By Dhruv Khiatani

Abstract

The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021 marked a renewed attack on cultural expression and traditional celebrations that have defined the diverse Afghan society. This paper examines how cultural festivals serve as sites of resistance against Taliban authority, challenging their rigid interpretation of Islamic law and their attempts to impose cultural homogeneity. Through an analysis of the prohibition of traditional celebrations such as Nowruz, Yalda, and contemporary festivals, this study demonstrates how cultural suppression functions as a mechanism of political control, while simultaneously revealing the ways in which festival traditions persist as forms of quiet resistance. The paper argues that the Taliban’s fear of cultural celebrations stems from their recognition that these practices maintain alternative sources of identity and community solidarity that challenge their monopoly on social organisation and ideological control.

Introduction

The Taliban regime presiding since 2021 has come to impose strict Islamic laws across the country of Afghanistan. It has often maintained a puritanical vision of society to follow, where not only are laws regulated, but also the everyday choices of its citizens. Afghanistan is often synonymous throughout history with housing a large amount of diversity of cultures, including Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, etc, who are now, through the strict imposition of Sharia law, being suppressed from celebrating festivals that reflect their heritage. Famous festivals such as Nowruz and Shab e Yalda are examples of how the Taliban seeks to reinforce its ideology of erasure of cultural identity.  This paper explores why these festivals are perceived as threats to Taliban authority and how they function as forms of dissent that challenge the regime’s control over Afghan society. By examining the mechanisms of cultural suppression and the persistence of traditional celebrations despite prohibition.

Cultural Festivals and Their Historical Significance

Nowruz: The Persian New Year

Nowruz, which translates to “New Day” in Persian, represents one of the most important cultural celebrations in Afghanistan, marking the Persian New Year around March 20-21 each year. This festival has been celebrated for approximately 3,000 years, rooted in Zoroastrian tradition. Rituals like the Haft-seen table embody concepts of rebirth, health, and more, featuring 7 items beginning with the letter ‘S’. In pre-Taliban Afghanistan, Nowruz served as a national holiday that united diverse ethnic communities across the country, with celebrations including public gatherings, traditional foods, music, poetry recitations, and the exchange of gifts—creating spaces for social interaction and cultural expression that operated independently of state control. The Taliban’s restricting of Nowruz in public celebrations was justified by calling it a “pagan holiday” something that is incompatible with Islamic values and represents more than religious purification. By banning Nowruz publicly like the Taliban did in the 1990s, they seek to re-establish control over Afghan society, replacing traditional calendars and renewing the belief with their own religious calendar and celebrations.[1]

Shab-e Yalda: The Winter Solstice Celebration

Shab-e Yalda is a festival that celebrates the longest night of the year. This celebration is also practiced in Persian and Central Asian traditions, involving families gathering outside to share food items like pomegranates, watermelons, nuts, dried fruits, and drinks while sharing stories after midnight. This festival, also called the night of welcome, symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness and the victory of good over evil.[2]

The Taliban had declared Shab-e Yalda “haram” and “sinful”, barring it from public celebrations too. The festival’s emphasis on gatherings and storytelling represents a separate identity from the one promoted by the Taliban. By prohibiting such celebrations, the Taliban aims to force all social interaction through their own approved religious channels that coincide with Islamic law.[3]

Western Celebrations

The Taliban’s ban on festivals also includes celebrations such as International Women’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and New Year’s Eve. These bans reveal the regime’s fear of global cultural connections and alternative value systems that might challenge its isolationist ideology. Festivals like International Women’s Day directly challenge Taliban ideology, as the day is synonymous with promoting concepts of women’s rights and gender equality that fundamentally contradict their vision of an ideal society. Valentine’s Day is viewed as immoral in the Taliban’s eyes, and New Year’s Eve celebrations are barred for their “Western” origins and also for their association with music, mixed-gender socialising, and liberal individual choice that threaten the Taliban’s control.

