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This ancient
Zoroastrian spring festival of the New Year celebrates the
symbolic victory of light, goodness and fire, embodied in the
figure of the Wise Lord Ahura Mazda, over darkness and evil,
represented by the Dark God Ahriman.
Traditionally this two-week celebration and holiday begins on
the day of the spring equinox, the first day of the Zoroastrian
year. An elaborate table is prepared, laid with seven objects
beginning with the letter S in Persian: apples, garlic and wheat
are prominent. The family gathers, waiting for the New Year to
be announced on radio or TV. Immediately after the New Year is
announced, people wish each other happy New Year, children kiss
the hands of the elders, and gifts, flowers and small mirrors
(light is sacred to Zoroastrians) are exchanged. In traditional
families, the father and the first-born son walk around the
house with a candle to bless it.
The period between the first and the last day of the New Year
celebrations is devoted to the family. People pay each other
visits, give presents and spend relaxed quality time with
friends. Children receive toys and other presents, and eat
special sweet meats prepared for the occasion.
On the 13th day of the New Year, called the SeezDeh Bedar, or
the 'Outing', families go out for picnics near rivers or in the
countryside. In a traditional folk-magic ritual, children and
newlyweds tie a grass-knot and make wishes - in the case of
children often for a husband or a wife; in the case of newlyweds
for babies, a house or desired household objects. When the knot
is opened it is believed that the wishes will come true. Another
traditional custom on the 13th day is that wheat grown in time
for the New Year is cast into running water, dispersing the sins
and evils of the past year.
Noruz, meaning literally 'New Year', is also often celebrated by
expatriate Iranians as a kind of unofficial New Year.
The origins of this festival are deeply rooted in the
Zoroastrian cosmology. This states that the world was created by
the Wise Lord, Ahura Mazda, in seven steps or parts, the seventh
and most sacred of which was fire. The world he created was
initially static. To begin its motion, the three original
created lifeforms, the Plant, the Bull and the Man, were
sacrificed, and from them sprang all life as we know it. With
their sacrifice the sun began to move in the sky and the world
came to life. This was the first Noruz.
The Noruz festival is the most important of the seven Gahambars,
or 'feasts of obligation', which celebrate the seven elements of
creation and the six immortals, or Amesha Spenta, who were
created by Ahura Mazda to guard them. Ahura Mazda himself became
the protector of humankind and of the Holy Fire; the Noruz
festival is thus a direct celebration of the benign creator God
of Zoroastrianism. |
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