{"id":123,"date":"2017-03-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-18T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/log.cudoo.com\/2018\/03\/11\/what-is-nowruz-and-who-celebrates-it\/"},"modified":"2022-10-13T09:30:19","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T05:30:19","slug":"what-is-nowruz-and-who-celebrates-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/what-is-nowruz-and-who-celebrates-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Nowruz and Who Celebrates It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is Nowruz?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nowruz (pronounced no-rooz) means ‘new day’.\u00a0 The first word \u201cnow\u201d means new<\/i> and the second word \u201cruz\u201d means day.\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0Nowruz is the Iranian\/Persian New Year that occurs when the\u00a0vernal equinox marks the beginning of spring in the\u00a0Northern Hemisphere. It usually occurs on\u00a0March 21\u00a0or the previous\/following day, depending on where it is observed. The moment the\u00a0sun\u00a0crosses the\u00a0celestial equator\u00a0and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year, and families gather together to observe the rituals.<\/p>\n

Although having\u00a0Iranian\u00a0and religious\u00a0Zoroastrian\u00a0origins, Nowruz has been celebrated by people from diverse ethnolinguistic communities for thousands of years. It is a\u00a0secular\u00a0holiday for most celebrants that is enjoyed by people of several different faiths but remains a holy day for Zoroastrians.<\/p>\n

Here are the many countries that celebrate Nowruz.<\/p>\n

Iran<\/h2>\n

\"Nowruz<\/strong><\/p>\n

House cleaning, or\u00a0shaking the house,<\/em>\u00a0as referred to by Farsi-speaking<\/a> (Persian \/ Iranian Persian speaking) Iranians, is commonly observed before the arrival of Nowruz. People start preparing for Nowruz weeks in advance with a major spring-cleaning and the purchase of new clothes to wear for the New Year, as well as the purchase of flowers. In particular, the\u00a0hyacinth\u00a0and the\u00a0tulip\u00a0are popular and conspicuous.<\/p>\n

As part of their celebrations, they also arrange a table setting with 7 different items known as\u00a0Haft-Seen<\/span><\/a>. These items are Sabzeh (wheatgrass grown in a dish), Samanu (sweet\u00a0pudding\u00a0made from\u00a0wheat germ), Senjed (silverberry), Serkeh (vinegar), Seeb (apple), Seer (garlic) and Sumac. Other items such as a mirror, candle,\u00a0colored eggs, fish, coins and\u00a0hyacinths. The most important part of the festivities is to gather and celebrate with family and friends.<\/p>\n

Afghanistan<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Afghanistan.jpg\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nowruz\u00a0is celebrated widely in\u00a0Afghanistan. Also known as Farmer’s Day, the observances usually last two weeks, culminating on the first day of the Afghan New Year, March 21. Preparations for Nowruz start several days beforehand, at least after\u00a0Chaharshanbe Suri i.e. the last Wednesday before the New Year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Albania<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In\u00a0Albania, the day of\u00a0Sultan Nevruzit<\/em>\u00a0is celebrated as a mainly mystical day by the\u00a0Bektashi\u00a0sect. There are special ceremonies in the\u00a0Tekke, led by the clergy, and large meals are served there. They celebrate this day as the birthday of\u00a0Ali. Alongside the religious celebration, all Albanians celebrate a secular version of Nowruz, which is referred to as the\u00a0Spring Day<\/em>\u00a0(Albanian:\u00a0Dita e Ver\u00ebs<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Azerbaijan<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"AZERBAIJAN.jpg\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Iran, the Republic of Azerbaijan hosts the greatest number of public holidays related to Nowruz, with a total of 7 days. In Azerbaijan, the holiday goes on for several days and ends with festive public dancing and other entertainment of folk bands, as well as the contests of national sports. In rural areas, crop holidays are also marked.<\/p>\n

India<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Parsi<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Parsi New Year is celebrated as\u00a0Jamshed Navroz<\/em>\u00a0by the entire\u00a0Parsi\u00a0community. Parsi New Year\u00a0is a regional holiday celebrated in Maharashtra, India. It is also known as ‘Jamshedi Navroz’ after the legendary King of Persia, Jamshed who started the\u00a0Parsi\u00a0Calendar.<\/p>\n

It falls in the month of March, according to the\u00a0Gregorian calendar. As the day commences with the advent of spring or the vernal equinox, Jamshed Navroz is celebrated with immense fun and fervour. Zoroastrian Parsis observe the festival by performing the rituals and rites with full devotion and duty.<\/p>\n

Turkey<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In Turkey, Nowruz is celebrated by the Kurdish minority. The holiday banned for decades is now legal in Turkey. The word ‘Newroz’ is\u00a0Kurdish\u00a0for ‘Nowruz’. The Kurds celebrate this feast between the 18th and 21st of March. The holiday is considered by Kurds to be the single most important holiday of every year. It involves setting up large bonfires on mountaintops celebrating the defeat of the demon-king Zahak, who is a character from the Shahnameh,\u00a0The Book of the Kings,\u00a0by Iran\u2019s national poet, Ferdowsi Toussi.<\/p>\n

\n

Now you know the origins of Nowruz, where it is celebrated and why. Be sure to wish your friends and colleagues celebrating “Nowruz Pirouz”!<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is Nowruz? Nowruz (pronounced no-rooz) means ‘new day’.\u00a0 The first word \u201cnow\u201d means new and the second word \u201cruz\u201d means day.\u00a0\u00a0Nowruz is the Iranian\/Persian New Year that occurs when the\u00a0vernal equinox marks the beginning of spring in the\u00a0Northern Hemisphere. It usually occurs on\u00a0March 21\u00a0or the previous\/following day, depending on where it is observed. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[5141,5146,133,137,136,5147,5135,132,1899,5133,5140,5131,5163,5139,153,84,5148,5143,5134,366],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5374,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions\/5374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}