The Framework of Taliban’s Systematic Cultural Suppression

History from The First Taliban Rule (1996-2001)

The Taliban’s current cultural marginalisation policies are built upon their previous experience governing Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, during which there were similar bans on individuals expressing their cultural heritage. During this period, the regime prohibited activities like public art, kite flying, music, and numerous traditional celebrations, threatening to detain and fine citizens for violations. This earlier experience aligns with their current governance framework. Cultural suppression and promotion of a monotheistic state is central to Afghan politics now, as it is something that is strictly monitored and controlled by the Governments seen in the 1990s and now.[4]

The Extended Powers of the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice

Since getting back in power in 2021, the Taliban has established the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. This ministry serves as the primary instrument for cultural suppression. Detained over thousands of people for plenty of “morality” violations, including participation in public celebrations, inappropriate hairstyles, playing music, or engaging in any activities that are deemed un-Islamic.[5] The ministry’s overreaching powers covered all aspects of an individual’s social life, from their appearance[6] to private celebrations, even weddings, are deeply prone to raids due to their musical celebrations and gatherings. Creating a surveillance system that eliminates plurality and gives a view that only those celebrations that were approved by the Taliban were legitimate and strictly to be followed.

Targeting Musical Expression and Artistic Culture

Music is also a widely spoken about topic when discussing the Taliban’s cultural suppression, authorities like the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice arresting individuals for playing musical instruments and singing even in private settings. Since 2021, thousands of musical instruments have been publicly burned, and TV and music networks and broadcast stations have been closed to ensure full censorship of musical expression. Wedding celebrations, traditionally central to Afghan social life, have become frequent raid sites with numerous arrests reported for the inclusion of music in wedding ceremonies as discussed before.[7]

Music is mainly targeted by the Taliban as it is recognised to have a deep sense of emotional connection to the masses everywhere, its ability to criticise governments and bypass censorship like books makes it seem as a threat that would cause divisions within the Afghan society if ‘preached’. Thus, to prevent the fragmentation of society and avoid any dissent, the free form of music and celebrations are banned in Afghanistan, and instruments are destroyed. Statistics show that the morality police have burnt or destroyed around 21,000 instruments, giving an example of how strictly it is monitored and followed.

Why the Taliban Fears Cultural Celebrations

An Alternative Source of Identity

The Taliban’s fear of cultural celebrations comes from the fact that these practices in public present a different source of belonging and identity that is not based on the rigid and strict version of Islamic society. Festivals such as Nowruz and Yalda promote gatherings and freedom of cultural expression that are not under state control, giving Afghans room to continue holding onto historical traditions and cultural values that outlast Taliban ideology. Celebration of traditional festivals becomes a cultural act of resistance, affirming the integrity of pre-Taliban cultural practice. In addition to that, following Western cultural practices would impact the public’s beliefs to embrace the ‘enemy’s ideology post the American rule, which the Taliban aspires to remove and continue a conservative structure without any further international influence.

Cultural festivals are direct challenges to Taliban efforts to reassert their ideological hegemony over the Afghan society. Traditional holidays reflect alternative values that promote cultural pluralism, historical continuity, and communal solidarity instead of a standard religious purity and state control. By following and celebrating these festivities, Afghans indirectly challenge the Taliban’s assertion that their vision of Islam is the only legitimate form. The Taliban, which has taken an authoritarian role of governance, know that offering alternative perspectives would serve as resistance in the future and that lessening the diversity of culture could be used as a form of dissent similar to the ideological divides that fueled dissent and mobilisation during the Cold War.

Gender-Based Suppression

Most traditional celebrations followed in different cultures include an equal mix of males and females, which openly goes against the Taliban’s gender ideology. Women’s involvement in preparing the festivities, their role in preserving cultural heritage, along with their participation in community events, all constitute manifestations of social belonging to which the Taliban majorly disagrees. Their banning of cultural festivals has a side effect, which erases the women’s importance and contribution to this conservative society.  In abolishing celebrations that include women’s participation, the regime attempts to abolish one of the last few places of female social activity and cultural influence.[8]

Forms of Cultural Resistance

Private Celebrations

Despite the widespread bans on festivals, Afghans have continued to celebrate traditional holidays in private. Private networks of celebrations are examples of subtle forms of resistance that preserve culture and directly confront the Taliban regime. That these traditions have endured is evidence of the strength of cultural identity and the limitations of authoritarian control over personal social life. The movement away from public to private celebration has given traditional festivals a different meaning; now the celebrations aren’t seen as joyous or even seen as a celebration, but something that is done to survive and preserve this cultural suppression and as a form of dissent to the regime, investing them with increased meaning as a form of cultural resistance.

