41 Fun Facts About Nowruz

What does the Persian word Nowruz literally mean?

New Day: now means new and ruz means day, and in 2010 the UN General Assembly proclaimed 21 March the International Day of Nowruz.

Nowruz opens the year on which official calendar of Iran?

The Solar Hijri calendar starts its year at Nowruz, and in the 1970s Iran briefly swapped its Hijra year count for one dated from Cyrus the Great, dropped in 1978.

Which astronomical event fixes the date of Nowruz?

The Northern Hemisphere spring equinox fixes it, so families gather to await the exact moment the new year arrives.

In which ancient religion do the roots of Nowruz lie?

Zoroastrianism supplied the festival's sacred roots in ancient Iran; Nowruz remains a holy day for Zoroastrians and survived the Muslim conquest of Persia to become a secular national festival.

About how long has Nowruz been celebrated?

About 3,000 years by most reckonings, and it outlasted the 1979 revolution too: clerics discouraged it, yet Iran's leaders took to issuing yearly Nowruz messages.

Which Persian poet helped reform the calendar that fixed the date of Nowruz?

Omar Khayyam was among the astronomers Sultan Malik-Shah gathered, and their Jalali calendar tracked the sun so closely that the new year stayed fixed to spring.

Farvardin, the month Nowruz opens, matches which zodiac sign?

Aries: until 1925 Iran's official months were named after the zodiac signs, before old Persian names such as Farvardin replaced them.

If the astronomical moment of the new year falls after noon in Tehran, when is Nowruz?

The following day: the same rule decides whether Esfand, the year's last month, has 29 or 30 days.

According to the Shahnameh, which legendary ruler founded Nowruz?

Jamshid, in Ferdowsi's epic, rose into the sky on a jewelled throne, and the day of that wonder became Nowruz.

Which US president used a Nowruz video message to offer Iran's leaders a 'new beginning' of engagement?

Barack Obama made the offer, but an adviser to Iran's president replied that America first had to recognise its past mistakes.

Reliefs of envoys bearing gifts at which ancient Achaemenid capital have been linked to Nowruz?

Persepolis: some scholars read its gift-bearer reliefs as a Nowruz scene, while others see that reading as a much later explanation.

What is the name of the outdoor picnic festival that closes the Iranian new-year holidays?

Sizdah Bedar falls on the thirteenth day, and by popular belief that date is unlucky, so families spend it outdoors to ward off misfortune.

What is traditionally done with the sprouted greens from the Haft-sin table at the holidays' end?

Thrown into running water: the greens are believed to have absorbed the household's ill luck over the holidays, so they are carried out and cast into a stream.

What is the festival held on the eve of the last Wednesday before Nowruz called?

Chaharshanbe Suri is discouraged by Iran's religious authorities as a non-Islamic relic, yet Iranians turn out for it every year.

What is the central ritual of Iran's Wednesday-eve festival before Nowruz?

Jumping over bonfires is the heart of the night: jumpers chant for the fire to take their sickly yellow and give its healthy red in return.

Like trick-or-treaters, what do disguised Iranians do on the last Wednesday eve before Nowruz?

Bang spoons on bowls door to door, and the custom long gave a disguised young man an excuse to call at the house of a girl he liked.

In Azerbaijan, on which weekday are the four pre-Novruz element festivals held?

Tuesday is when all four are held, and by folk belief the elements they honour recall the acts of creation.

In old Iranian belief, which spirits did families welcome in the last days before Nowruz?

Spirits of the dead were welcomed with offerings of food, and by one belief the departed come to share in the Nowruz table.

What is sabzeh on the Haft-sin table?

Sprouted wheat, barley or lentils make sabzeh, and centuries ago Iranians greeted Nowruz by growing seven kinds of grain on seven pillars.

What is samanu, one of the seven Haft-sin items?

A pudding of germinated wheat, samanu is cooked slowly through the night by women, who make wishes as they stir.

