Facts

Full Name: The Islamic Republic of Iran.

Former names: Persia, Perse, Pars

Area: 1.648.195 Kms (16th largest country in the world)

Population: About 72 million

Capital: Tehran

Important Cities: Shiraz, Isfahan, Mashhad, Tabriz.

Bordered by: Iraq and Turkey on the west. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Caspian Sea on the north. Afghanistan and Pakistan on the east. The Persian Gulf and Oman Sea on the south.

Major Ethnic Groups:  Azari, Arab, Balooch, Gilaki, Lor, Turkmen, Persian and Kurdish.

Language: Persian (Parsi)

Religion: Islam

Government: Islamic Republic

The Founder of the Republic: Imam Khomeini

Leader: Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

President: Mahmood Ahmadi Nezhad
 

History

“What does Iran mean?”
“Iran means the land of Aryans”

Iran is located between the valley of Sind and Tigris Euphrates, and at the extreme north of it there is the Caspian Sea, connecting the world of Sloves, with those of Tatars, and Scythians. On the south it is linked with India, and the Arab world. The history of this plateau dates back to far distant Millenniums but from the Fifth Millennium onward, traces of life have been found on the hill of “Gian” in Nahavand and Sialak near Kashan and Cheshmeh Ali. One can also see trace of human foot on the province and area of Medes, even in Susa and prehistoric mounds of “ Bacun” in Pars province. There have been trace of art and existence of Aryan tribes who came to plateau of Iran via the eastern and western shores of the Caspian Sea from the end of the Second Millennium. This invading group migrated to Iran plateau with their families, cattles, livestocks, and tents, in search of residential places and pastures. They were living in Kharazm and Jeyhoon . They came to Iran because they were invaded by “ Scythians”, “ Huns” . “Heptals” and “Turks."
 

Persian Empire (550 B.C)
 

  The official document of history is exclusively related to inscriptions and what is connected with Medes are found by Assyrian tablets. According to these tablets “Geshtrinas” , and Persians united together and overthrew the Assyrians. Since the Median Kingdom was based on coalition of different tribes, it did not last more than 150 years . But there were other native and indigenous nations whose residence lasted for long centuries. For instance “ Kassite”  who came to this area 15 centuries earlier than  “Amadi” and they had domination over “ Sumer”  and “Babylion” .Other tribes such as “ Guti”  and “Lullubi”  who invaded "Elam" and “Babylion”  3000 BC, and the bas — relief of these people can be found in the area Sar-e- Pol-e -Zahaab. Aryans , who came to this land later on,  were often threatened from north,  west and south respectively by “ Uraturs”, “  Assyrians” and “Elamites”.  So they decided to make the treaty of (Mana). According to this convention Pars and Mede, united together and overthrew and defeated the above mentioned nations. Medes conquered and overthrew Assyrians in 607 BC, and expanded their empire as far as the “Halis River” ( the Gezel Irmas River of today). This kingdom was also vanished suddenly as soon as it had come to existence with the same speed. “Cyrus the Great”  subdued and defeated his rival and grandfather “Astiak”  “ the last monarch of this dynasty in 550 BC. He was known as a savior of people of that time.  

 

Iran Today
 

He was the founder of Achaemenian dynasty. Achaemenian ruled for about 200 years. In 331 BC. the last king of this dynasty “Darius the Third”  was defeated and overthrown by “Alexandre the Macedonian”. After Alexander his successors, “Seleucides",  ruled Iran for 70 years and they intermingled with Iranians and promoted  Hellenism in the area.   Parthians who considered themselves as heirs of Aryans defeated and overthrew “Seleucides”.  They ruled 440 years in Iran and eventually were subdued by Sassanids who were at that time governing Pars province. They were a branch of Aryans who had come to the area via Sistan and Kerman. Sassanids, reigned for 400 years and finally were subdued and defeated by Muslim Arabs. Sassanids ruled for 400 years until Arabs conquest of Persians in the 7th century. The Arab warriors swept across the Iranian plateau and toppled the Seasoned dynasty.
 

Pasargad, The Tomb of Cyrus, The Great

Now Rooz

Iranian (Persian) New Year "Celebration of Life and Wisdom"

Iranian New Year is reportedly the oldest celebration of mankind, dating back to thousands of years before the emergence of Christ. Original Iranians were occupying the high, fertile plateau of Iran from over 100,000 years ago. They belonged to one of the last branches of Homo Sapiens, of the same timing as the Neanderthal. Some 11,000 years ago, they transformed human culture from food gathering to food production. They evolved from hunting to planting... and celebrated the awakening of the Earth every spring.
Aryans migrated to the plateau of Iran from the harshly-rugged Caucasian mountains, in a process that took 5,000 years and ended around 2000 B.C. They adopted the celebration of Spring and added astronomical observations to it... and called it Now Rooz: the new day, or New Year's day.

Introduction

As the fragile, final snow of the winter sets to melt in anticipation of a new lease of life, which spring breaths into nature, joy and excitement become visible among Iranians. A new year is coming. Yet, the culture of celebrating the emergence of spring in Iran has never been confined to merely cherishing the coming of just another year. It is a total makeover in almost every facet of life.

Iranian New Year comes at the beginning of spring (around March 20th or 21st), with preparations starting a month before and celebrations continuing through the 13th day of the new year. During this time, Iranians indulge in a host of customs and traditions that reflect the grandeur of an ancient civilization.

A variety of information on the subject of Iranian new Year is presented below. The objective is to provide an insight into various matters surrounding the astronomically-accurate, auspicious event of celebrating Iranian New Year. A brief account of each topic is presented on this page.

