30 thousand students participate in love quest in Almaty

Big Love Fest has been held in Almaty for the fourth time as a celebration of the Kozy-Korpesh and Bayan-Sulu Day, a Kazakh version of the Valentine's Day, Tengrinews.kz reports.

Kazakhstanis celebrate love holidays twice a year, first on February 14th and second on April 15th on the day of Kozy-Korpesh and Bayan-Sulu. The story of Kozy-Korpesh and Bayan-Sulu is one of tragic love and death. It is a legend dating back to the 13th century that was committed to writing only the 19th century.

The Big Love Fest was initiated in 2011 to celebrate the most famous Kazakh love story. Over 5 thousand students participated in the project the first year. 30,000 students from 40 universities in Almaty took part in the 2014 edition of the Big Love Fest.

This year, the Makhabbatization (Makhabbat – love in Kazakh language) competition was a part of the celebration. 30 thousand heart-shaped Makhabbat cards were made. Each card was divided into two halves, a blue half and red half, with numbers on them. Participants had to find their second halves in one week.

“Young people have to get away from their computers and social media and start communicating face to face. Amid the development of social networking, young people have completely forgotten how to meet people, communicate, talk and as a result build relationships,” Sanzhar Bokaev of the Youth Policy Department said.

“Big Love Fest might look like a student game but it brings people together and helps them find some love. In four years of the project, we have helped many young people find each other and it is not 100, or 200 people se are talking about but over 500 couples. Many of them have even got married afterwards. For example, in 2011 Stanislav Kim met Asel Kanapyanova at the Big Love Fest and they got married in the end of 2012. On May 24th 2013, their baby boy Anri was born,” the Head of the Volunteer League Kairzhan Mendigaliev said.