Happy 1398! Celebrating a Resilient Holiday.

"For thousands of years, Iranians and those influenced by Persian culture have celebrated their new year at the first moment of spring." (via). The holiday dates back to at least 1.700 B.C. and ancient Zoroastrian traditions (via), estimations are in the range of 3.000 years (via).
An important aspect of Nowruz is that it survived Islam. After the revolution in 1979, the government tried to curb the popularity of Nowruz and limit its influence since Iran's most important holiday had no Islamic roots (neither did Iranians) (via). Even before the 1970s, there were attempts to suppress or ban Nowruz, e.g. by Arab invaders in the 7th and 8th century. It "faced the ire of the Arabs on numerous occasions". In Afghanistan, the holiday was forbidden by the Taliban as it was pre-Islamic, hence un-Islamic (via). Nowruz proved to be a resilient holiday and was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (via).



"Norouz has been a bold identification code for being Persian, including all ethnicities within the land. (...) Norouz has been a celebration of early spring, and as Shabazin (2009) asserts, 'Norouz survived because it was so profoundly engrained in Iranian traditions, history, and cultural memory that Iranian identity and Norouz mutually buttressed each other ...'"
Payvar (2015)

Tonight, the equinox will happen at 10:58 p.m.
Here is some information how to celebrate Norouz: LINK

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- Payvar, B. (2015). Space, Culture, and the Youth in Iran. Observing Norm Creation Processes at the Artists's House. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- image via