Nowruz ( ) is the Iranian or Persian New Year celebrated by various ethnicities worldwide. It is a festival based on the Iranian Solar Hijri calendar, on the spring equinoxon or around 21 March on the Gregorian calendar.
The day of Nowruz has its origins in the Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism and is thus rooted in the traditions of the Iranian peoples; however, it has been celebrated by diverse communities for over 3,000 years in Western Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Black Sea Basin, the Balkans, and South Asia. Presently, while it is largely a secular holiday for most celebrants and enjoyed by people of several different faiths and backgrounds, Nowruz remains a holy day for Zoroastrians, Baháʼís, and some Muslim communities.
As the spring equinox, Nowruz marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, i.e. the moment at which the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year. Traditional customs of Nowruz include fire and water, ritual dances, gift exchanges, reciting poetry, symbolic objects and more; these customs differ between the diverse peoples and countries that celebrate the festival.
Overview
The first day of the Iranian calendar falls on the March equinox, the first day of spring, around 21 March. In the 11th century AD the Iranian calendar was reformed in order to fix the beginning of the calendar year, i.e. Nowruz, at the vernal equinox. Accordingly, the definition of Nowruz given by the Iranian astronomer Tusi was the following: "the first day of the official New Year [Nowruz] was always the day on which the sun entered Aries before noon." Nowruz is the first day of Farvardin, the first month of the Iranian solar calendar, which is the official calendar in use in Iran, and formerly in Afghanistan.
While Nowruz has been celebrated since the reform of the Iranian calendar in the 11th century CE to mark the new year, the United Nations officially recognized the "International Day of Nowruz" with the adoption of Resolution 64/253 by the United Nations General Assembly in February 2010.
Etymology
The word is a combination of Persian words نو nowmeaning "new"and روز ruzmeaning "day". Pronunciation varies among Persian dialects, with Eastern dialects using the pronunciation (as in Dari and Classical Persian, whereas in Tajik, it is written as "Наврӯз" Navröz), western dialects and Tehranis . A variety of spelling variations for the word nowruz exist in English-language usage, including norooz, novruz, nowruz, navruz, nauruz and newroz.
Timing accuracy
Nowruz's timing is based on the vernal equinox. In Iran, it is the day of the new year in the Solar Hijri algorithmic calendar, which is based on precise astronomical observations, and moreover use of sophisticated intercalation system, which makes it more accurate than its European counterpart, the Gregorian calendar.
Each 2820-year great grand cycle contains 2137 normal years of 365 days and 683 leap years of 366 days, with the average year length over the great grand cycle 365.24219852. This average is just 0.00000026 (2.6×10−7) of a day – slightly more than 1/50 of a second – shorter than Newcomb's value for the mean tropical year of 365.24219878 days, but differs considerably more from the current average vernal equinox year of 365.242362 days, which means that the new year, intended to fall on the vernal equinox, would drift by half a day over the course of a cycle. As the source explains, the 2820-year cycle is erroneous and has never been used in practice.
Charshanbe Suri
Chaharshanbe Suri ( (lit. "Festive Wednesday") is a prelude to the New Year. In Iran, it is celebrated on the eve of the last Wednesday before Nowruz. It is usually celebrated in the evening by performing rituals such as jumping over bonfires and lighting off firecrackers and fireworks.
In Azerbaijan, where the preparation for Novruz usually begins a month earlier, the festival is held every Tuesday during four weeks before the holiday of Novruz. Each Tuesday, people celebrate the day of one of the four elements – water, fire, earth and wind. On the holiday eve, the graves of relatives are visited and tended.
Iranians sing the poetic line "my yellow is yours, your red is mine", which means "my weakness to you and your strength to me" () to the fire during the festival, asking the fire to take away ill-health and problems and replace them with warmth, health, and energy. Trail mix and berries are also served during the celebration.