Nowruz festivities set to begin in year 1389

People in the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere gear up to celebrate Nowruz, as we reach the last hours of the year 1388 on the Iranian calendar.

Over 300 million people around the globe will be celebrating Nowruz (Persian for New Day) on March 21 this year, as their ancestors have been doing for around three millenniums.

This time, however, the new Iranian year begins as the world community acknowledges the occasions and what it stands for, more than ever before.

In February, the UN General Assembly recognized occasion as a global day of celebration, and the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a message marking the first International Day of Nowruz.

Ban Ki-moon started his message by pointing out that this year's decision to recognize the International Day of Nowruz showed the “growing global awareness of the holiday's significance not only in the regions where it is celebrated but around the world.”

“For millennia, when the sun crosses the Equator and the Northern Hemisphere enters spring, peoples in the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and other regions have carried out their own special traditions in celebration of Nowruz,” the UN chief said in his message.

“These rituals, from repainting homes to visiting friends to preparing symbolic meals, are infused with a spirit of renewal and can inspire not only those conducting them but all people,” he said.

“As we commemorate this first International Day of Nowruz, I hope countries and people around the world will draw on this festival's history and customs to promote harmony with the natural world and foster global peace and goodwill," he added.

Nowruz, which coincides with March 21 on the Gregorian calendar, is the first day of the year on the Iranian solar calendar.

Just under a century ago, the Persian parliament adjusted the origin of the Iranian calendar in use to the year of the Hegira of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from Mecca to Medina (622 CE).

In Tehran, at exactly 21:02:13 on Saturday evening (00:32:13GMT) it will be 1389 solar years since the prophet of Islam began that landmark journey.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121276§ionid=3510212.