Happy Norooz! (Persian New Year)

I would like to wish peace, hope and prosperity to all at DU.

From: http://www.norooz.ca/

Norooz, Persian New Year
Year of 2565 (1385)

In harmony with rebirth of nature, the Persian New Year Celebration, or Norooz, always begins on the first day of spring, March 20th of each year. Norooz ceremonies are symbolic representations of two ancient concepts - the End and Rebirth. About 3000 years ago Persian's major religion was Zoroastrianism, named in honor of its founder Zoroaster, and arguably the world's first monotheistic religion. Zoroastrians had a festival called "Farvardgan" which lasted ten days, and took place at the end of the solar year. It appears that this was a festival of sorrow and mourning , signifying the end of life while the festival of Norooz, at the beginning of spring signified rebirth, and was a time of great joy and celebration. Norooz was officially acknowledged and named "Norooz" by mythical Persian emperor, Shah Jamshid, from Achaemenid Dynasty (500 BC). Ashaemenied created the first major empire in the region and built Persepolis complex (Takhte Jamshid) in the city of Shiraz. Norooz in Persian means "New Day" and brings hope, peace and prosperity to the world and has been celebrated among people regardless of ethnic background, political views or religion in many countries around the globe such as Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Georgia, Iraq, Tajikistan, Syria ,Armenia and India. Some of the activities during Norooz are Spring cleaning, buying new cloths, painting eggs, family reunion, giving presents, visiting neighbors and friends and celebrating by having a picnic on the 13th day of Spring.  Happy Norooz!

Why do people living today (like my 37-year-old girlfriend, is a naturalized Swiss and whose parents are from Iran but naturalized German citizens) describe themselves as Persian?

Thank you for the beautiful post. I join you in wishing peace, hope and prosperity, not only to DU, but to all.

I've wondered if their heart's allegiance is to the Persian culture, rather than to the idea of a nationalized geographical region. My best friend growing up was Iranian-American, and I had the opportunity to spend much time with her family. Through this, I met people from Iran and Saudi Arabia, and being of Persian heritage was their joyous common denominator.

I have never since met people who revered music, food, laughter, and conversation as much as Tammy and her family. I have wonderful, wonderful memories from those years. I was a fortunate child.

...for the same reason that my mother's family identifies as German, even though Great-great Grandfather came to the US back in 1851. It is a cultural identification of expatriates. All of my Persian familiy continues to celebrate their traditional holidays, while adding the holidays of the lands to which they moved.

I truly appreciate your honest and informative answer, and I wish you a New Year full of all things meaningful to you and yours. :pals:

The message of Norooz is hope.

http://www.aiap.org/norooz/about_norooz.html

,,, Iranian expatriates tend to identify themselves as "Persian" because they want to stress the pre-Islamic aspect of their heritage, as opposed to the Islamic element emphasized by the current Iranian regime.