The New Day

All about the Iranian New Year

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The New Day
by Davood-Rahni
12-Mar-2009
 

Norooz, commemorating the New Year, has been celebrated in Iran, formerly Persia, throughout nearly three millennia of its recorded history. Norooz begins at the vernal equinox, the first day of spring season, a day of rejuvenation and reconciliation, and, reinvigorations and rebirth. Norooz’s arrival is symbolized in nature by the sprouting of greens and grains, flowers and trees. The Norooz holidays of today span from Charshanbeh Suri (jumping over the bonfire to absorb its reddish healthy strength, while getting rid of one’s yellow unhealthy state of being), on the evening preceding the last Wednesday of the old year, climaxing at Norooz, and concluding with Sizdah Bedar, the thirteenth day of the New Year. Iranians spend the last day of the holidays at a picnic in the orchards, on the prairies, by the seaside, or in the foothills where they eat and drink, dance and sing, and play and joke. On that day, the single women knot grass together in the hope of marriage before the next Norooz! Integral to Norooz are the visits exchanged and paying tribute to the elders, as well as receiving monetary and other gifts from them.

Norooz has its own culinary dishes and pastries, sweets and desserts that are quite distinct from the rest of the year. Enjoying street performances is commonplace throughout Iran. The Persian Prefix “no-“, as in NoRooz, is the equivalent of “new” and “now” in English since both languages are rooted in Indo-European origins. Iran has, by and large, remained quite diverse since antiquity. Norooz, which celebrates the divine creation of Zoroastrian Lord of Wisdom-Ahura Mazda who created the Universe, the Guardian Angels (Forouhars) and the holy fire-is the most cherished of all Iranian festivals. The ancient practice of observing the commencement of the spring season was not necessarily reserved to Iranians (Persians); many neighboring nations have and continue observing it. The indigenous tribes roaming the Persian Plateau during 6,000 years before the Persians arrived, along with the Babylonians of Mesopotamia, who had paid special attention to the role of the lengthening days warmed by Sun for their survival (Sol Invictus).

Today several hundred million people in the south, south central and southwest Asia observe Norooz, or a close variation of it. In fact, Zoroastrianism and, to a lesser extent, other Persian faiths such as Mithraism, Mazdakism and Manichaeism that were in part inspired by Buddhism, later influenced the shaping the three Semitic monotheistic religions. The early Christians celebrated the birth of Jesus in early spring, and epiphany commemorated the arrival of the three Wise Men, the Magi, who were said to be Zoroastrian priests. The New Year in the west, that began in early March and was observed in Europe and North America until the late 18th Century, was called the Common New Year. Today’s Christmas is due to Emperor Constantine’s moving the birth of Jesus to mask the birth of Indo-Iranian deity Mithra to the winter solstice! Furthermore, the concurrent celebration of Purim and Passover and Feast of Epiphany and Easter by the Jews and Christians in tandem with Norooz cannot be construed as coincidental, but rather a common heritage.

Norooz was celebrated in an early Persian mythological dynasty, the Kianis heralded by Jamshid (Shah Jam). The Kiani dynasty is cited with national pride and nostalgic reverence in Shahnameh, the 60,000 poetic verses of the Epic Book of [Persian] Kings, written by Ferdowsi (the Paradisi, the paradise) in the 11th century C.E. The oldest archaeological record of the Norooz celebration comes from the Achaemenid period of over 2,500 years ago, where pictorial illustrations and inscriptions on the grand inner Halls of Persepolis, the Apadana, depict King Darius receiving the ambassadors and emissaries presenting Norooz gifts from his vast empire. The Achaemenid Kings actually gave immunity to a commoner chosen to rule in the Palace for a day at Norooz for the king’s self-reflection. This practice later led to wise and dancing artisans in the street who are Haji Pirooz (the victorious pilgrim!), as well the royal tolerance of court jesters in both Iranian and European regal courts.

A major part of the New Year ritual is setting up a special table with seven specific items present, Haft Sin (Haft Chin, hinting at the seven picked crops before Islam, and the seven days of creation). In ancient times each of the items corresponded to one of the seven, sacred living creations and the seven holy immortals protecting them. Today some modifications are made, but a few of the original items have kept their symbolism. All seven items start with the letter “S”; this was not the requirement in ancient times. Zoroastrians today do not have the seven “S”, but they do have a ritual of growing seven seeds. The ancient Iranians also grew seven seeds as a reminder that this is the seventh feast of the creation, and the new growth symbolized the festival’s other aspect, namely, a feast of resurrection and the eternal cycle of life.

