Norooz
Nowrooz,Noruz,Nevruz,Nawruz
نوروز
Norooz means New Day in Persian/Farsi. It marks the first day of the spring (equinox) of the solar year taking place on the 21st March each year. It officially marks the beginning of the Iranian year.. Norooz has a background of more than 3000 years first observed by Arians that were formed by migration of Medians, Persians, and Partians 800 BC and separated from the group that migrated west and today it's somehow tied to the Persian History. Iranians all over the world celebrate Norooz in the same manner therefore it's very tied to Iranian identity. People of Tajik, Afghan and Kurdish are among nations that celebrate Norooz too. Beginning of Norooz is attributed to legendary kings Jamshid and Kiomars. It's the time when the night and day become equal and the sun starts reviving the nature. Religiously, there is a constant fight between good (light) and bad (darkness) but ending with the victory of light. Norooz is a perfect time to try 3 main ideal human tasks of good thinking, good behavior and good talking and to clear the soul from bad thoughts and end animosities with revisiting old friends, family and acquaintances specially to respect older generation.. The oldest recorded history of official Norooz celebrations is dated to 538 BC, the year Babylonians were liberated.
• How do Norooz and Islam get along?
After Arabs conquered the Iranian army and the Sassanid dynasty was overthrown, Islam became the official religion. Iran was under Arab, Mongols and Ottoman rulings for nearly 10 centuries and Norooz like some original Iranian traditions had to be modified to get acceptance. For a long time Norooz was a private ceremony in families hidden from the officials until the uprising of Mardaviz when he imported the traditions again from Transcaucasia.
• What's the story behind Seven sins vs. Seven shins?
One of the traditions of Norooz is to set a tray or table of at least seven items beginning with the "letter S" that is called Sin in Arabic. Some of these items are Sekke (coins), Seer (Garlic), Sabze (Grass un-pot-able!), Seeb (Apple), etc. Other items such as the Holy book, a mirror, goldfish are also added for decoration and other purposes that is supposed to bring luck to the household. It is said that before Islam this tradition was originally called Haft Shin with seven items beginning with the sound "Sh" and it included Sharab (wine) and because of the fact that wine is forbidden according to Islamic law, people had to change shin to sin.
Doesn't really matter after all as the Greek could not pronounce "sh" also and names like Dariush became Darius.
The idea of Norooz has been kept alive strongly because of the roots it has in hearts of minds.
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