49 Fun Facts About Nowruz

What does the Persian word Nowruz literally mean?

New Day: now means new and ruz means day; the word was pronounced Nawrōz in Classical Persian.

Nowruz is New Year's Day on which system of reckoning the year?

The Iranian solar calendar, known as the Solar Hijri calendar, is Iran's official calendar and begins its year on Nowruz, unlike the lunar Islamic calendar.

Which astronomical event fixes the date of Nowruz?

The Northern Hemisphere spring equinox sets the date, which is why Nowruz falls on or about 20 or 21 March on the Gregorian calendar.

In which ancient religion do the roots of Nowruz lie?

Zoroastrianism supplied the festival's sacred roots in ancient Iran; Nowruz remains a holy day for Zoroastrians and survived the Muslim conquest of Persia to become a secular national festival.

For roughly how long has Nowruz been celebrated?

Over 3,000 years, by most reckonings: its roots lie in ancient Iranian religion, and it outlasted the Achaemenid, Parthian and later Persian empires and the Muslim conquest.

Which poet-mathematician led the 1079 calendar reform that fixed the date of Nowruz?

Omar Khayyam led the astronomers who produced the Jalali calendar for Sultan Malik-Shah in 1079; Nasir al-Din Tusi later defined Nowruz as the day the sun entered Aries before noon.

Which Iranian month begins on Nowruz?

Farvardin opens the Iranian year on Nowruz and runs 31 days into late April; Esfand is the last month.

If the astronomical moment of the new year falls after noon in Tehran, when is Nowruz?

The following day: when the astronomical new-year moment falls after noon Tehran time the holiday moves to the next day; the observational rule keeps the Iranian calendar in step with the sun.

According to the Shahnameh, which mythical king founded Nowruz?

Jamshid, in Ferdowsi's epic, had a gem-studded throne raised to the sky; the world's creatures scattered jewels around him and named the day Nowruz.

Which Greek writer's portrait of Cyrus the Great's court is read as describing early Nowruz?

Xenophon's Cyropaedia describes Cyrus receiving gifts from subject nations in a grand procession, which modern scholars have read as a Nowruz celebration, though Achaemenid inscriptions never name the festival.

Which parts of Persepolis are thought to have been built specifically for a feast related to Nowruz?

The Apadana and the Hundred Columns Hall, the two great audience halls, carry reliefs of delegations from across the empire bringing tribute, which scholars link to a new-year feast.

In which season did the Parthians celebrate Nowruz?

Autumn was when the Parthian new year fell, the old calendar having drifted, while the festival of Mithra was then held in spring; later rulers moved Nowruz back to spring.

How many days do the Nowruz holidays last in Iran?

Thirteen days of festivities run from the first of the year to the outdoor picnic day that closes them, when families head into the countryside.

What is the name of the outdoor picnic festival that closes the Iranian new-year holidays?

Sizdah Bedar is also called Nature Day; families picnic in the countryside, and playing pranks on it is a custom likened to April Fools' Day.

What is traditionally done with the sprouted greens from the Haft-sin table at the holidays' end?

Thrown into running water: the greens are believed to have absorbed the household's ill luck over the holidays, so they are carried out and cast into a stream.

What is the festival held on the eve of the last Wednesday before Nowruz called?

Chaharshanbe Suri, 'Festive Wednesday', falls on the eve of the year's last Wednesday and is celebrated with fire, firecrackers and fireworks.

What is the central ritual of the Festive Wednesday celebrated before Nowruz?

Jumping over bonfires is the heart of the night: jumpers chant for the fire to take their sickly yellow and give its healthy red in return.

What do disguised Iranians do on Festive Wednesday eve in a custom compared to trick-or-treating?

Bang spoons on bowls door to door, in the custom called qashoq-zani, and receive snacks in return; Azerbaijani children instead leave caps on doorsteps and hide until sweets appear.

In Azerbaijan, on which weekday are the four pre-Novruz element festivals held?

Tuesday nights host the four festivals, each honouring one element in turn: water, fire, wind and earth.

What is the Haft-sin?

A table of seven items whose names begin with the letter S: the seven are often linked to the Amesha Spentas of the Avesta and to the four elements plus humans, animals and plants.

What is sabzeh on the Haft-sin table?

Sprouted wheat, barley or lentils, grown in a dish in the weeks before the holiday, stand for rebirth and the greening of spring.

What is samanu, one of the seven Haft-sin items?

A pudding of germinated wheat, sweet and thick, samanu is cooked by groups of women across the Persian-speaking world, often through the night, singing as they stir.

Which of these is one of the seven traditional Haft-sin items?

Garlic, sir in Persian, is one of the seven, alongside vinegar (serke), sumac (somāq), the Persian olive (senjed) and three others whose names also start with S.

Which fruit is the Haft-sin item called sib?

Apple is sib in Persian, placed on the table for beauty and health; senjed, the Persian olive, is another of the seven.

Which live creature is often kept in a bowl on the Haft-sin table?

A goldfish in a bowl is a common addition, said to stand for life and movement, alongside mirrors, candles, painted eggs and coins.

Which flowers are especially popular purchases before Nowruz?

Hyacinths and tulips, both spring bulbs, fill the flower markets in the weeks before the holiday; the hyacinth, sonbol, often goes on the Haft-sin table too.