Sabzeh, green shoots of wheat, barley, millet, or lentils are planted on flat plates a few days before the New Year arrives. Decorated with colorful red, white and green ribbons, Sabzeh along with hyacinth, tulips and daffodils are displayed with Haft-sin and then thrown into streams the last day of the Norooz holidays, on Sizdeh bedar, the 13th day after Norooz (It coincides with April fool’s day in the west!) A few live gold fish (presumably denoting the origin of life in water) are placed in a bowl. In the old days the fish would be taken to the riverbanks or qanats after the holidays; however, today most children, mesmerized by them, keep them as pets, either in the courtyard pond (Howz) or in an aquarium indoors. Mirrors are placed on the Haft-Sin table, and candles are lit adjacent to it to aid the reflection of light and the scared fire if present, and to signify knowledge and wisdom. Mirrors and candelabra were significant artifacts in Zoroastrian symbolic art and architecture, and still are integral components of most Iranian celebrations, especially the wedding ceremony. Mirrors are also used extensively in Iranian mystical literature as well and represent introspection and retrospection. Most Iranian burial shrines and mausoleums are still extensively decorated with highly ordered, complex geometrical mirrors, a popular decorative style since ancient times. Again, light is regarded as sacred by the Zoroastrians, and the effective use of mirrors intensifies the reflection of the light.

In ancient times, wine was always present at the Haft-Sin. Since the Muslim conquest, wine has been replaced by vinegar or at times with honey since alcohol is banned in Islam. The Egg, a universal symbol of fertility, corresponding to Mother Earth, Sepanta Armaiti, and hints at the concept of Faravahar, the highest achievement of human soul. Eggs are hard-boiled and traditionally colored red, green, magenta, scarlet, or yellow, colors favored by Zoroastrians. Recently following the Easter egg tradition, more colors are used and the eggs are elaborately decorated and offered to children as treats. Fresh garlic is used to ward off any bad omen. This is said to be a modern innovation, as there is no evidence that garlic was used in this context in antiquity, but perhaps it may have been one of the seven herbs grown at Norooz. Samanoo, a thick, brownish, malted paste, is present on the table today. It makes for a nutritious meal and could have been part of the feast in ancient times. Coins (symbolizing wealth and prosperity), fruits, special sweets and baked pastries, and a holy book for the believers, are present as well.

The Achaemenians created the first superpower empire in the world, spanning from India to Central Asia, the Caucuses and Asia Minor, and extending deep into North Africa. Although they built four magnificent mega-palaces, a residence for each season, the Persepolis complex (Takhte Jamshid, still standing north of Shiraz in central Iran), was the Grand Palace where the Kings celebrated Norooz and spring. Among the most notable Persian Kings were Cyrus the Great (revered in the Torah as the savior, who reconquered Jerusalem, invited the Jews to return and rebuild it). Cyrus is also credited as having decreed the first universal Declaration of Human Rights. He was followed by Darius, (who dug the first Suez Canal and further bolstered the federal system of many nations, satrapies, and the pony express.), and Xerxes, (whose inscriptions in Asia Minor boasting of his heroic bravery, as reluctantly recorded by the Greek nationalist historian, Herodotus).

The first historical evidence of human settlement in the Iranian plateau dates back to well over 10,000 years ago, as attested by the discoveries of a chess/ backgammon set in Shahreh Sookhteh a.k.a. the Burned City (in the southeastern Zabol region), the two baked fermentation pots (from the northwestern Oroomieh region) currently deposited at the University of Pennsylvania, and Teppe Sialk mounds with seventeen layers of settlements. As a result of the latter discovery, the time of the earliest organized agriculture and domestication of flora and fauna was moved back by nearly 2,000 years to 8,000 B.C.E. to the beginning of the human civilization! The diverse indigenous people in southwest Asia were absorbed into the three major incoming Iranian Aryan tribes of the Medes, Parthians and the Persians, who arrived from central Asia, east of the Caspian Sea, over 3,000 years ago. In fact, the name, Iran, derives from the Indo-European roots of Middle Pahlavi, Âér, which means the land of the Aryans; interestingly, the same root is also found in Ireland as a word.

Americans of Iranian/Persian heritage, recognized among the most educated and affluent immigrant communities with nearly one million celebrate Norooz through parade processions, musical concerts, theatrical and movie performances, street fairs and bazaars, and college and private parties throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Although the commemoration of Norooz may have been somewhat modified over time in order to reflect the changing socio-religious landscape and/or to accommodate the infusion of new rituals from other cultures, it has, nevertheless, remained close to every Iranian heart, and as a result will remain for millennia to come. Norooz further celebrates the inspirational and aspirational commonality of humanity as a whole, irrespective of race, creed, national origin religion, and ethnicity. No one has been more eloquent than Sa’adi, the 13th century Persian poet, whose major poem from his vast two-volume treatise “Golestan and “Boostan”, is immortalized on the entrance arch of the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, as follows:

Humans are all members of one frame,
Since all, at first, from the same essence came
;

When by hard fortune one limb is oppressed,
The other members lose their desired rest;

If thou feel'st not for others' misery,
A human being is no name for thee!

