The phrase Nowruz (Novruz, Navruz, Nowruz, Nevruz, Nowruz) means a brand new day. Spelling and pronunciation could differ by nation.
Nowruz means “new day” in Persian and is Iran’s most necessary competition.
This Iranian celebration can be present in varied nations throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, the Balkans, and East Africa, and its historical past dates again greater than 3,000 years.
Throughout its lengthy historical past, this vacation has developed, with every area sustaining or creating its personal customs whereas additionally introducing new ones.
Regardless of the placement, the essence of Nowruz stays a celebration of rejuvenation and new beginnings.
Nowruz traditions are numerous, however some are comparatively frequent. Preparations for the New Year embrace the position of Haftshin, who has unfold out his seven objects representing renewal and spring. Its centerpiece is the sabzeh, a budding plant that symbolizes rebirth.
Community festivals embrace cultural celebrations comparable to bonfires, feasts, musical performances, poetry readings, and conventional sports activities.
Inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009 as a cultural custom preserved by many ethnic teams, Nowruz is an ancestral competition commemorating the primary day of spring and the rebirth of nature.
It promotes the values of peace and solidarity, reconciliation and neighborly love between generations and inside households, and contributes to cultural variety and friendship between folks and totally different communities.
Nowruz is the day when winter turns to spring within the northern hemisphere, and it looks like a brand new starting. Iran will then observe a four-day public vacation and faculties and universities will probably be closed for 2 weeks.
People begin getting ready for the celebration a number of weeks prematurely. They give the entire household a deep clear of the home, from the carpets to the home windows and curtains. Damaged objects will probably be repaired or changed and houses will probably be adorned with flowers. Through this spring cleansing ritual, they eliminate final 12 months’s negativity and welcome subsequent 12 months’s positivity.
People put together a particular desk at house and place small plates with seven symbolic meals and spices on it. Since the names of those meals all start with the Persian letter “s”, this desk is known as “Seven S” (Haft-seen).
The dish usually contains wheat or bean sprouts (sabzeh), vinegar (selke), apples (shiv), garlic (sah), a wheat-based pudding referred to as samanu, a pink spice referred to as sumac, and senjed, a sort of untamed olive. It is. This is frequent within the space. Other symbolic objects embrace goldfish, painted eggs, candles, and mirrors. The 7 S’s symbolize life, love, well being, and prosperity.
Fire is a crucial a part of the celebrations, with bonfires being constructed and lit within the streets on the 4 Tuesdays within the weeks main as much as Nowruz. On the final Tuesday, the Fire Festival (Chaharshanbe Suri) is held, the place folks bounce over hearth, which is believed to convey good well being and luck within the new 12 months.
Iranians spend the evening of Nowruz with their households. A standard New Year’s dinner is white fish, rice and herbs. Many households give items of cash (referred to as Eidi) to their kids to have a good time the New Year. People regularly go to one another’s properties and all the time convey conventional items.
People additionally have a good time on the streets. Traditional poetry, songs and dance play an necessary position within the celebrations, and folks fill the streets to observe and take part within the performances. Traditional sports activities are additionally widespread. Often contains horseback driving and wrestling.
The competition ends on the thirteenth day of Nowruz, when folks historically spend the day picnicking open air. The countryside is stuffed with households consuming, singing and having enjoyable on the final day of their vacation.
Celebrating Nowruz means the affirmation of residing in concord with nature, the popularity of the inseparable connection between constructive labor and nature’s regenerative cycles, and a caring and respectful perspective towards pure life sources.
Report by Tohid Mahmoodpour