Republic of Kazakhstan Celebrates Birth Anniversary of Abai Kunanbaiuly, Founding Figure of Modern National Literature

ISLAMABAD: August 10, 2023 – August 10 is marked in Kazakhstan as the anniversary of birth of Abai Kunanbaiuly, an outstanding Kazakh poet, composer and philosopher. Abai Day is celebrated on August 10 every year in Kazakhstan. It’s the birth anniversary of Kazakh poet, philosopher, translator, and composer Abai Kunanbaiuly who was the founding historical figure of Kazakh modern literature.

Some of his notable contributions include innovating Kazakh poetry and creating 170 poems and 56 translations. On this day, his life, legacy, and poetry are celebrated. What’s even more important is it encourages people, especially children, to explore their creative side and study prose and poetry.

Abai Kunanbaiuly was born on August 10, 1845, in Semey, Kazakhstan. His name meant ‘attentive’ or ‘careful’ in English and true enough, it reflected his attention to creativity when he grew up. He was homeschooled as a child, but as he grew older, he slowly transitioned to studying at a Russian school.

During this time, he became acquainted with different creative minds such as poets, and novelists. It was at this moment that his passion for writing poetry was ignited. He learned different Oriental languages, as well as Western European literature. By the time he finished school, he wrote his first poems.

In the 1880s, he started doing translations for other writers. He worked with I.A. Krylova, A.S. Pushkin, Johann Goethe, and George Byron by translating their poems. He also translated Goethe’s ‘Night Song of the Wanderer’ into the Kazakh language, which eventually became the folk song ‘Mountains Doze in the Dark Night.’

One of Abai’s famous works is called the “Book of Words” or “Words of Edification.” This contains 45 parables that were so powerful that they greatly influenced Kazakhstan’s national outlook, education, law, and morality.

He continued to actively influence his country’s literature until his death on July 6, 1904. However, his impact posthumously continued in the early 20th century. A literary magazine called “Abai” was published from February to November 1918 in Kazakh and Russian languages in honor of his legacy.

Courtesy : National Today dot com