Further Select Readings
-- Norooz by Massoumeh Price iranonline.com

-- Davood Rahni on Norooz in National Geographic Magazine & this article on various internet sites soon. nationalgeographic.com

-- THE PERSIANS: An Annotated Archaeological and Anthropological Anthology; Persian Heritage Magazine V.9 (2) 2004 persian-heritage.com

-- Persian Gulf iranian.com

-- An Interview with D. Rahni, on Iran, past and present and Iranian-American Community, by Johanna Sterbin, irandokht.com

-- Encyclopedia Iranica iranica.com

-- Zoroaster wikipedia.org

-- Culture of Iran cultureofiran.org

Acknowledgment
The input by Johanna Sterbin is most appreciated.

AUTHOR
David N. Rahni (DrRahni.com) is a professor of Chemistry at Pace University, where he has also held adjunct professorships in Environmental Law, and in Dermatology at the New York Medical College. In addition to being a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar in Denmark he has also served as a visiting professor in various universities, including Oxford, Rome, Florence, and Tehran. His scholarly prolific contributions, approaching 1,000 broadly speaking, have spanned across chemistry, environmental science and law, forensics, nano-engineering, neuropsychopharmacology, civic activism, history and immigration assimilations. His life-long passion, to help advance the aspirations of Iranian-Americans and other immigrants, is well recognized. Humana Press has published his latest book Bioimaging in Neurodegenerations. His forthcoming book, NATANZ TO NEW YORK: The Odyssey of an Ordinary Persian Wanderer, will soon publish.

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tsion

Interesting, but could you perhaps provide more references

by tsion on

First of all thank you for the interesting info.
My main point, the word Iran "eir+an" is "nobles + the land of", where as Ireland is basically "The good land+ the land of"
Even if the word for Nobles and the word for good lands are ultimately linked (Nobles being those who posses good lands), the "rational" behind the name of the two countries is still quite different. [The other poetic name is clearly of a different etymology.]
Actually the Arya in the name "Iran" were those migrating to "other" lands and it is commonly thought that the self-designation was partly to differentiate themselves from the natives living of the lands they were entering.

Could you perhaps provide other references beside wikipedia on the etymological connection between "Arya" as Nobles and "Ar" or "Ir" meaning land?
Also, I hadn't heard of Celts being linked to Scythians. Could you let me know of references for that too?

Zion


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Éirinn Go Brách (Ireland Forever)

by Irish Lassie (not verified) on

Tsion,

While the proto Indo-European root "Ar" refers to "noble" it can also refer to land. Proto Indo-European root etymologies are based on scholarly back-formations of common roots in Indo-European language.

My point is: you have to have "land" to be a "noble."

The name of Ireland in the IRISH language is Éire.
See below from Wikipedia:

"Derived from a root word Ara (also spelt Arya, Aire or Aera) meaning noble, as in 'Aryan'. Among the very many poetic names for the island of Ireland was Mág Ealga meaning plain of the nobles.

Ar or Ir in the Irish language also meant land, and according to old manuscripts was the name given to the lands of the mythological Celtic tribe of Gael Glas who travelled from Scythia across Greece and eventually to Ireland.

The dative form Éirinn is anglicised as Erin, which is occasionally used as a poetic name for Ireland in English, and has also become a common feminine name in English.

Erin is a Hiberno-English derivative of Éirinn, the Irish dative case of Éire i.e. a noun to which something is given, as in the phrase "Éirinn Go Brách" meaning 'Ireland forever'."


tsion

Interesting article despite a few inaccuracies

by tsion on

- The New year festival of the Babylonians was based on the Sumerians, from whom we inherit almost everything. It was called Akitu.
Sol invictus is the sun god in Rome, much later, forged with Mithraism and is related to the celebrations of the winter solstice and not the vernal equinox that is at the base of the Akitu and thus also of Nowruz.

- The forouhars are but a mispronunciation of the Fravahars so far I know, can hardly be considered guardian angels. They are one of the rankings of the human soul, there is also a parallel in Kaballa, and are thought to have been originally the spirits of the dead ancestors which had later developed into this spiritual abstract hierarchy.

-The 'Haji'? Piruz does not come down from court jesters, but has its origins in the returning of Marduk from the underworld that was ritually enacted during the Babylonian counterpart of Akitu. Although it seems to have something to do with a "temporary" king for a day ritual in many cultures who was disposed of at the end of the day. There is also a link with the custom swearing traditions in Purim.

- The goldfish ritual was not part of the ancient Nowruz/Akitu ceremony, but is a much later import out of Chinese rituals.

-The English words "New" and "Now" are not from the same root so far as I know, but the English word "New" and the Persian prefix "No(w)" are probably of the same root.

