Nowruz

Iran is to hold the first international festival of “Letter to My Child” with a focus on the future of the children and youths of the countries that celebrate the Persian New Year or Nowruz.

Iranian people have gone for a picnic at parks or in the countryside on Monday to mark Sizdah-bedar, an ancient festival in celebration of the 13th day of spring, which is an official holiday in Iran known as the Nature Day in the calendar.

People in Ardeh village of Rezvanshahr County, northern Iran, annually cook Zarrineh, a traditional type of pastry indigenous to Gilan Province, and a special variation of halva to celebrate the arrival of spring and the Persian New Year.

With its long history dating back to thousands of years ago, the city of Yazd in central Iran has grabbed the attentions of domestic and foreign tourists as an intangible cultural heritage with unique rituals and traditions, especially when the Persian New Year arrives.

At the end of the cold season, people in the Hamadan Province gather together to conduct traditional rituals to usher in the promise of spring and the new Iranian year,Nowruz.

Samanu, one of the seven items in the Haft-Seen table of Iranian people during Nowruz, is a sweet paste whose cooking is traced back to the pre-Islamic Persia.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has joined a nation-wide campaign called 'No to Road Accidents' as the Nowruz vacations begin.

The third edition of “Baharestan” (Land of Spring) street art event is currently underway in the Iranian capital with the aim of promoting happiness and enthusiasm among the citizens ahead of the New Persian Year.

Marmeh or Madermeh, one of the most important rituals in Iran’s northern province of Mazandaran, is a old tradition that dates back to hundreds of years ago.

Baklava is a sweet dessert pastry made of layers of filo filled with chopped nuts sweetened and held together with syrup or honey. It is popular in Iran, Turkey, the Caucasus, the Balkans, and some West Asian states.

Every year, a few days before the beginning of the New Persian Year, traditional singers known as Nowruz Khans herald the arrival of spring in the villages of northern Iran by singing and playing their instruments.

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, has named the new Iranian calendar year as Year of Support for Iranian Products.

People in Kanduleh village in Kermanshah province, Western Iran, annually attend a traditional ceremony called “Sound of Spring’s Footstep” ahead of the Persian New Year or Nowruz.

Spring has almost arrived, and Iranians are preparing themselves for and counting down to the Persian New Year, when they will celebrate the traditional Nowruz festival.

Several dead trees of Tehran’s Valiasr Street, one of the longest streets in the Middle East, have been carved by wood artists and turned into beautiful pieces of art ahead of the Persian New Year or Nowruz.

A few days before the beginning of the Persian New Year (Nowruz), the municipality of Tehran has organised live music performances for the citizens in several subway stations across the capital.

An integral part of the ancient Persian festival Charshanbe Suri (Fireworks Wednesday) is a spoon-banging ritual, which seems to be an ancestor of the trick-or-treating in modern Halloween celebrations.

A senior culture heritage official has called for greater efforts to raise awareness among Iranian youth about the Persian New Year festival Nowruz, an ancient tradition that has become the symbol of Iranian culture.

A doll designer has unveiled a new doll inspired from a Persian folklore tradition related to the New Year, which is still reverberating in northern provinces of Gilan and Azarbaijan.

A national festival called Amu Nowruz has been held in the Iranian city of Qazvin which is located in the northwest of the country.

Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has okayed new conditions for granting clemency to Iranian prisoners.

Iran's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has launched a campaign to help the survivors of the recent earthquake in the western province of Kermanshah ahead of the Persian New Year.

The first two weeks of the Iranian New Year (which starts on March 20 or 21) is a major travel season with the highest number of holidaymakers along with road accidents.

Iranian families went for a picnic at parks or in the countryside on Sunday to mark Sizdah-bedar, an ancient festival in celebration of the 13th day of spring, which is an official holiday in Iran known as the Nature Day in the calendar.

Photos have been published of the Iranian president hiking in the mountains outside Tehran while wearing a baseball cap instead of his turban.