March 15th Finally, I arrive at Tehran. It took me several hours to get to my place from the airport, for the city was filled with people out there in the streets. Some with shopping bags in hands, some hand in hand and some pointing to things with their hands. “It is near Nowruz. People buy new clothes and home stuff to be prepared for all the Nowruz routines: first to welcome the new year with a new spirit, and then to visit the elderly as a token of gratitude and wait for the youngers to pay a visit”. Said Farhad, my Iranian host. Some information I asked about Nowruz I gathered from Farhad and his wife, Fatima: -Nowruz means a new day: Now (new), Ruz (day). So it refers to the first day of spring, starting a new day and a new chapter in your life. -It is 14 days long for schools and universities. Banks and other governmental offices are open in between. -It is held on 21 March in many countries along the Silk Roads, such as Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. -It was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009 and in 2010, the 21st of March was submitted the International Nowruz Day. -It dates back to the 6th century BCE and is rooted in the ancient Persian religion, that is Zoroastrianism and the mythological stories of Mitraism, both indicating the victory of light over darkness, warmth over coldness, birth over death and good over evil. - Many celebrations rooted in Zoroastrianism eventually subdued, but Nowruz survived after the invasion of Muslims in 650 CE. Moreover, by the first Islamic-Iranian periods such as Samanids and Buyids, Nowruz was raised to an
March 15th Finally, I arrive at Tehran. It took me several hours to get to my place from the airport, for the city was filled with people out there in the streets. Some with shopping bags in hands, some hand in hand and some pointing to things with their hands. “It is near Nowruz. People