-Ireland and Iran do not have the same etymology. Iran is literally the land of the "er"s or "arya"s, proto-Indoeuropean meaning most probably "Nobles" (Same root can be seen in the word Aristocrat from Greek origin, for example). Ireland however comes from the Celtic word "Erin" meaning good land. They are not connected despite what might seem.

Zion


Shazde Asdola Mirza

Thanks dear Davood, for all the great information. Happy Norooz.

by Shazde Asdola Mirza on

S.A.M (an official Khar Vazir)


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Kissing Ahmadainejad

by bj (not verified) on

Well newrooze is comig up and our good old persia is going to celebrate the new year once again. I proudly decided to kiss Mr Ahmadinejad until he says ENOUGH ,ENOUGH....... If and only if he fights for freedom of women,equality of man and women,freedom of religion,elimination of all kind of political and social restrictions and freedom of speech.If he do that he will be so sweat and eatable that every iranian/persian would be very pleased to kiss him until he says ENOUGH,ENOUGH.........


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To Lovers of Springtime

by scb (not verified) on

I love to celebrate Nou-Ruz. It makes so much better sense to begin the year as the world is blossoming. Since Baha'is end the 19 day Fast on Nou-Ruz, it is doubly import to me.

Nou-Ruz is the first day of the Badi Calendar, the calendar used by Baha'is, revealed by the Bab and refined by Baha'u'llah.

Between six and seven million Baha'is, most of them not Iranian, will celebrate Nou-Ruz in every country of the world!!

Eid Mubarak to all the lovers of springtime!!


Anahid Hojjati

Dear sweet Nazy, thanks for

by Anahid Hojjati on

Dear sweet Nazy, thanks for defending me.  Your presence adds to my experience with IranianDotCom and I always enjoy your stories.


IRANdokht

Great information

by IRANdokht on

Thank you so much! I was looking for a comprehensive article about Norooz to send to a friend of mine. This is perfect!
and thanks for spelling it without a "w" too. It's so much easier to tell Americans and french speaking folks to read it phonetically and not have them try to fit in the w...

Thanks again

IRANdokht


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See? Nazy khaanoom? is it lost in translation? or what?

by khodam (not verified) on

See how easy it is to misunderstand a comment?
Apparently these people are not following IC regularly and don't know all different user names. And they mistake M.P.D for "mpd, the user name"
That's what's called: flying off the handel, OR "az hol e halim too dig oftaadan"


Nazy Kaviani

Emmm...

by Nazy Kaviani on

I guess Anna isn't around to defend herself!

She was referring to another user, named Multiple Personality Disorder. He had recently blogged about the subject of how to spell Nowruz.

I am sure she meant no disrespect to the author. Take a look at that blog and you will see.

//iranian.com/main/blog/multiple-personal...


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Norooz response to Ana 101

by Freemanure (not verified) on

addressed to Ana 101,

If this man, David Rahni to you seem to have MPD, at least he is suing his real name and is not ashamed to hide behind fake name like YOU. now, who has MPD? It takes a lunatic to see her.his own image in others, does it NOT?

Norouz=Nowruz=Norooz as this atuhor sates are amongst the most popular spellings... so what?
get a life will you and move beyond 101 to 401 at least... grow up babe..


Anahid Hojjati

Good argument where you say

by Anahid Hojjati on

Good argument where you say something to the effect that variations are Ok as long as the pronunciation is as close to intended pronunciation in destination country.  The reason I mentioned MPD is that he had a blog about same subject few days ago that I and many other people had commented on.


Shahriar

ana101

by Shahriar on

It doesn't have anything to do with MPD. It is simply a matter of two factors: 1) which dialect of Farsi you speak and 2) which language you are translating NoRooz into.

1) Which dialect: Even in Iran, you hear the word نو to be pronounced as no or nou / now, depending on the region, let alone if you go to other Farsi speaking countries. This variation in pronunciation explains partly why there are different spellings.The pronunciation for روز is almost the same everywhere but there is difference in spelling which the next point explains.

2) If you live in an English speaking country, روز would be best pronounced by rooz spelling, while if you live in a French speaking country, ruz or rouz would probably be more suitable.

Now combine the the above two parameters and you get several spelling variations, all of them are OK as long as the pronunciation of نوروز would be the closest to the intended pronunciation in the destination country.

You can see the same misunderstanding about the term Iran. If the English had first introduced the term, it would have probably been spelled as Eron (try it on your English speaking friends) but in French Iran would better present the original pronunciation.


Anahid Hojjati

MPD will be happy

by Anahid Hojjati on

Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) will be happy to see this article.  This is another writer supporting use of term NoRooz for Persian New Year.  Any way, whatever you prefer to call it, I would like to say:

 "Now, NoRooz, Rouzetan Pirooz."