Immigrants Gathered to Celebrate Nowrūz

As the world celebrates Nowrūz, - widely referred to as the ‘Persian New Year’ - many immigrants living in Blekinge, south of Sweden gathered yesterday at Karlskrona to celebrate this historic day that heralds a new chapter to millions of people around the world.

Nowrūz, which is celebrated March 20/21 each year, at the time the sun enters Aries, is a traditional festival of spring which starts at the exact moment of the vernal equinox, commencing the start of the spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Immigrants from different background attended the event.

“This is a time of forgiveness… a time to bury grievances and differences,” said Shahla Rajaee, a language supporter (språkstödjare), working with Humanus utbildning – a centre that gives among other services education and training.

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“Nowrūz has been celebrated and observed as the first day of spring and the beginning of the year for at least 3, 000 years. Since the turn of the century, celebrations have spread in many parts of the world,” she added

Although the celebration of Nowrūz is dated far back to 3, 000 years ago and has its roots in ancient Iran, the UN's General Assembly in 2010 recognized the International Day of Nowrūz, describing it as a “spring festival of Persian origin”. Each items on the table symbolises something.

During the meeting of The Inter-governmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage of the United Nations, held between 28 September to 2 October 2009 in Abu Dhabi, Nowrūz was officially registered on the ‘UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’.

On the occasion of the celebrations of the day, UN’s Secretary General has sent a message of peace to Iran, offering his “best wishes to those who celebrate, and express hope that all people can use the occasion to reflect on the beauty of nature, the promise of spring and the power of culture to build peace,” Iranian news reported.

Although celebrations vary, - often by region and continents - but the belief that whatever a person does on Nowrūz will affect the rest of their year is widespread.

In the small city of Karlsrona, celebrations were held in the form of presentations of the significance of the day, cooking different types of foods and listening to various types of music.

About seven different food stuffs and items such as mirror, painted eggs, apples etc were placed on a table; and accordingly, each of them symbolises something.

“Today our calendar clocks 01/01/2713. The day is celebrated all over the world, and Sweden is no exception,” said Nazik, an Iranian immigrant.

Yesterday’s event was celebrated by both Muslims and non-Muslims alike, making it an occasion for socialisation