What is the Afghan Nowruz dish Haft Mēwa?

Seven dried fruits and nuts in syrup: raisins, pistachios, hazelnuts, prunes, walnuts, almonds and silver berry are typical, soaked in water until the juices sweeten.

What is Azerbaijan's Nowruz display of sprouting wheat ringed with dyed eggs on a tray called?

Khoncha, a tray of sprouting wheat ringed with dyed eggs and sweets, carries one egg for each member of the family.

Which herald of the festival brings children gifts, much like Santa Claus?

Amu Nowruz, 'Uncle Nowruz', is the white-bearded, kindly herald who brings children gifts at the turn of the year, much as Santa Claus does at Christmas.

How is the Nowruz street jester Haji Firuz traditionally dressed?

Red clothes, felt hat, soot-covered face: so attired he dances through the streets singing and playing a tambourine to announce the new year.

What is the name of the Nowruz herald's wife, whom he sees once a year?

Nane Sarma, 'Grandma Frost', may meet her husband only on the first day of spring; in the tale she falls asleep waiting and he leaves without waking her.

Which meal is traditionally eaten on Nowruz night in Iran?

Sabzi polo with fish, herbed rice with fried fish, is the classic new-year dinner; sweets such as nan-e nokhodchi, chickpea cookies, are served too.

During Nowruz visits, who is expected to make the initial call on whom?

The young visit their elders first, in the custom called did-o bazdid, and the elders return the visit later; guests are offered tea, pastries, fruit and nuts.

Before the Soviet Union collapsed, which two countries officially observed Nowruz?

Iran and Afghanistan kept it as an official holiday through the Soviet era; after 1991 the five Central Asian republics and Azerbaijan made it a public holiday too.

Which regime banned Nowruz between 1996 and 2001 as "an ancient pagan holiday centered on fire worship"?

The Taliban, ruling most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, outlawed the festival as un-Islamic; it was restored as a public holiday after their fall.

Which Afghan city hosts the Gul-i-Surkh ('red flower') festival in the year's first 40 days?

Mazar-i-Sharif's Blue Mosque draws up to 200,000 visitors for the festival, while red tulips cover the surrounding plains.

Which sport's tournaments are held during Afghanistan's Nowruz festival?

Buzkashi, the horseback game in which riders fight for possession of a goat carcass, holds its tournaments during the festival in the northern cities.

For which people has Nowruz become a potent symbol of national identity and resistance?

The Kurds, for whom Newroz recalls a legendary blacksmith's uprising against a tyrant, celebrate between 18 and 21 March with fires and flags of green, yellow and red.

In Albania, the 22 March festival of Sultan Nevruz also commemorates whose birthday?

Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, is held by the Bektashi order to have been born on that day; the order's world headquarters are in Tirana.

What is nauryz kozhe, cooked at the start of the new year in Kazakhstan?

A traditional drink, nauryz kozhe is a thin, milky soup-beverage of seven ingredients such as water, meat, salt, milk, grain and kurt, shared with guests for good luck.

Which Iranian festival was Nowruz's counterpart six months later in the year?

Mehregan, the festival of Mithra held in the month of Mehr, was the year's second great feast, half a year from Nowruz; it was later kept mainly within the old faith.

What is the Persian name for the thorough house-cleaning done before Nowruz?

Khane tekani, literally 'shaking the house', is the top-to-bottom cleaning in the weeks before the holiday; families also buy new clothes and fill the house with fresh flowers.

Under which empire's founder, Ardashir I, do extensive records of Nowruz celebrations begin?

The Sasanian era, begun when Ardashir I overthrew the Parthians in the 220s, is when detailed records start; royal audiences, cash gifts and the pardoning of prisoners date from then.

Which mid-winter festival, like Nowruz, survived the Muslim conquest of Persia?

Sadeh, the fire festival fifty days before Nowruz, kept its place in popular custom, while feasts such as Tirgan and the Gahambars were sidelined or kept only within the old faith.

In Kurdish legend, which blacksmith's uprising against the tyrant Zahhak is commemorated at Newroz?

Kawa, the Kaveh of the Shahnameh, raised his leather apron as a banner and led the revolt that toppled Zahhak; Kurdish tradition ties that victory to Newroz.

Whose poems are written on paper and dropped into a 'boloni' jug for Nowruz fortune-telling?

Hafez, whose Divan is Iran's standard tool for fortune-telling, supplies the verses; a young girl reads each poem aloud and draws out a belonging, matching verse to owner.

In Azerbaijan's Nowruz street theatre, what does the bald character Kechal symbolise?

His rival Kosa, a fake-bearded man who cannot grow facial hair, stands for winter; their fights mark the arrival of spring.

For how many days did the Mughal Empire celebrate Nowruz in northern India?

19 days of festivities marked the Mughal Nowruz, which Akbar adopted as a court festival in the sixteenth century; the Parsi Zoroastrians of India had kept the day since fleeing Persia centuries earlier.

Naw-Rúz is the first day of the calendar of which religion, which has 19 months of 19 days?

The Baháʼí Faith's Badíʻ calendar begins its year at Naw-Rúz, one of the faith's nine holy days on which work is suspended; each month and day is named for an attribute of God.