Nowruz

Nowruz is an important festival in Iran, Central Asia and beyond. Read on to find out how people celebrate the Persian New Year.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises.

Preparation

What is Nowruz?

Nowruz means 'new day' in Persian and is the most important festival of the year in Iran. It is also celebrated in a number of other countries across the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, the Balkans and East Africa, and dates back at least 3,000 years. The holiday has changed over the thousands of years that it has been celebrated, and different regions have preserved or developed different traditions, as well as adding new ones. But wherever it is observed, it celebrates the original message of rebirth and renewal.

When is it celebrated?

Nowruz marks the spring equinox, when night and day are of equal length. This is usually on 20 or 21 March. It's the day when winter changes into spring in the northern hemisphere, and it feels like a new beginning. In Iran it is followed by four days of public holidays, and schools and universities close for two weeks.  

How do people prepare for Nowruz?

People start their preparation for the festivities weeks beforehand. They clean their homes from top to bottom, including carpets, windows and curtains. Everyone in the family helps out. Anything broken is repaired or replaced and the house is decorated with flowers. By doing this spring cleaning, people wash away the bad things from the previous year and prepare for better things to come in the new year.

People prepare a special table in their homes, where they place small dishes holding seven symbolic foods and spices. The names of these foods all start with the letter 's' in Persian and so the table is called the 'seven s's' (haft-seen). The dishes generally contain wheat or bean sprouts (sabze), vinegar (serke), apples (sib), garlic (sir), a wheat-based pudding called samanu, a red spice called sumac, and senjed, a kind of wild olive which is common in the region. Other symbolic objects can include goldfish, painted eggs, candles and a mirror. The seven s's symbolise life, love, health and prosperity.

How is it celebrated?

Fire forms an important part of the celebrations, and bonfires are built and lit on the streets for four Tuesdays in the weeks before Nowruz. On the last Tuesday, people observe the Festival of Fire (Chaharshanbe Suri), which involves jumping over these fires, which is believed to bring health and good luck in the new year.

Iranians spend the night of Nowruz with their family. The traditional new year dinner is white fish with rice and herbs. Many families give a money gift (called eidi) to the children to mark the new year. People often visit each other's homes and always bring traditional gifts.  

People also celebrate on the street. Traditional poetry, song and dance play a key role in the celebrations, and people fill the streets to watch and take part in the performances. Traditional sports are also popular. They often involve horse-riding or wrestling.  

When does it end?

The festivities end on the thirteenth day after Nowruz, when people traditionally spend the day picnicking outside. The countryside is full of families eating, dancing, singing and enjoying the last day of the holidays.

Discussion

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Nice to meet you.I can recognize it is an important festivity in relation with deeps feelings on the people. It is a part of all society from these parts of the planet. A big dimension of faith. If the look of our is put in a little bit of this description. It is a good article about.We can describe on, something is more than a simple tradition with thousands of years ago, there is a defiance for each of community members on Iran and other societies too. After or ahead of a hurt,fight,loose of any loved person,and differents conflicts there are on our new world daily life, it is a show how do a society can starts a new life, in a simbolic form, a hard work in every day of our existance.Moderns societies can´t understand these festivals with other eyes, but 3.000 years ago of history are talking by themselves. Roots there are on. On America people lost a lot of festivals they cames from Mayas,Aztecas,Incas...Equinox and Solstice were practiced in a form of festivals...with differents plates... delicious meals and praises...cleaning was a form to purification. Several of them had dissapeared after América colonization...the past of America shows the loss of history but roots there are alive on America.
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Submitted by omerce82 on Mon, 25/03/2019 - 06:29

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every things okay and true about newroz accept blacksmith kawa ! we can not pass it blacksmith kawa. He is mit of nawroz . He is defiance of nawroz
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Submitted by CHINMOY_53 on Thu, 14/03/2019 - 15:52

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It is very refreshing to learn about this principle festival of Iran and the way the Iranians ( people from other parts of Asia and Africa too) start preparations for the festival weeks before and how they enjoy the festival with their families & friends for four days starting from spring equinox.The true spirit of this celebration perfectly matches with the beauty of nature at advent of spring, the "king of seasons"