Check the Spring series at Aksbazi

Happy Nowruz!

Silk carpet from Tabriz

United Nations General Assembly Recognizes 21 March as International Day of Nowruz:  …the text notes the festival’s “affirmation of life in harmony with nature, the awareness of the inseparable link between constructive labour and natural cycles of renewal and the solicitous and respectful attitude towards natural sources of life”.

Here & There …

Courtesy of Riccardo Zipoli
Iran, 25 Photo galleries

These days, years … it sounds almost indecent to talk about joy, but the wise PPGG keeps reminding us, we must affirm life …

… and Nowruz is a celebration of life: the beginning of a new cycle, a tribute to Nature, Earth, a homage to joy and wisdom as major forces defying Ahriman, the hostile spirits.

Nowruz is celebrated by people of various faith in different countries. Despite all the contemporary Ahrimans and subsidiaries, maybe there is still hope that we learn something from such an ancient tradition.

Around the world: “Nowruz is publicly celebrated in the Caucasus region and central Asia.

It is a colorful holiday in: Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. In Albania Sultan Nevruz is celebrated as a mainly mystical day by the Bektashi sect. … Nowruz is also celebrated by Kurds in Iraq and Turkey as well as by Parsis in India and Pakistan. Other notable celebrations take place by Iranians around the world, such as Los Angeles, Toronto, Cologne and in UK, mainly in London …”
Nowruz in Afghanistan
Azerbaijan
Kurdistan
India, Holy Festival
Egypt
Turkamanistan
Čiburijada, Bosnian Nowruz

چشن ملي نوروز در شاهنامه فردوسي بزرگ
نوروز در آذربايجان
نوروز در كردستان
نوروز در افعانستان
نوروز در تاجيكستان
Pdf نوروز درقفقاز

Pdf تاريجچه جشن چهارشنبه سوري
Pdf چهارشنبه سوري در تالش

Nowruz is celebrated for 13 days. The first few days one visits older members of the family, relatives and friends. Gifts are exchanged; sweets and feasts are consumed. On the 13^th people will spend a day, Sizdah Bedar out by the nature: parks, countryside, etc.

New Year marked despite growing tensions
This year nature has a hard time … read more
The Persian Mirror haftsin display, send your pictures!
Greetings from Badragheh
نق نقو:‌ كارنامه سال
Nowruz at Answer.com
The Official site of Nowruz

Update March 2008:
نمادهاي نوروزي در فرهنگ تاجيكان
آمادگيها براي برگزاري جشن نوروز در افغانستان 

Haft Sin

Nowruz Postcards
Countdown

Pdf هفت سين يادگاري از ايران باستان

Haft Sin is one of the components of the rituals of the New Year’s Day festival. Haft, seven and sin, the letter S, denotes seven items beginning with the letter S, traditionally displayed on a dining cloth, the Sofra-ye haft sin, that every household spreads out on the floor or on a table in a room normally reserved for entertaining guests. The sin items are traditionally as follows:

1. sabza, wheat, sometimes lentils, grown to the height of a few inches.
2. sepand, esfand, seeds of wild rue often placed in a small incense burner and burned just after the turn of the year
3. sib, apples
4. sekka, a few newly minted coins
5. sir, garlic cloves
6. serka, vinegar
7. a bowl of samanu: a thick, sweet paste reddish in color, made of wheat, water, oil, flour, almonds or walnuts. Some used to be distributed among neighbors, who return the container together with one or more colored eggs or a green leaf.

Some households add even more sin items. The Sofra-ye haft sin is not particular to the Nowruz festival: identical sofra are set out for wedding ceremonies and in certain areas during the eve of the fortieth winter day, shab-e chella. Afghans, Tajiks, Armenians, who share in the heritage of Iranian culture and tradition do not display a haftsin.

Other elements of the Sofra:

A mirror, candles – traditionally according to the number of the children in the household, the holy Book, the Shah-nama or the Divan of Hafez, a jar of water containing a goldfish, (sometimes a jug of rainwater and/or a bowl of water containing a green leaf of pomegranate …), vessels containing milk, rose water, honey, sugar, 1, 3, 5 or 7 colored eggs, flowers – customarily hyacinth, sonbol, branches of musk willow bid-e meshk, a plate of fruits, variety of bread often sweetened, yogurt and fresh cheese, various sweets, and ajil, a mixture of dried roasted seeds, wheat, rice and nuts, all mixed with raisins …

The history of the custom is obscure. All indications suggest that the haft sin as we know it is not old and it seems to have come into vogue only in the last century. However, the essential objects of the Nowruz table are very ancient and meaningful, while the idea of the haft sin is recent and the result of popular fancy tastefully developed into a pleasant ritual. An excerpt and adaptation of Haftsin from the Encyclopædia Iranica.

Photos of haftsins
Street haftsins
A classic haftsin
Greetings, Aref-Adib
Greetings, the Persian Drummer
Greetings, Saleh Ara

Haftsin by Aref-Adib

Update: Feb 2008
What we are never told about “No-Rooz” and “Haft-Seen” by Fariborz Rahnamoon
Online Haft sin
Traditional Sofrehs
تزئين تخم‌مرغ هفت‌سين