Nowruz: What You Need to Know About the Iranian Festival
In every country, there's an iconic national festivity. There's Cinco de Mayo for Mexico, St. Patrick's Day for Ireland, and of course, who wouldn't know about the 4th of July. As for Iran, they have Nowruz. It's celebrated by millions of Iranians everywhere and is formally recognized as an international holiday by the UN. But, what exactly is it? Nowruz: The Persian New Year Nowruz literally means "new day." It's the Persian celebration for their New Year; a farewell to the cold days of winter, and a welcome to the first dawn of spring. It lands on the stroke of midnight of March 21st, on the first day of the vernal equinox. It's a celebration for the end of the old year and beginning of Farvardin, which is the first month of the Solar Hijri algorithmic calendar - a more accurate intercalation system than the conventional Gregorian. The Preparation Much like Christmas, people prepare for Nowruz weeks before the actual day of the fes...