Even the recollection of the old celebrations is a resistance to the Taliban’s cultural oppression. The fact that these festivities exist and have been held for centuries gives Afghans alternative stories about their unique cultural history and identity, opposing attempts by the Taliban to modify Afghan history. Cultural memory is kept alive through storytelling, books, films, family narratives, and communal knowledge, forming a resistance that is difficult for authorities to identify and eradicate. This nostalgic resistance could retain the potential for cultural resurgence, keeping alive traditions that can re-emerge when political circumstances shift. The Taliban’s aim is to erase the culture and alter the memory to envision a society that is based on the Islamic structure.

International Role in Preserving Cultural Connections

International communities also help preserve traditional festivals, establishing networks that link Afghans within the country to international communities. These networks offer alternative sources of cultural legitimacy and backing free and new from the Taliban rule, providing Afghans with access to cultural resources and networks beyond the regime’s reach. West helps fund projects that preserve the rich cultural heritage that is present across the country. The Taliban is also aware of the impacts and attempts to seclude the country from the world, thus the hate against the liberal festivities that the West follows.[9]

Conclusion

The Taliban seeks to enforce a one vision and one identity state; therefore, any alternative types of identity can be viewed as an external threat to the regime and face heavy censorship and suppression through political dominance. They can implement policies that lead to a slow erasure of culture. Nowruz, something that was celebrated widely once in Afghanistan, is now said to be just another ordinary day, showing the workings of the Taliban on the masses. However, dissent to this suppression still exists, where music is still played. Despite the detainment and heavy censorship, Afghans still celebrate their tradition in private and express their dissent online. Women also express dissent by directly challenging the norms forced upon them by the regime, whether online by being vocal or educating themselves[10]. Festivals and celebrations still remain deeply embedded in the Afghan culture.

[1] Ludin, Asadullah, and Farangis Najibullah. “Afghans No Longer Celebrate Nowruz Amid Poverty, Taliban Restrictions.” RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, 19 Mar. 2025, www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-taliban-nowruz-noruz-kabul-music-ban-women/33353197.html.

[2] Yalda (Winter Solstice). 2017, www.hopkinsmedicine.org/-/media/diversity/yalda-winter-solstice.pdf.

[3] 8am Media. “Shab-e Yalda: Afghan Women Defy Taliban’s Ban in Symbolic Celebration of Resilience.” 8AM Media, 22 Dec. 2023, https://8am.media/eng/shab-e-yalda-afghan-women-defy-talibans-ban-in-symbolic-celebration-of-resilience/.

[4] Nctc. National Counterterrorism Center | Groups. www.dni.gov/nctc/groups/afghan_taliban

[5] “13,000 People Arrested by Taliban’s Morality Police in Past Year.” Afghanistan International, 20 Aug. 2024, www.afintl.com/en/202408207810.

[6] Indian Express. “Taliban Morality Police Dismiss Over 280 Men Without Beards From Security Forces.” The Indian Express, 20 Aug. 2024, indianexpress.com/article/world/taliban-morality-police-dismiss-over-men-without-beards-from-security-forces-9523808.

[7] Habib, Gift. “Taliban Detains 14 for Playing Music, Singing at Afghanistan Private Gathering.” Punch Newspapers, 10 May 2025, punchng.com/taliban-detains-14-for-playing-music-singing-at-afghanistan-private-gathering.

[8] Chughtai, Alia, and Marium Ali. “International Women’s Day: The Exclusion of Afghanistan’s Women.” Al Jazeera, 8 Mar. 2023, www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/8/international-womens-day-the-exclusion-of-afghanistans-women.

[9] UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Afghanistan’s Cultural Heritage: Safeguarding Campaign. whc.unesco.org/en/activities/2/#:~:text=In%20addition%2C%20following%20the%20Government,%2C%20Buddhism%2C%20Hinduism%20and%20Islam.

[10] “Afghan Women Take Protests Online as Taliban Crush Dissent.” Middle East Monitor, 14 Aug. 2023, www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230814-afghan-women-take-protests-online-as-taliban-crush-dissent.