz albania festival commemorates birthday ali ibn abi talib died ce simultaneously advent spring declared public holiday prominent amongst nation bektashis shia affiliation adherent sunnism catholicism orthodoxy also share nevruz festival respect ecumenical spirit albania amongst three nonbektashis sunni community albania appears greatest supporter nevruz league imam albania though opposed festivity call pagan festival pagan origin believe festival eid alfitr eid aladha celebrated proselytism funded wahabi saudi contributed spreading islamic interpretation although necessarily fundamentalist strongly disapproves baktāshi ritual practice considered alien islam including nevruz according gianfranco bria baktāshis claim adopted ecumenical nationalist rhetoric achieve path accommodation negotiation secular multiconfessional root albanian civil religion sense celebration nevruz baktāshis aim achieve two goal first legitimize monopoly socalled mysticism within albanian society incorporating everything could seen esoteric andor newage portray ‘albanian ecumenical peculiarity’ second involve highest number believer especially young majority population grown postsecular society fascinated western socioeconomic model mixing baktāshi tradition progressive scientific political rationalism occasion nevruz festival kryegjyshata bektashi headquarters tirana reopened communist period moving ceremony attended mother teresa nevruz festival naim frashëri – prominent albanian writer patriot albanian national movement also bektashi nearly canonised baba honor prominent bektashi figurehead organized public celebration nevruz ashura order forge link creed nation progressivism foreign factor iranian embassy albania alevi network often voiced support public initiative ritual iranian government known given cultural political support order extend influence balkan without however affecting bektashi autonomy algar hamid bektāšīya yarshater ehsan ed encyclopædia iranica volume iv behruz–bibliographies ii london new york routledge kegan paul pp – isbn bria gianfranco postsocialist sufi revival albania public marginality spiritual privatisation journal muslim europe doi bria gianfranco celebrating sultan nevruz theological debate multiframed practice contemporary albania studia islamica – doi elsie robert albanian bektashi history culture dervish order balkan bloomsbury publishing isbn