WHAT’S THE STORY?

IRANIANS defied religious hardliners this week by lighting bonfires and setting off fireworks in advance of the festival of Nowruz this weekend.

The celebrations were preceded by strong warnings from police and high-ranking government officials but despite the cautions people turned out in force in the Iranian capital of Tehran to jump over bonfires in the streets, an act that is meant to symbolise crossing from sickness to health.

Many recited the traditional words: “Give me your beautiful red colour, take back my sickly pallor,” as they jumped. The fire-jumping is part of the preparations for Nowruz, a spring festival celebrated by 300 million people across the world and which is held at the equinox to mark the beginning of a new year.

WHAT ARE ITS ORIGINS?

CELEBRATED for at least 3,000 years at the time the sun enters the zodiac sign of Aries, the festival is deeply rooted in the rituals of the Zoroastrian religion, one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions, which is symbolised by the Fravahar (above). Founded by the Prophet Zarathustra in ancient Iran, Zoroastrians believe fire represents God’s light or wisdom.

While there are estimated to be fewer than 200,000 Zoroastrians in the modern world, the religion was one of the most powerful in the world for over 1,000 years and was the official religion of ancient Persia for some time.

SIGNIFICANCE

AS Persian influence spread over the globe so did the observance of Nowruz and it is now celebrated in Greater Iran, Central Asia and by Iranians worldwide. It is a public holiday in Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and India. In 2009, the Canadian parliament by unanimous consent passed a bill to add Nowruz to the national calendar of Canada.

It is a holy day for Alawites, Alevis, and adherents of the Bahá’í Faith and was recognised by the UN’s General Assembly in 2010. It is now officially registered on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

It will be marked in Britain by the BBC this Saturday in a four hour radio special on the BBC Afghan service and while the Islamic regime has tried to suppress Nowruz in Iran after the revolution on ideological grounds it has met with little success.

The clerics are opposed to the tradition because of its roots in Zoroastrianism which was first challenged by Islam in the seventh century. The Islamic Republic continues to emphasise Iran’s post-Zoroastrian history and Shiite identity.

“It’s a quiet political war between the clerics and the public: the more clerics reject the Iranian pre-Islamic traditions, the more Iranian public resort to their revival as a form of resistance. That is why you see an intensification of this practice as the Islamic Republic has progressed,” said Ali Akbar Mahdi, a sociology professor at California State University.

NOISY TRADITIONS

PREPARATIONS for Nowruz begin in Esfand – the last month of winter in the Persian solar calendar. The whole event is overseen by Hajji Firuz, who wears a red costume and whose face is painted black (an ancient Persian symbol of good luck). He dances through the streets with trumpets and tambourines to herald the coming of the new year.

As well as the fire festival, which is traditionally held on the eve of the last Wednesday before the new year, preparations include thorough spring cleaning and adorning the house with spring flowers like tulips and hyacinths.

New clothes are bought to be worn on new year’s day which is the beginning of a 12-day celebration involving visits to family, friends and neighbours. Pastries, nuts, dried and fresh fruit are served and it is believed that whatever a person does on the day influences the rest of the year. Arguments and fights mean a bad year while good behaviour is rewarded with a good year.

Other traditions include children running through the streets beating pots and pans to ward away bad spirits, the breaking of earthen jars which symbolically hold bad fortune and the ritual of knotting a corner of a hanky and asking the first passerby to untangle it to ensure good luck.

A few days prior to the new year, a special cover is spread on the carpet or on a table in every household. This ceremonial table is called the cloth of seven dishes, (each one beginning with the Persian letter cinn). The number seven has been sacred in Iran since the ancient times, and the seven dishes stand for rebirth, health, happiness, prosperity, joy, patience, and beauty.

Other symbols can include a few coins to represent prosperity and wealth; a basket of painted eggs to represent fertility; or a flask of rose water which is believed to have magical cleansing power.

The end of the festival falls on the 13th day which is close to April Fool’s Day.

The celebrations, called Sizdah Bedar, stem from the belief of the ancient Persians that the twelve constellations in the Zodiac controlled the months of the year, and each ruled the earth for a thousand years.

At the end, the sky and the earth collapse in chaos.

The 13th day, therefore, represents the time of chaos when families put order aside and avoid the bad luck associated with the number 13 by going outdoors and having picnics and parties.

It is customary to bring new sprouts, or sabzeh, grown especially for this occasion to be thrown on the ground or in a nearby river or lake to symbolise the return of the plant to nature.

Sizdeh Bedar marks the end of the Nowruz celebrations, and the next day children return to school and adults return to their jobs.