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Novruz (Nowruz)
in Persian means "New[-year]-day". It is the beginning of the year for
the people of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Tajikistan and other common
cultural heritage countries. It is also celebrated as the New Year by the
people of the Iranian stock, particularly the Kurds, in the neighboring
countries of Georgia, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. It begins precisely with
the beginning of spring on vernal equinox, on about March 21.
Tradition takes Novruz as far back as 15,000 years--before the last ice
age. King Jamshid (Yima/Yama of the Indo-Iranian lore) symbolizes the
transition of the Indo-Iranians from animal hunting to animal husbandry
and a more settled life in human history. Seasons played a vital part
then. Everything depended on the four seasons. After a sever winter, the
beginning of spring was a great occasion with mother nature rising up in a
green robe of colorful flowers and the cattle delivering their young. It
was the dawn of abundance. Jamshid is said to be the person who
introduced Novruz celebrations.
Avestan and later scriptures show that Zarathushtra improved, as early as
1725 B.C., the old Indo-Iranian calendar. The prevailing calendar was
lunisolar. The lunar year is of 354 days. An intercalation of one month
after every thirty months kept the calendar almost in line with the
seasons. Zarathushtra, the Founder of the Good Religion, himself an
astronomer, founded an observatory and he reformed the calendar by
introducing an eleven-day intercalary period to make it into a lunisolar
year of 365 days, 5 hours and a fraction. Later the year was made solely a
solar year with each month of thirty days. An intercalation of five days,
and a further addition of one day every four years, was introduced to make
the year 365 days, 5 hours, and a fraction. Still later, the calendar was
further corrected to be a purely solar year of 365 days 5 hr 48 min 45.5
sec. The year began precisely with the vernal equinox every time and
therefore, there was no particular need of adding one day every four years
and there was no need of a leap year. This was the best and most correct
calendar produced that far, and we may add, this far.
Some 12 centuries later, in 487 B.C.E., Darius the Great of the
Achaemenian dynasty celebrated the Novruz at his newly built Persepolis in
Iran. A recent research shows that it was a very special occasion. On
that day, the first rays of the rising sun fell on the observatory in the
great hall of audience at 06-30 a.m., an event which repeats itself once
every 1400 years. It also happened to coincide with the Babylonian and
Jewish new years. It was, therefore, a highly auspicious occasion for the
ancient peoples. The Persepolis was the place the Achaemenian king
received, on Novruz, his peoples from all over the vast empire. The walls
of the great royal palace depict the scenes of the celebrations.
We know that the Parthians celebrated the occasion but we do not know the
details. It should have, more or less, followed the Achaemenian pattern.
During the Sassanian time, preparations began at least 25 days before
Novruz. Twelve pillars of mud bricks, each dedicated to one month of the
year, were erected in the royal court. Various vegetable seeds -- wheat,
barley, lentils, beans, and others -- were sown on top of the pillars.
They grew into luxurious greens by the New Year Day. The great king held
his public audience and the High Priest of the empire was the first to
greet him. Government officials followed next. Each person offered a
gift and received a present. The audience lasted for five days, each day
for the people of a certain profession. Then on the sixth day, called the
Greater Novruz, the king held his special audience. He received members
of the Royal family and courtiers. Also a general amnesty was declared
for convicts of minor crimes. The pillars were removed on the 16th day
and the festival came to a close. The occasion was celebrated, on a lower
level, by all peoples throughout the empire.
Since then, the peoples of the Iranian stock, whether Zarathushtrians,
Jews, Christians, Muslims, Baha'is, or others, have celebrated Novruz
precisely at the time of vernal equinox, the first day of the first month,
on about March 21.
Today, the ceremony has been simplified. Every house gets a thorough
cleaning almost a month before. Wheat, barley, lentils, and other
vegetables seeds are soaked to grow on china plates and round earthenware
vessels some ten days in advance, so that the sprouts are three to four
inches in height by Nowruz. A table is laid. It has a copy of the sacred
book (the Gathas for Zarathushtrians), picture of Zarathushtra, a mirror,
candles, incense burner, bowl of water with live gold fish, the plates and
vessels with green sprouts, flowers, fruits, coins, bread, sugar cone,
various grains, fresh vegetables, colorfully painted boiled eggs like the
"Easter eggs," and above all, seven articles with their names beginning in
Persian with the letter "s" or "sh".
The usual things with s are vinegar, sumac, garlic, samanu
(consistency of germinating wheat), apple, senjed (sorb?), and
herbs. Those with sh include wine, sugar, syrup, honey, candy, milk, and
rice-pudding. In other Asian countries, Africa, North America, Latin
America, Europe, and Australasia, these may be substituted with English or
other national or local languages, words that would alliterate, rhyme, or
make mouths water. The seven articles are prominently exhibited in small
bowls or plates on the table. The whole table, beautifully laid,
symbolizes the Message and the Messenger, light, reflection, warmth, life,
love, joy, production, prosperity, and nature. It is, in fact, a very
elaborate thanksgiving table for all the good, beautifully bestowed by
God.
Family members, all dressed in their best, sit around the table and
eagerly await the announcement of the exact time of vernal equinox over
radio or television. The head of the family recites the Novruz prayers,
and after the time is announced, each member kisses the other and wishes a
Happy Novruz. Elders give gifts to younger members. Next the rounds of
visits to neighbors, relatives, and friends begin. Each visit is
reciprocated.
Zarathushtra's Birthday and Novruz festival are celebrated by
Zarathushtrians at social centers on about 6 Farvardin (26 March). Singing
and dancing is, more or less for the first two weeks, a daily routine.
The festivity continues for 12 days, and on the 13th morning, the mass
picnic to countryside begins. It is called sizdeh-be-dar, meaning
"thirteen-in-the-outdoors." Cities and villages turn into ghost towns with
almost all the inhabitants gone to enjoy the day in woods and mountains
along stream and riversides. People sing, dance, and make merry. Girls of
marriageable age tie wild grass tops into knots and make a wish that the
following Novruz may find them married and carrying their bonny babies! |
