Nowruz: Here’s how Iranians celebrate spring equinox
For you and me, 21st and 22nd March is the onset of spring. After all, it is the time of vernal equinox. However, for Iranians, it is the coming of a brand-new year and has been celebrated for 3000 years by ancient Persians. The celebration is called Nowruz that literally translates to ‘new day’. It marks the arrival of spring as well as the first day according to the Persian solar calendar. Here is what the festival is all about.
It can be traced back to Zoroastrianism
Once upon a time (in between 1500 and 1000 BC) lived an ancient Iranian prophet named Zarathusta (also called Zartohst in Persian and Zoroaster in Greek). He condemned the Irano-Aryan practice of idol worshipping as done by the ancient Persians. Instead, he suggested that the Lord of Wisdom or Ahura Mazda should be worshipped by one and all, as he is the only God. In doing so, he also created a religious divide between the native Iranians and the Aryans and in turn, birthed the first monotheistic faith on earth. With its emphasis on a single God and on dualities of life, such as God and Satan, Heaven and Hell, black and white, the philosophies followed by the disciples of Zarasthusta eventually turned into a religion of its own called Zoroastrianism.
Now, the arrival of spring was deemed as a victory over dark and bleak winter by the Zoroastrian sect. In fact, they considered the vernal equinox as the ultimate sign that good days were ahead. Even though Iran eventually came under the Islamic conquest, till date, the concept and thus the festival of Nowruz has survived as a secular celebration. Not only that, the festival now marks the first official state holiday of the year in Iran. Neighbouring countries like Afghanistan, Georgia, Albania, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan also celebrate Nowruz.
Charshanbe Suri and other traditions
Just like any other festival, Nowruz too has its own unique set of traditions and customs. People prepare for it in advance by performing ritualistic dance and filling up vessels in their homes with fresh water every morning. They believe it will bring them good health and replace all earlier bad luck. In fact, to scare away evil spirits, on the last Wednesday before Nowruz, they perform a special ritual called Charshanbe Suri. It involves jumping over fires and then going door to door banging spoons. They call it a night by visiting the cemeteries and offering food and drinks to the ancestors. This is because they believe that the dead visit right before Nowruz.
Haft-seen
People also gather seeds and painted eggs to celebrate the fertility and harvest, associated with the hope of new life that spring brings with it. In fact, households are decorated with symbolic items which are collectively called haft-seen and relate to four elements: Fire, air, water and earth alongside three forms of life, humans, animals and plants. Here, haft means ‘seven’ while seen refers to ‘s’ in Farsi. Most of the items too start with ‘s.’ They include: seed sprouts (wheat, oats and other seeds which symbolise rebirth), senjed (Persian olive or silverberry believed to ignite love), sumac (a fruit representing ambition), samanu (a sweet pudding made of sprouted wheat known to represent affluence), vinegar/ serke (for patience), garlic/ sir (for protection) and apple/ sib (for fertility). Quran (holy book for Muslims), mirrors, hyacinth, goldfish, coins, candles and poetry books are also part of the ritual.
Interestingly, in 2009, the United Nations included Nowruz as part of the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on the grounds of promoting values of peace and solidarity between generations, within families as well as reconciliation and neighbourliness.