The Persian Calendar

Iranian calendar runs on solar years of 365 days each, with a leap year of 366 days every fourth year. The starting point of the calendar is the year Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) migrated from Mecca to Medina, A.D. 621.
Iranian year starts at the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere. The year is divided into four seasons, each comprising three months:

The last month of the year takes 30 days in leap years.

Astronomy of the Persian Calendar

The sun brightens half of the earth (day time) while the other half remains in dark (night time). The rotation of earth about its axis causes days and nights to come and go. There is always a border between the dark and the bright halves of the earth, running north to south. The axis of the earth's rotation around itself stands at an angle. This angle, which is fixed throughout the year, causes the sun to shine at different angles as the earth goes around the sun, thus seasons appear. This fact also contributes to the poles remaining in night time or day time for six months each.
As the polar day and night exchange, the boundary between the dark and bright halves of the earth passes through the poles. This happens twice a year:

beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, when the sun rises and day time begins in the north pole while it sets and night time begins in the south pole (beginning of autumn in the southern hemisphere); and
beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere, when the sun sets and night time begins in the north pole while it rises and day time begins in the south pole (beginning of spring in the southern hemisphere).
At the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, at the exact moment when the border of dark and bright halves of the earth passes through the poles, Iranian New Year ushers.

History of Iranian New Year

Iranian New Year, the feast of spring, is probably the oldest tradition observed in Iran. Documents show that the feast of spring was practiced by Aryans who started migrating to the plateau of Iran 7,000 years ago. It has always been the grand celebration of every Iranian, irrespective of religious or ethnic background. After all, nature does not recognize race or color.

The celebration of Iranian New Year has gone through many steps of development and perfection throughout the ancient, old and even contemporary history of the country. At one time it was held at the beginning of summer, when Persian emperors considered only two major seasons in Iran, the land of Aryans. The embracing Islam by Iranians brought about some changes and fine-tunings to the culture and customs attached to celebration of Iranian New Year. Likewise, every major event in the life of Iranians, has had a parallel effect -- always in the positive direction -- in celebrating Iranian New Year.
Calculations for the Persian Calendar and keeping up with regular events such as the change of seasons and division of year into months, days and hours, too, have undergone many steps of perfection throughout the history.

Islam and Iranian New Year

Islam, as a civilization endowed by Divine blessing, and Iran, as a civilization deeply rooted in human history, have had a lot to exchange. When Iranians embraced Islam, the universal nature of the Islamic philosophy not only did not stand against the patriotic nature of the Iranian New Year celebration, but in fact, resulted in further enrichment of the tradition. Iranians used to think universal since ancient times, and it seemed to be a match.

In all the military campaigns and fierce battles Iranians have left behind in the pace of history, they have always been culturally dominant over the enemy, even when defeated. The conversion of Mongolian rulers to Islam under the guidance and cultural influence of Iranian people is a bear example.
Islam was never an enemy to Iran, and thus, the emergence of this Divine religion only resulted in a rich exchange of cultural values between Islam and Iran. This included the celebration of Iranian New Year, being further developed in noble values.

Customs and Traditions

In the course of thousands of years of Persian history, many customs and traditions surrounding Iranian New Year have developed and deeply rooted in the Iranian society.
Borrowing their very roots from the time of Zarathushtra, the ancient Iranian prophet, as well as periods before him, these customs have evolved to suit the order of the day, having maintained their purity, purpose and novelty.

The following are some of the traditions still observed among Iranians before, during and after the New Year:

Chahar-shanbeh Soori

The feast of the last Wednesday of the year

On the last Wednesday of the year, at dusk, Iranians get together outside their homes in the neighborhood, build spots of fire along the middle of the alley and take turns to jump over it, chanting a rhymed phrase that implies: "I give you my paleness and weakness, and you give me your redness and vigor in return." Chaahaar-shanbeh Soori is host to a number of customs and traditions by itself.

Haft Seen

Seven items beginning with "S"

Members of Iranian families get together at the time of New Year in front of a setting that contains the Holy Qur'an, a mirror, a bowl of water with gold fish inside and a set of seven items whose names in Farsi begin with "S."

This simple setting symbolizes a variety of virtues that Iranians wish to strengthen in the coming year. Family member sit at the setting in their new clothes and wait for the moment of "delivery" of the new year. In this era of communications, they turn to a real-time broadcast of the moment to know when the exact moment of the New Year arrives. It used to be radio, then television and now the Internet.

Haji Firooz

The herald of the New Year

The famous character in black face and red clothes who appears in the heart of society few days before the New Year and disappears 13 days after, fondly called Haji Firooz, is the herald of the coming of the New Year in every alley with his singing to the beat of his tambourine.

His black face is attributed to the "ending" of one year and the red clothes, the "beginning" of the coming year. There are other cultural and meaningful attributions to these two colors. Loved, especially by children, Haji Firooz is usually a poor, down-to-earth man with artistic senses that combine music, poetry, acting, dancing and humor with the folklore of the people.

Did-o Bazdid

Open house and visiting for the New Year

Iranians are generally known as very hospitable people and celebrating the New Year, is the ground for them to exhibit the greatest extent of this traditional hospitality. They start cleaning up their homes a month before the New Year and make up a long shopping list of what they are going to buy for entertaining visitor later on. They usually make their open-house schedule known in advance and to every visit (deed) there is a return visit (baz-deed).

Sizdah Be-dar

Outgoing feast of the 13th day of the New Year

Although the electrifying energy of Iranian New Year remains apparent within the hearts of Iranian people right through the middle of spring, the visible, official celebration of the occasion lasts only 13 days. This is when families and friends flock the picnic grounds outdoors and spend a day of joy and love, bringing to an end a spate of celebrations with a grand one.

"This research on "Now Rooz" was prepared by the late Engineer "Ali Mostafavi Kashani", who devoted his life to promote Iranian culture and heritage".