Nowruz The Iranian New Year

Nowruz
The Iranian New Year
MARCH 20, 2013
07:01 a.m. EST  06:01 a.m. CST
05:01 a.m. MST  04:01 a.m. PST
Where is IRAN?
• Historically known as Persia.
• Located in Southwestern Asia.
• Borders, by land, the countries of Afghanistan, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and Turkeministan and by
water, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the
United Arab Emirates (UAE).
• You cross the Atlantic Ocean, fly over Europe, and arrive in
IRAN.
• It is about 650,000 square miles (1.65 million sq km) – the
same size as Alaska.
• There are over 75 million diverse people living in IRAN.
© PAAIA 2013
Let’s find IRAN on the map!
Here is
where
we are
© PAAIA 2013
Here is
Iran
How old is IRAN?
• The earliest human presence, the inventors of spears, in the
Zagros Mountains of IRAN, date back to 35,000 years ago.
• The earliest human settlements in IRAN are dated back to
over 10,000 years ago.
• IRAN has sustained a form of government and a written
history for the past 5,000 years.
• Under Cyrus the Great, (around 530 BCE or some 2,500
years ago), IRAN was the largest world empire stretching
from India to Africa to Europe.
– Today the same area is comprised of 28 countries.
© PAAIA 2013
Historical contributions/discoveries of Iranians
• First charter of human rights
• Algebra, Trigonometry, and Algorithm
• First teaching hospitals in the world
• First postal couriers
• Games of Chess, Backgammon, and Polo and the musical
instrument, the lute
• First banking and taxation system
• First bottles of wine, bowls of ice cream, and refrigerators
were found in ancient IRAN (Persia)
• Many flowers (such as tulips, roses, pussy willows, and herbal
species) and fruits (such as grapes, figs, dates,
pomegranates, rice and wheat) were first domesticated in
IRAN
© PAAIA 2013
What does IRAN look like?
Spectacularly
Breath-taking!
IRAN has sovereignty over the
southern part of the largest
enclosed body of water in the
world, called the
CASPIAN SEA.
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IRAN has beautiful mountains.
The tallest is the DAMAVAND MOUNTAIN
(over 5 km above sea level).
IRAN has beautiful RICE FIELDS.
IRAN is home to the Persian Gulf.
IRAN has one of the
hottest and largest
deserts in the world –
DASHT-E-LUT.
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IRAN has four contrasting seasons…
Spring
Fall
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Summer
Winter
• IRAN has the only calendar that aligns with the seasons.
• It is one of the only countries that has consistently used a
purely solar-based calendar.
• Nowruz is a major annual celebration from a group of four
seasonal celebrations:
• Spring: Nowruz
• Summer: Tirgan
• Fall: Mehregan
• Winter: Yalda
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IRAN also has beautiful monuments and buildings….
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Persepolis (Shiraz)
Mosques (Esfahan)
Massouleh (Rasht)
Bridges (Esfahan)
IRAN was the first country to build arches in its buildings.
Tarikh Khaneh (Damghan)
Masjed-e-Shah Mosque (Isfahan)
Ivan-e Kasra (near ancient town
of Ctesiphon)
© PAAIA 2013
What is the official language of IRAN?
People in Iran speak Persian. It is written like this:
‫فارسی‬
Let’s try some words in Persian:
– Hello - SALAM or DOROUD
– Are you well? – KHOOBI or CHETORI?
– Thank you! – MERSI or SEPAS
– What is your name? – NAMAT CHEEST?
– Bye – KHODA-HAFEZ or BEDROUD
© PAAIA 2013
What is Nowruz?
• Nowruz, literally, means the “new day” of the New Year in
IRAN and many of its surrounding neighbors.
• It has been celebrated for thousands of years.
• Just like we begin a new year on January 1st of every year,
Iranians begin the new year on the first day of spring or
• THE VERNAL (SPRING) EQUINOX.
• Usually this day falls on or about March 20th.
• This year, vernal equinox and Nowruz happen on Wednesday,
March 20th.
• The celebration begins on this day and lasts for almost two
weeks ending on Sizdah Bedar (April’s Fools Day).
© PAAIA 2013
Where do they celebrate Nowruz?
• Nowruz is not unique to Iran.
• It is also celebrated in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Iraq, Turkish
Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan,Uzbekistan,
Kashmir, Kyrgyzstan, Western China, and some parts of the
southern Persian Gulf states.
• It is also recognized as a day of celebration by the United
Nations, the United States, and Canada.
© PAAIA 2013
Shabeh Charshanbeh Soori
• Prelude to Nowruz, Charshanbeh Souri is
celebrated on the last Tuesday evening
(eve of Wednesday) of the year.
• Charshanbeh = Wednesday
• Soor = Celebration or feast around fire
• People make bonfires and jump over them,
saying: “my sickly yellow paleness is yours.
Your fiery red color is mine!”
• It means you want the fire to take your
paleness, sickness & problems and give
you its redness, warmth, and energy.
• Food, such as nuts and pastries (ajill) and
refreshments are served.
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Getting ready for Nowruz….
• Families clean their homes from top
to bottom, in and out.
• Children and adults buy new clothes
and shoes.
• Families plan on visiting each other,
especially paying tribute to the
elders.
• Families set a Nowruz Table, called
Sofreh Haft-Sin.
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The Nowruz Table: “ Sofreh Haft Seen”
• The family sets the table together.
• The colorful table includes seven natural organic items whose
names begin with the letter S (seen) in Persian.
• In Persian, it’s called HAFT SEEN (Seven S’s).
• Each “Seen” symbolizes a yearning (something you wish for).
• There are also other items on the table that don’t begin with
the letter S but have a special meaning.
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The Seven “S” of the Haft-Seen Table
Apple or SEEB
(beauty or health)
A spice called SUMAC
(beauty or health)
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Garlic or SEER
(medicine)
Dried fruit of oleaster (wild olive) tree
or SENJED (beauty or health)
Hyacinth or SONBOL
(nature)
Vinegar or SERKEH
(age & patience)
Wheat or barley sprout or SABZEH
(nature)
© PAAIA 2013
Other things included on the Haft-Seen
Coins or SEKKEH
(wealth)
Holy book or book of poetry
(faith)
Lit candles
(enlightenment & happiness)
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Mirror
(cleanliness & honesty)
Eggs
(fertility)
Goldfish
(life within life)
Traditional Iranian pastries
(sweetness)
Iran’s national colors
(patriotism)
Rosewater or GOLAB
(believed to have magical cleansing powers)
© PAAIA 2013
Here is a picture of a Haft-Seen table
© PAAIA 2013
What Happens During Nowruz?
• Families gather around the Haft-Seen table and countdown to
the New Year.
• They hug and wish each other a good year
• They recite poetry from the traditional poetry books.
• They eat sweets.
• They spend the day visiting family and friends, beginning with
the elders who give the younger family members freshly
minted currency.
© PAAIA 2013
Sizdah Bedar
• Sizdah Bedar usually occurs around April Fool’s Day!
• Sizdah = 13 in Persian (considered not to be a lucky number)
• Bedar = sending / giving away or going outside
• On 13th day of the New Year, families go on a picnic outdoor
in the orchards, hillsides, or by the lakes or rivers. They eat
and drink, play games and sing songs.
• Sabzeh, the green sprout from the Haft Seen table, is thrown
into flowing water for continuity of good life wishes.
© PAAIA 2013
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
(SALEH- NO MOBARAK)
NOROOZETAN PEEROZ!
•‫نوروز پیروز‬
© PAAIA 2013