Published 20:08 IST, March 19th 2020
What is Nowruz festival? Here is everything you need to know about it
Nowruz festival will be celebrated on March 20 this year. Read more to know what is Nowruz Festival and why is Nowruz Festival celebrated
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This year, Nowruz will be celebrated on March 20, 2020. The United Nations officially recognized Nowruz as an international holiday in 2010. The festival marks the ending of a year and also the beginning of a new year.
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What is Nowruz festival?
Nowruz Festival is the Iranian new year. It is also known as the Persian New Year. This festival is celebrated worldwide with lots of joy and vigour. The origins of this festival are Iranian and Zoroastrian. It is celebrated by diverse communities all over the world for more than 3000 years’ now.
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Though this festival is celebrated worldwide, it is celebrated with more joy and also holds cultural importance in Western Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Black Sea Basin, the Balkans and South Asia. Nowruz festival is a secular holiday that is enjoyed by people of many different faiths. It is considered as a holy day for Zoroastrians and Bahais.
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Why is Nowruz festival celebrated?
Nowruz marks the beginning of the new year and it happens on the day of the vernal equinox. Every year, millions of people celebrate the Nowruz festival to celebrate the Iranian new year or Persian new year. In Iran, the new year begins with the advent of spring and almost everyone in the country observes it by doing a thorough cleaning of their homes to celebrate a season of new life and to wish good luck in the year ahead.
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Some families also set aside a space for ‘Haft-sin’. Before the arrival of Nowruz, family members gather around and await the exact moment of March equinox to celebrate the new year. ‘Haft-sin’ is a collection of items that symbolize different hope for the new year. In India, the tradition dates back to the era of the Mughal empire in Northern India and western India it dates back to the Parsi Zoroastrian community.
20:08 IST, March 19th 2020