Nowruz (Persian New Year) – A collection of reports and photos about Nowruz, the Iranian (Persian) New Year, which is celebrated worldwide by various ethno-linguistic groups.
The Iranian nation on Saturday noon celebrated Nowruz and started the new solar Hijri calendar year 1400, which has been named by Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as the “Year of Production, Support, and Removal of Barriers”.
Despite the coronavirus outbreak, Iranian people from all walks of life are preparing themselves for the Persian New Year or Nowruz, which marks the beginning of the new solar year.
A ceremony called “Nowruz 1400; Nowruz of Friendship” has been held in Tehran bringing together a host of officials and envoys from Iran and other countries.
The coronavirus has forced Iranians to change their traditional habit and stay home this year on the ancient national festival of Sizdah Bedar or the Nature's Day.
Attempts to have Persian language eliminated will lead to exclusion of an important part of culture from the history of regional countries; including the Iranian New Year festival.
The Boloni ritual, a less-known ritual performed in Iran during Nowruz holidays, predicts the good and bad events of the New Year for the person doing it based on the country’s literary heritage and the Iranian people’s belief in good and bad luck.
While Iran is celebrating Nowruz under the shadow of the coronavirus epidemic, President Hassan Rouhani has also delivered his new year speech to the nation in markedly different conditions.
As a common practice among the people of different cultures or the first days of New Year, Iranians serve their traditional dishes, such as Sabzi Polo, on the initial days of Nowruz.
Iranian people observe many traditional customs ahead of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. One of them is a ceremony called “No-Usti” held in Ardabil on the last Wednesday of Iranian calendar year.
Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has agreed to pardon or commute the sentences of a large number of Iranian convicts on the occasion of the Muslim festive days in the lunar month of Rajab and also the Nowruz holidays.
Iran’s deputy industry minister says the production, supply, and distribution of the people's urgent needs, especially those related to the COVID-19 disease will not be interrupted with the beginning of efforts to clear the streets.
