March 15, 2024
Our Haji Firuz the huffing Black Face over there to the right brings Now Ruz greetings to all our readers, along with all the ingredients you need for your Haft Seen table. The traditional herald of the new year, this minstrel wanders the streets and alleys entertaining all and sundry with music and song, with stories and poems, and with skits to delight young and old alike.
The first day of the new Persian year the 1st of Farvardin corresponds this year with Wedesday, March 20. But the actual moment that the new year begins corresponds to the mathematical instant of the vernal equinox. Now Ruz pronounced “no ruse” has no small history behind it.
At 25 centuries, it’s been around a long time. Look at it this way, when the first settlers arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, 400 years ago, Now Ruz had already been around more than two milennia. Iranians are among the few people who today mark their new year on the spring equinox, the instant when the sun crosses the earth’s equator, when night and day are of equal length, and when spring officially begins.
The English-speaking world used to celebrate New Year’s then as well, until 250 years ago when some British politicians decided they’d rather switch to January 1. As a spring rite, Now Ruz symbolizes all the qualities of the season: rebirth, newness, awakening, cleanliness, virtue, justice, knowledge and sensitivity to nature.
