Today is the beginning of NoRuz. What’s that? Here’s a short cut and paste:
[NoRuz] is the traditional Iranian new year holiday celebrated by Iranian peoples, having its roots in Ancient Iran. Apart from the Iranian cultural continent (Greater Iran), the celebration has spread in many other parts of the world, including parts of Central Asia, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Crimea, and some ethnic groups in Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia.
Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian year and is a secular holiday. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday and having significance amongst the Zoroastrian ancestors of modern Iranians. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the Jewish festival of Purim, is probably adopted from the Persian New Year. It is also a holy day for Ismailis, Alawites, Alevis, and adherents of the Bahá’à Faith.
Now, I’m not one for holidays (religious or otherwise), but I can really appreciate a celebration of the Spring Equinox.
(Something tells me that I’ll be getting corrections, shortly . . . )
Peej
Happy NoRuz!
Surprisingly, no corrections from this corner, since the wiki article is quite good (definitely improving each year). The only thing some Iranians (*cough*my family*cough*) would comment on would be the preferred spelling by Wiki; we also go fo the one you opted for. (Let us not even talk about the version used in the Scripps spelling bee a few years ago; I’m surprised the collective angry “What?!” that my family let out at the supposed correct spelling, and the subsequent dinging of the poor speller, didn’t registed on the richter scale.)
Back home, my favorite part* of the entire tradition was Chaharshanbeh Suri, especially as a teenager, which not only served as a great opportunity for a block party (even in the restricted, post revolution Iran), but also gave one the perfect excuse for holding hands with whomever the crush of the moment was, because no one would turn down someone else’s request for a little help jumping over the bonfires…and then maybe walking off a little out of sight to cool off (riiiight).
*I have to say, the tradition of children/younger kids receiving money from anyone older they met, while doing the rounds of visit–regardless of whether that person knew them personally or not–was quite awesome, too. No surprise that, for once, no kid ever complained about having to dress up and hang out with grownups for an entire day. Not to mention having a free pass to eat as many of the cookies mentioned in the link below, as well as all other sorts of pastries and candy, All.Day.Long.
http://pattycake.ca/node/340
MB
Didn’t know much about the various means of celebration – it sounds like much fun.
Too bad the first day of Spring had to be so )(*@#@# cold, though.