Which food is one of the seven traditional Haft-sin items?

Garlic, sir in Persian, stands for medicine and health, a nod to how highly Iranians once prized it as a remedy.

Which fruit is the Haft-sin item called sib?

Apple is sib in Persian, placed on the table for beauty and health; senjed, the Persian olive, is another of the seven.

Which live creature is often placed on the Haft-sin table?

A goldfish, though the Haft-sin display itself seems to have caught on only in the last century or so.

What is the Afghan Nowruz dish Haft Mēwa?

Seven dried fruits and nuts in syrup make Haft Mēwa, while the Haft-sin table is traditionally not part of Afghan Nowruz.

What is the name of Azerbaijan's Novruz tray display, set with candles and dyed eggs?

Khoncha carries a dyed egg for each member of the family, so the size of the household shows on the tray.

In Iran, which herald of the festival brings children gifts, much like Santa Claus?

Amu Nowruz, 'Uncle Nowruz', hands out the gifts, while Haji Firuz sings and dances in the streets for a few coins.

In Iranian folklore, what is the name of the Nowruz herald's wife?

Nane Sarma, roughly 'Grandma Cold' in Persian, waits all year for her husband, and tellings differ on whether they actually meet.

Which meal is traditionally eaten on Nowruz night in Iran?

Sabzi polo with fish, herbed rice with fried fish, is the classic new-year dinner; sweets such as nan-e nokhodchi, chickpea cookies, are served too.

During Nowruz visits, who is expected to make the initial call on whom?

The young visit their elders first, and the elders return the call later, often handing gifts or money to the younger relatives.

Which regime banned Nowruz from 1996 to 2001 as a pagan holiday?

The Taliban banned it in the 1990s, and after retaking power in 2021 they again dropped it as a public holiday, though many Afghans kept celebrating.

Which Afghan city hosts the Gul-i-Surkh ('red flower') festival in the year's first 40 days?

Mazar-i-Sharif raises a sacred banner on the festival's first morning and, by custom, takes it down forty days later.

Which sport's tournaments are held during Afghanistan's Nowruz festival?

Buzkashi has horsemen battle to snatch a goat carcass and carry it into a goal, and northern cities stage tournaments at Nowruz.

For which people has Nowruz become a potent symbol of national identity and resistance?

The Kurds: Turkey once banned many Newroz gatherings, then in the 1990s its officials took up the festival themselves under the Turkish spelling Nevruz.

In Albania, the Sultan Nevruz festival also marks whose birthday?

Ali ibn Abi Talib: Albania's Bektashi Sufis, with their Shia leanings, regard Nowruz as his birthday.

Which Iranian festival was Nowruz's counterpart six months later in the year?

Mehregan, and early Arab rulers collected gifts and taxes from their Persian subjects at both festivals.

What is the Persian name for the thorough house-cleaning done before Nowruz?

Khane tekani is meant to shake off the old year's dust for a fresh start, and families usually buy new clothes too.

Under which empire's founder, Ardashir I, do extensive records of Nowruz celebrations begin?

The Sasanian court marked Nowruz by holding royal audiences for its subjects and bestowing gifts on them.

In the legend retold at Newroz, which blacksmith rose against the tyrant Zahhak?

Kawa led the revolt, and the victory that followed brought the hero Fereydun to the throne in the tyrant's place.

Whose Divan do Iranians open at random for fortune-telling during the Nowruz festivities?

Hafez: some families set his Divan on the Nowruz spread in place of the Qur'an and read verses from it as the new year arrives.

Which Mughal emperor made Nowruz a prominent court festival?

Akbar, but a later emperor, Aurangzeb, forbade the festival as an un-Islamic innovation.

Naw-Rúz is the first day of the calendar of which religion, which has 19 months of 19 days?

The Baháʼí Faith marks Naw-Rúz as the feast that ends its month of daytime fasting and opens the new year.