Nowruz
Nowruz (Persian نوروز, DMG Noruz [ noɾu ː z], Kurdish: Nowruz ) is the name of the ancient Iranian New Year and Spring Festival, which is celebrated on 20 or 21 March, especially in the Iranian culture.
Since May 10, 2010 Nowruz is recognized by decision of the 64th General Assembly of the United Nations as an international Nowruz Day. The General Assembly noted in its statement that " Nowruz is a spring festival celebrated by more than 300 million people for more than 3000 years in the Balkan peninsula in the Black Sea region, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East." On September 30, 2009, UNESCO had taken the Nowruz Day in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Etymology
Literally called Nowruz, New Day ' ( nou or nau: new, Ruz: day). The words Ruz, Roc or Roj in Iranian languages that are available for day, date back to the ur - Indo-Iranian Rauça (pronounced Rautscha ), which in turn from ur - Indo-European * Leuk- derived from it the LUC in Russian, German light on, leukos in Greek, Lux have emerged in Latin and Luys Armenian. In Iranian languages was a sound shift from "l " to " r" and as in Russian of "k" for " ç".
In Old Iranian Avestan Raôçah was actually used for lighting, newly called nava. The Old Persian form was Rauçah. On Old - Indo-Aryan was Roçiş (pronounced Rotschisch ) in use.
The current term Nou Roz was mentioned for the first time in the 2nd century.
History
Until the 1st century BC in Persia marked the summer solstice of the year, which was celebrated with great harvest festivals. Under the Achaemenids (about 770-300 BC) the vernal equinox to the official start of the year. In the Persian-speaking countries Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan this time is calculated to date by astronomers exactly on the hour and minute. On this day the Charadsch - tax was levied. The tradition of New Year has been preserved and spread to East Africa.
One of the most famous versions of the origin of the New Year has captured the Persian poet Firdausi ( 940 bis 1020/1026 ) in his Shahnameh ( " Book of Kings "). Firdausi specifies the establishment of the New Year Nowruz in the reign of Jamshid. Jamshid was the fourth king of the dynasty of the Kayaniden. He ruled over all beasts, demons and angels. He was king and high priest of the same Ormozd ( Middle Persian for Ahura Mazda). Firdausi writes about Jamshid:
" There sat, like the shiny Sundays ' on the air, The Shah, who revokes no bid. Jewels him scattering, they stood, Neujahrtag the day they called. Year start of Hormuz Ferwedin Was it, as the joy of the world appeared. ... From those days such a joyful day Remained by us of that prince. "
In the Parsees in India, this day is therefore still Jamshed -i Nawroz means.
In Persia, the day was over the centuries, the most important secular holiday, but also in the Kurdish provinces of the Ottoman Empire, he was regarded as a public holiday. He was celebrated as the great popular festival, held at the Equestrian Games and the people gathered in squares and in the streets, fire kindled and mutually splashed with water. At the time of the Achaemenid Empire, the population was no longer subject to tax for a certain period of Nowruz. The day was also important but for entirely different reasons. Because at Nowruz, representatives of the conquered peoples to Persia and brought the Persian king gifts. At the time of the Arsacid this day was declared a national holiday.
After Islamization of Persia Nowruz was celebrated on different days. First Nowruz was on the 18th of June. The Caliph al - Mutawakkil transferred the day on the 17th and al - Mu'tadid on June 11. In a reform of the calendar under the Seljuquen Malik Shah I. Nowruz was established in 1079 on the 15th of March. Today Nowruz is celebrated on the 20th or 21st of March.
In Iran and the Kurds his character has been preserved as a transitional ritual to this day. To prepare for their new life new clothes are attracted and as a sign for the winter end to be lighted bonfires, over the jumps and around which dance and sing, especially the boys. The women prepare a feast and walk together relatives and friends in a park or at a beauty spot. Sometimes a band is hired, usually draw the musicians of a meeting to the next and play according to taste traditional, political, or love songs.
With the spread of nationalist ideas in the 20th century the feast was given political prominence with the Kurds. They celebrate the New Year on March 21 as a symbol of the traditional in Iranian mythology successful resistance against oppression. In the center of this idea are the legends to the tyrant Zohak ( Dahak, DAHAQ ) and its conqueror, the blacksmith Kaveh. Together with the population went out and killed Kaveh Zohak. From joy the people lit a fire that spread the news throughout the country. This has happened after the year 612 BC the tradition. Historically corresponds this year with the victory of the Medes, the Assyrians in Nineveh. In an equally popular form of the legend is extended to the origin myth.
A political and nationalist significance also is the Nowruz festival to in Iran, where part of the population, a constant resistance to attempts by the Islamic clergy has been done to put into perspective the importance of this goes back to the pre-Islamic Iranian history festival, its rituals, such B. Schanb the Chahar -e Suri ( " Wednesday fire " ) to prohibit or to couple this example by visiting the cemeteries on the first Nowruz - day mourning ceremonies.
In Turkey and Syria in the Nevruz celebrations were for decades forbidden. Since 1994 Nevruz is officially considered a alttürkisches party, which was officially celebrated for the first time in 1995 nationwide.
