It’s Nowruz today.
Nowruz marks the first day of spring and is celebrated amongst Iranians, Afghans, Kurds and others.
Below is my take on the Nowruz table, which needs to have 7 things beginning with S (Haft Sin). Mine is basically made up of anything I could get my hands on. There’s a wooden fish rather than goldfish and a flytrap plant my son got at a birthday party rather than Sabzi (ours is looking too pathetic to photograph).
By the way, Nowruz is a celebration that predates Islam and there has been a constant battle between the public and the regime with regards celebrating it. The regime even once tried to ban it but no one bothered to listen. The last Wednesday of the year – Chaharshanbeh Suri – which was last night and is a fire festival is also a source of great displeasure making these celebrations all the more important and fun!
Happy New Year!
And as all Iranians say (well the sane ones at least): may this be the first year without the Islamic regime in Iran!
Nowruz again, already? Time does fly. Happy Nowruz, Maryam Namazie.
The Wikipedia has what looks like a good article on Nowruz, its history and practice. It seems to have originated in Zoroastrianism and incorporates elements even older, which explains both its fire connection and why Muslimist hate it.
It looks like a wonderful festival, with all the food, music, dancing and symbolism. Sure beats the New Year traditions in the US of staying up late one night and getting drunk.
Aha! And that ‘Empire of the Mind ‘ book is linked here :
http://www.amazon.com/History-Iran-Empire-Mind/dp/046501920X
Via Amazon – written by Michael Axworthy.
Hope its okay to post this here – my apologies and please let me know if not.
Wikipage here :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowruz#Etymology
If I can post links here which hopefully I can?
Happy Nowruz to you and thanks for this Maryam Namazie.
Just seen on its wikipedia page that the ‘now’ in the Persian ‘nowruz’ is the same as the english word ‘now’ (sorta) and that’s something new I’ve learnt for today. Cheers!
Also starting a year on an equinox – a good and logical idea I think although a solstice would do equally well and we come close~ish to that.
BTW. Read a great non-fiction book on Persian culture earlier this year – ‘Empire of the Mind’ – which was recommended to me via someone on Pharyngula. I enjoyed and learnt quite a lot from that book and would highly recommend it to others too.
Happy Nowruz!
and a small snail-seven.
brilliant idea. i have made a table with a tin of silver fish with seagulls on the label,the last snowdrop(definitely a sign of spring),a bowl of sugar,sunflower seeds and a small sheep.
Brilliant! Happy Novruz to you, too. We celebrate it in Azerbaijan big time.