On the 20^th of December the leading scientists of the Institute of Folklore of ANAS - Doctor of Philology, Assoc. Prof. Hikmet Guliyev and PhD, Assoc. Prof. Aynur Ibrahimova, at the invitation of Firuza Sultanova, Head of the Republican Center for Children and Youth Development (RUGIM), participated as guests and jurors in the final and award ceremony of the Republican competition titled “Legendary Wise Lessons of Molla Nasreddin”.

Speaking at the event, Hikmat Guliyev spoke about the work being done to study and promote our folklore as part of the state policy implemented in our country in the field of protecting national and spiritual values and passing them on to future generations. He noted that, along with the epics “The Book of Dede Gorgud” and “Koroglu”, the jokes by Molla Nasreddin are a common value of the Turkic culture. Molla Nasreddin’s jokes contain wisdom wrapped in laughter, transcending the boundaries of time and space. He also mentioned that the path that began with the tradition of Molla Nasreddin’s jokes in the oral cultural environment has reached a new peak in the form of the journal “Molla Nasreddin”.

In conclusion, it was noted that the scenes, drawings and creative “stand-ups" prepared by the students are of great importance in terms of reviving Molla Nasreddin’s jokes, our national and spiritual values and folk wisdom as a whole, and re-actualizing them in the collective cultural memory in modern conditions.