The Baha'i calendar is Nowruz ( Naw- Ruz ) one of nine public holidays, it marks the beginning of the new year and the end of the nineteen days of fasting, the Bahai.
Since the last century, Nowruz has become widespread over Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Central Asia. Also, today people are celebrating Nowruz in Russia and in the Balkans. Each country has its specific spelling and pronunciation of the word " Nowruz ".
Nowruz in Iran
Nowruz in Tekeli, Kazakhstan
Customs, ceremonies, Vorfeierlichkeiten and dissemination
Detention Sin
Nowruz is the first day of spring, March 21, instead of ( Nawe Cal نوى کال or Sperli - "New Year" or " spring " in the language Pashto, Sale No. سال نو - " New Year " in Persian ). The most important part of the New Year is the preparation of the adhesive Sin ( "Seven S", whose components necessarily have to start with the first letter of the Persian "S", which are: Sekke - coins; Sib - apple; Somach - a Persian spice ( Gewürzsumach ); Sombol - the hyacinths, sir - garlic; Sabsi - literally " green stuff ", mostly cress, and Serke - vinegar), and consisting of seven New Year fruit drink detention Mewa. It cooked seven dishes that should begin with the letter "S" as possible and symbolize the seven virtues of Zoroastrianism, and together with Samanak ( seedlings from seven grains ), a mirror, a candle and a holy book ( the Koran for Muslims, the bible by Christians, the Avesta of Zoroaster, or an image with Zoroastrians ) laid out on a table.
Chahar Dushanbe Suri
On the eve of the last Wednesday the Chahar Dushanbe Suri ( " Wednesday fire " ) is lit. This practice is one of the most important rituals of the New Year (see also Fire of Sada ).
The commission of this festival can be traced back to the Zoroastrian ancestors of modern Iranian peoples. Nowruz is an official holiday in northern Iraq (Autonomous Kurdistan Region), in Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, partial and unofficial in Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan (two days), Georgia (one day) and in India at the Parsees as Jamschidi - hard (see also Holi ). Nowruz is celebrated also in the remaining Ottoman Turkish populations in southeastern Europe (the Balkans ) as in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Moldova, Macedonia and Romania. Nowruz enjoys a very high importance in all Kurdish and Baluchi tribes and others not mentioned here Iranian peoples.
Before the calendar correction by the astronomer Omar Khayyam in 1079 the Spring Festival between late February and late March was celebrated about 40 days. The festival is for the Islamization of the area at the Mausoleum, named after the cousin and son of the Prophet Muhammad ʿ Alī ibn Abī Taalib, in the northern Afghan city of Mazar- i -Sharif province of Balkh (former Bactria ) for forty days under the title Melae Gole SORx ( " tulip Festival " ) is celebrated. There, a Zoroastrian temple is said to have been found. The city is a secret capital of the Nowruz festival. Even during the Taliban rule the feast and the ceremonies there was celebrated.
Calendrical significance
With Nowruz in Iran begins the new year. New Year's count is based in Iran as a country of the Indo -Iranian cultural sphere by the solar calendar. It starts with the Spring Day - and -night match between the 19 and 21 March and, therefore, together with the astrological signs of the zodiac Aries. The New Year festival is next to the Autumn Festival Mehrgan of the oldest traditional celebrations of the Central Asian region and the Indian subcontinent.
The Islamic New Year is not congruent with the Nouruzfest because it is based on the Islamic lunar calendar with only 355 days. It is always celebrated on the 12th Islamic lunar month after the great pilgrimage Hajj (Id al -Adha, " Kurbanfest " or " Festival of Sacrifice ") as the end of the Islamic lunar year. It shifts every year backward by 10 or 11 days in the solar year, so that 34 lunar years correspond to 33 solar years.
The significance of Nowruz in Bahaitum
The resultant in the areas of present-day Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Israel Bahaitum accesses the Nowruz festival and is expanding its meaning. The Baha'i calendar is Nowruz ( Naw- Ruz ) one of nine public holidays, it marks the beginning of the new year and the end of the nineteen days of fasting, the Bahai. The New Year is set to the day of the vernal equinox and the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere. Nowruz is no longer for the Bahai only a national celebration for Iranians, Kurds and Afghans, but a religious festival with a deep spiritual meaning: The new beginning of the annual cycle of nature and the end of the dark season Nowruz is symbolic of the spiritual renewal. The fact that Nowruz is on the day of the vernal equinox, is a symbol of the Manifestations of God ( as Jesus, Buddha, Moses), uniting the divine and human nature in itself. This is also indicated in the above given story about the origins of Nowruz in the Book of Kings ( Shahnameh ): Jamshid is king and high priest, that is both worldly and spiritual leader.
About the Noruz - day Baha'ullah writes in the Kitab -i -Aqdas: "This day is truly the crown of all months and its root, the day when the breath of life over all created things blowing. Great is the blessing of him who greets him with mirth and cheerfulness. We testify that he in fact is among those who have reached their goal. "
The spread of Bahaitums this original ethnic Indo-Iranian Nowruz festival has globalized. It is celebrated in all Baha'i communities worldwide.