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Parsi New Year: Navroz Mubarak
Navroz is the Iranian and Persian New Year, when people from diverse ethnic communities (Picture Courtesy: SodaBottleOpenerwala)

The first day of spring or equinox is when Navroz or Nowruz is celebrated. Navroz is the Iranian and Persian New Year, when people from diverse ethnic communities and religious that come under Iranian influence or are migrants from Persia come together to celebrate the day. Though the festival is celebrated in India in full swing, not everything is known about this festival. This festive season regardless of our religion, let’s gather and celebrate the festival, and relish some awesome Parsi food. Here’re some of the fascinating facts that you may not know about this festival.

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  1. The word Navroz means ‘new day’, when it is literally translated. It is the first day of the Persian year. However, the word Navroz is only used in India, it is actually Nowruj or Nooruj in other parts of the word.
  1. This festival dates back for more than 3000 years old and there are records of it being celebrated way back in 6th century BC. Those days the Iranians were homogeneously Zoroastrians and hence it was celebrated as the Persian new year.
  1. On this mythical day the great king Jamshedji was crowned as the King of Persia. Among all his achievements, chief was the Persian calendar scientific. He made a code through which community started picking up the exact day to celebrate the Persian new year. He decided that the day, on which sun leaves the constellation of Pisces and enters Aries, will be celebrated as Navroz.
  1. Another interesting fact about the Parsi new year is that it happens on the vernal equinox – the day on which the length of the day and night are equal. According to the lunar calendar, this festival occurs on the 18th August every year.
  1. They believe Fire is their main god, and so keep a live fire in a bowl of water for this festival or generally they keep fire surrounded by water and wheat, which signify cleansing by fire and the bountiful wealth of wheat grains.
  1. On this day, they prepare 7 food delicacies, which all begin with ‘sh’ and ‘sa’ that symbolise the creation of the earth in 7 days.