Special Issue No.03 | March 20 , 2012 | BackTo Site

Introduction


“Oh reformer of hearts and minds
Oh director of day and night
Oh transformer of conditions
Change ours to the best in accordance with your will”

We are approaching the Iranian New Year, which is on the 20th of March. The above prayer is constantly on our lips until we enter the New Year. We will repeat this prayer during the first few minutes of the New Year in order to ask for a year full of success from our God. We hope you have a Happy Nowruz! We wish you a year full of blessings, success, prosperity and love. For those of you who are unaware of the Iranian culture and celebrations on their New Year, we invite you to read through this pamphlet.

The Iranian New Year is celebrated at the start of spring each year. The calendar, which is based on the movement of the sun around the earth, starts with the month of Farvardin which is always sometime in late March. The word ‘Nourooz’ is made up of two smaller Farsi words, ‘nou’ which denotes new, fresh and now, and ‘rooz’ which denotes day.

Nowruz Traditions
character
1. Spring Cleaning
Nowruz is the most important holiday in Iran. Preparations for Nowruz begin in the month Esfand (or Espand), the last month of winter in the Persian solar calendar. Before the two week celebration Persians and other Indo-Iranian groups ...

2. Haft Sin or the Seven S’s:
Haft Sîn (Persian: هفت سین‎) or the seven 'S's is a major traditional table setting of Nowruz, the traditional Iranian spring celebration.Today The haft sin table includes seven specific items starting with the letter 'S' or Sīn (س) in the ...

3. Visiting Family and Friends:
During the Nowruz holidays, people are expected to visit one another (mostly limited to families, friends and neighbors) in the form of short house visits, which are usually reciprocated. Typically, on the first day of Nowruz, family members ...
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Imam Khomeini and Nowruz
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Imam Khomeini’s role in honouring Nowruz and changing the way Iranians viewed this day has been influential. The Imam released a statement for Nowruz every year, where he congratulated the New Year to everyone and gave useful advice for people to carry out in the upcoming year. This made Nowruz a greater event and encouraged people to change their selves not only materialistically but spiritually too. Two of ...
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Nowruz during the Pre-Islamic era
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Nowruz is commonly perceived as the most “Iranian” of all celebrations, emphasising an Aryan/Indo-Iranian root for the celebration. However, the lack of any mention of Nowruz or the traditional, well-known celebrations associated with it in Achaemenid inscriptions as well as the oldest parts of the Avesta, the Old Iranian hymns of Zoroastrianism, can point to the non-Iranian roots of the celebration We know that the ...
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Nowruz during the Islamic era
After the Advent of Islam this day was also celebrated by Muslims. The following narration by Imam Sadiq (as), which has been transmitted by Ma’la bin Khani̅s and is accepted by Allama Majlisi as a strong narration, talks of the events that took place on the day of Nowruz:
“Nowruz is the day when:
1. Gabriel came down to the Prophet (Saw).
2. The Prophet (saw) carried Ameer al-Mo’mineen Ali (as) on his shoulders and broke the idols inside the Ka’ba, and Prophet Abraham (as) broke the idols on this day.
3. The Prophet (saw) ordered his companions to swear allegiance to Ameer al-Mo’mineen Ali (as) as his successor ...
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UN recognition
recognition
The UN's General Assembly in 2010 recognized March 21 as the International Day of Nowruz, describing it a spring festival of Persian origin which has been celebrated for over 3,000 years and calling on world countries to draw on the holiday's rich history to promote peace and goodwill. During the meeting ...
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Nowruz Memories and the Imam ...
imam
Many happy memories of the Imam on Nowruz are told by his friends and family. During these celebratory days the Imam always welcomed guests and gave presents to everyone. The Imam was known for giving presents throughout the year and so Nowruz was just another excuse to ...
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