The oldest of
Iranian traditions, Nowruz (also referred to as eyd-i sar-i sal
and eyd-i sal-i now) recalls the cosmological and mythological
times of Iran. Its founder is a deputy of Ahura Mazda on earth,
a position that imparts to him and the celebration a spiritual
dimension and a particular sense of secular authority. The
celebration is organized according to the dynamics of love
between the Creator and his creation, the material world. The
annual return of the spirits of the departed to their homes is
celebrated by their offsprings according to primordial rites of
which only a faint trace remains among the Persians and the
Parsees of today. But that in no way diminishes the importance
of the bond which is refreshed at every Nowruz.
The word "Nowruz" is a compound of two Persian words, "now"
which has the same etymology as the English word "new" and means
new, and the word "ruz" which means both "day" and "time."
Literally meaning the "new day," nowruz is usually translated as
"new year." The Persian Nowruz begins on the first day of spring
(usually the 21st of March). The 21st of March, therefore, is
equal to the 1st day of Farvardin of the Islamic solar calendar.
In the mind of Iranians, the word nowruz invokes colorful images
which are sumptuous, elegant, and opulent as well as
delightfully simple, refreshing, and cordial. Although colored
with vestiges of Iran's Mazdian and Zoroastrian past, the Nowruz
celebration is neither religious or national in nature, nor is
it an ethnic celebration. Jewish, Zoroastrian, Armenian and
Turkish Iranians and Central Asians celebrate the Nowruz with
the same enthusiasm and sense of belonging. Perhaps it is this
very universal nature of the message of Nowruz that speaks to
its wealth of rites and customs as well as to its being
identified as the unique fount of continuity of the Iranian
culture
Legend
Tradition takes Nowruz as far back as 15,000 years and that goes beyond
the last ice age. King Jamshid (Yima or 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 symbolizes
the person/people who introduced Nowruz celebrations.
Avestan and later scriptures show that Zarathushtra improved, as early
as 1725 BCE, 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 in the post-Gathic period, 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.
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 and still is the
best and most correct calendar produced this far in history.
Some 12 centuries later, in 487 BCE, Darius the Great of the Achaemenian
dynasty (700 to 330 BCE) celebrated the Nowruz at his newly built
Persepolis in Iran. It was a special day as 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 that repeats itself once every 1400-1 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 Nowruz,
his peoples from all over the vast empire. The walls of the great royal
palace depict the scenes of the celebrations.
We know the Parthians (250 BCE to 224 CE) celebrated the occasion but we
do not know the details. It should have, more or less, followed the
Achaemenian pattern. During the Sassanian time (224 to 652 CE),
preparations began at least 25 days before Nowruz. 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. Other priests and 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 Nowruz,
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 culture, whether Zarathushtrians,
Jews, Christians, Muslims, Baha'is, or others, have, under Arab, Turk,
Mongol, and Iranian rulers, celebrated Nowruz precisely at the time of
vernal equinox, the first day of the first month, on about March 21.
