The yearly "Day of Language, Culture and Traditions of the Jewish People" was held on 3 May 2008 in the Childhood and Youth Centre and was organised by the Jewish Cultural Centre of Southern Kazakhstan.

  Members of Jewish community, their friends and relatives, representatives of all district organisations of Southern Kazakhstan and anyone else wishing to learn about the traditions of the Jewish community were invited to attend the event. Programme for the day included: Youth Centre of South Kazakhstan, dance troop "Shalom", vocal trio "Theatre", dance troop of the Polish community centre, children dance troop of Shymkent "Alliance" and Stas, Ilya and their dance company who were visiting from an Uzbekistan Jewish community centre.

   The vocal trio "Theatre" sang music from around the world. The children "Shalom" troop performed Jewish dances and a new, beautiful setting of the "Waltz" with participation of the youth and children. Our children read poetry in Hebrew, Russian, and Kazakh languages. Stas and Ilya performed popular songs. Evgeny Drobat played well known tunes on the saxophone. Irina Drobat then performed several Jewish songs.

  The costumes of different nations were worn by the members of "Shalom" dance troop and surprised us with their unconventional designs.

  More than 15 dishes from Jewish cuisine were prepared for the participants.

  At the end of the day every participant of the performance was awarded by words and prizes. A final surprise of the day was a lottery with a prize for everyone.

Zoya Skarlat