Posts tagged : "Nowruz"

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Prepare for the light of spring: Nowruz is coming

Prepare for the light of spring: Nowruz is coming

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: The coming weekend marks the Persian New Year. Nowruz, or New Day, heralds the advent of spring and jubilantly injects life into the frozen veins of nature. Even those who don’t celebrate it agree that this festival is an exceptional opportunity to enshrine the rejuvenation of the Earth after a chilly hibernation and embrace sights in our surroundings that manifest themselves on scarce occasions like the vernal equinox, which coincides with Nowruz this Saturday, March 20. It is true that Nowruz was originally the New Year festival of Iranians and a cohort of countries in Central Asia and the Middle East, but thanks to recognition by the United Nations and UNESCO, its venerable pedigree has been...

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Iran’s leaders should embrace Nowruz diplomacy

Iran’s leaders should embrace Nowruz diplomacy

Kourosh Ziabari - Responsible Statecraft: Iranians across the world, joined by communities in countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, are celebrating the beginning of Persian New Year and the arrival of spring. Nowruz is a set of festivities that mark the Vernal Equinox and the commencement of the solar calendar year. The ancestral feast is believed to be 3,000 years old, and is inarguably the most revered holiday of Iranians reinforcing their national identity and giving them a rare chance to feel proud of their history and culture at a time their country is effectively a pariah state shunned by friends and foes alike....

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Nowruz: Celebrating History’s Cycle of Birth and Rebirth: An Interview with Prof. Afshin Marashi

Nowruz: Celebrating History’s Cycle of Birth and Rebirth: An Interview with Prof. Afshin Marashi

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Nowruz is the ancient Iranian celebration of the new year. Although it is difficult to say with certainty when it was first marked, there are some accounts that suggest Nowruz may be 3,000 years old. Literally meaning “new day” in Persian, Nowruz is shared by several countries in West and Central Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, as well as the Iranian diaspora across the world. At the initiative of several countries celebrating this occasion, 21 March was declared International Nowruz Day by the United Nations in 2010, and since then the the Persian New Year has been marked at the organization’s headquarters in New York. In 2009, Nowruz was inscribed on the UNESCO’s...

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“The spirit of Nowruz” in conversation with a popular “Iranologist”

“The spirit of Nowruz” in conversation with a popular “Iranologist”

Kourosh Ziabari - Centre for Journalism: What is Nowruz and how does it exactly work? It's a question asked in many different ways and many different responses have been given to it. To sum up, Nowruz (translated verbatim as "new day") is the name of the Iranian New Year and feasts and festivals associated with it. It's celebrated by some 300 million people worldwide, including in Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and by Iranian diaspora in Europe and North America, Australia and elsewhere. Nowruz is the day of the vernal equinox and marks the beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. It usually falls on 21st March, which is a special day, because in 1970, the first Earth Day proclamation was...

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Nowruz: bringing people together at times of conflict

Nowruz: bringing people together at times of conflict

Kourosh Ziabari - openDemocracy: Nowruz has always been a very special occasion for me; a time of year when my heart beats faster than usual, when I'm more inclined to see everything through more romantic eyes. It is a time when I think about the importance of nature and why it should be preserved at the dawn of spring, while food packaging companies, nuclear power plants, oil tankers and coal mines don't agree with me; why families entrap themselves in unnecessary clashes and skirmishes throughout the year to finally use Nowruz as an opportunity for reconciliation. Nowruz, for me is an opportunity to contemplate, to ask unanswered questions and sometimes create some of my best works of journalism and writing. It is also a chance to...

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“Nowruz” Is Approaching Cheerfully. So, What Is Nowruz?

“Nowruz” Is Approaching Cheerfully. So, What Is Nowruz?

Kourosh Ziabari - The Huffington Post: The countdown has started for the arrival of Nowruz. For starters, Nowruz, meaning “new day” in Persian, is a festival that marks the beginning of solar New Year, and is celebrated by around 300 million people in the Middle East, West Asia, Central Asia, Caucasus and parts of Eastern Europe, even though the Iranian Diaspora enshrine and observe it wherever they happen to be, whether in New York and San Francisco or Paris and Amsterdam. Nowruz is celebrated by the people of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and other countries, but it historically hailed from the Greater Iran and continues to be its foremost national holiday. Nowruz is an ancient...

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In a Region of Division, Nowruz Brings Unity

In a Region of Division, Nowruz Brings Unity

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The Middle East sits on a keg of gunpowder. Sectarian tensions, armed conflicts, violent extremism and foreign intervention continue to undermine the security of a region long coveted for its energy resources and geopolitical importance. Looking at the larger picture of regional developments, one can conclude that the Middle East is in dire need of peace and reconciliation before the worrying crises send it spiraling out of control. Even though the situation is so tense, the rest of the world cannot claim that it is impervious to the challenges and woes of the turbulent neighborhood. In a region marred by division and conflict, there is a unifying festival that has the potential to bind nations...

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Nowruz Serves as a Reminder of the Importance of Nature and Renewal

Nowruz Serves as a Reminder of the Importance of Nature and Renewal

Kourosh Ziabari: The Persian New Year has just started and the Iranians, Persian-speaking nations and many people across the Middle East and Central Asia are celebrating the arrival of spring and Nowruz. Nowruz is an ancient Iranian festival that marks the beginning of Vernal Equinox and the solar New Year. It’s observed by some 12 nations as well as Iranian Diaspora in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and elsewhere. Nowruz is a time for amicable family gatherings, exchanging of gifts, tasting special sweetmeat and cuisines, paying tribute to the dead, and visiting the holy shrines and practicing specific religious rituals including the recitation of a special prayer at the moment of the transition of the year. A...

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Nowruz: an ancient festival which we should know about

Nowruz: an ancient festival which we should know about

Kourosh Ziabari - Some people say that it’s the 5774th time that Iranians across the world are celebrating the ancient Persian New Year festival, Nowruz. However, some history experts believe that Nowruz has been enshrined and observed for more than 15,000 years, even before the official establishment of the Persian Empire. Like Christmas, Nowruz is a pleasurable, elaborate and delicate festival which brings millions of people together, but it seems that there are certain elements in Nowruz which make it a distinctive, matchless and everlasting tradition, and one of these important elements is its historicity. Cyrus the Great, the first king of the Persian Empire, came to throne in 550 BC, but since almost 2000 years before him when...

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