Nowruz, Element of Cultural Bond (2)

Nowruz has been celebrated for thousands of years by various Asian nations as the greatest and most popular feast.  The geography of Nowruz is very vast and includes many countries. It is celebrated in Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Kurdish-inhabited areas of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and parts of Pakistan and India.

Nowruz is common in Zanzibar, Tanzania, where migrating Iranians used to live in old times.

Nowruz feast extends from western China to Anatolia (modern Turkey), from Indian Subcontinent and Afghanistan to Kurdistan, from Xinjiang and Central Asia to the northern feet of greater Caucasus and Asia Minor. All of these regions circle Iran as the cradle of Islamic-Iranian civilization. To this vast expanse, one should add the large number of migrants and expatriates who have left their country and live in different parts of the world. They all celebrate Nowruz with similar customs.

Nowruz is the feast of regeneration and thriving. In an area of almost 10 million square kilometers, over 300 million people mark this great event. Most of these peoples mark their calendar on the basis of Nowruz. Nowruz has its roots in myths and, in spite of different historical ups and downs, it has survived as it is in conformity with changes in the nature and human inborn moralities. Nowruz calls on us to give up enmity, spite, ill-wishing and vices and approach cleanness, purity of soul and moral beauties. These values have played significant role in strengthening of peace, amity, love and friendship among nations. That’s why Nowruz has been registered as a cultural heritage in the UN and UNESCO. Nowruz has the capacity to be employed as a factor for regional convergence. The customs of Nowruz are highly capable of bringing nations and ethnicities closer together.

A great number of scholars maintain that Nowruz has transnational and trans-ethnic origin. Every ethnic group and nation that has arrived in the Iranian Plateau during the past millennia has benefited from Nowruz and accepted the customs of Nowrus and practiced them in their life. Nowruz teaches us to be moderate and tolerant toward changes and developments. This feast has gone beyond the borders of Iran for the past decades more than ever. This process is going to universalize Nowruz once more as it had been universal in old times.

Once, Nowruz had covered almost every region in the world till the spread of some bigotry in Europe and Asia. The second phase has started since a few decades ago by migration of people from Iran, Afghanistan and other countries to the west. Thus, Nowruz is going to turn into a means of transferring lofty cultural values from the east to the west. Indeed, Nowruz is a gift to the people of the west who are fed-up with wars and carnage.

Hatred, spite, enmity, jealousy, stinginess and other negative traits have no room in the culture of Nowruz. Instead, cooperation, love, friendship, and selflessnes are venerated in Nowruz especially when this great feast is mixed with Islamic teachings.

Nowruz is the symbol of altruism and sacrifice. People in Nowruz try not just to be happy but make others happy, too. That’s why the magnitude of spending to the poor and the needy is usually on the rise in the days preceding Nowruz. Nowruz helps bolster the culture of co-existence in a friendly way. It is considered as a means of active diplomacy. The dynamism of Nowruz can contribute to the spread of peace and solving of regional and global tensions. Nowruz is a regional feast with global capacities. It should be given momentum to pave the way for further cooperation and calm. Nowruz has so many attractions that it draws the attention of every viewer and newcomer. Many people in the world wish they had such a ceremony.   

RM/MG