Nowruz

If you think about it, celebrating the new year on the first day of spring makes way more sense. Let's learn about Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

Another recipe says to push on the heap of herbs with the back of a spoon and you’ll see a green oil released. 3. You don’t have to get all the meat super brown, because it will get too tough, and it will finish cooking in the crockpot anyway. You can find these at a Middle Eastern/Indian market or from Amazon. I use them sparingly: cut one open (be careful) and scrape out some of the preserved pith and toss that in. 5. Put the herbs in a separate pan with a tablespoon or so of oil. I think back on all the Nowruz celebrations I can remember and how they’re filled with loved ones and amazing food, and I reflect on how lucky I am – this year, especially. As an adult, I gather my friends and neighbors in the waning light of the last Tuesday before Nowruz. We get a fire going in my building’s fire pit, and then we jump over it. If there’s not a layer of oil from the mingled flavors glistening on top of the gormeh sabzi after it has simmered away in a crockpot for at least six hours, I don’t want it. I like a healthy mix of all the fun stuff. (I never do the goldfish because I don’t want to forget about it until it’s floating upside down – death is, like, the opposite of Nowruz.) The most special of the Nowruz rituals is that of setting your "sofreh haft seen." According to a myth that transcends geography, eggs will balance vertically only on the vernal equinox – the first day of spring – which is the day the new year is celebrated, falling on Sunday, March 20, this year. You’re also supposed to greet the new year by purchasing and wearing all new clothes.

California Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed Mar. 20, 2022 as 'Nowruz Day' on behalf of the Persian celebration. Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is celebrated ...

After waiting two long years, members of Manitoba's Iranian community are finally celebrating Nowruz — Persian New Year — in person.

"Nowruz is not only about the renewal of the environment, it is associated with its virtues and values," Arianpour said. "I think everyone can feel the renewal of nature." "Especially the last two years, we were dealing with so many sad or bad things, including COVID," he said. Everybody was happy and we danced a lot together without masks," said Zhaleh Parsaei, who attended the celebration organized by the Iranian Community of Manitoba on Saturday night. It's also known as Novroz in the Ismaili Muslim tradition and Naw-Rúz in the Bahá'í faith. This made this year's Nowruz celebration even more special for us," he said.

Monday is Nowruz, the Afghanistan new year. Sunday, several hundred recent Afghan immigrants from across Upstate New York gathered at the Dnipro Ukrainian ...

"We know that some places like Buffalo State and Canisius have offered their dorms for the Afghani people for coming over here and, yeah, for now it's just temporary until we find them a permanent house." That is the main common question everybody asks and we tell them that we are doing our best to find a place for them to live or stay," he said. "Just about everything that is happening Ukraine and Afghanistan, we share similar pain and we all have similarities that are connecting us together today," Safary said.

Afghans celebrated Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on Monday but festivities were muted, taking place under Taliban rule for the first time in decades and as ...

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Nowruz, celebrated throughout Iran and Central Asia, is usually a colourful celebration in Afghanistan when families gather to prepare festive dishes and welcome the beginning of spring. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

One woman living in Kabul describes how, despite food shortages and repression, her family is celebrating the Persian new year with what they have.

"We have depleted our savings and reached a point where we try to cook things that need the least amount of groceries and will turn out bigger in amount. "A year ago, I could not have imagined that I would live in a country that would be under the rule of people like the Taliban. It seems surreal, crazy. "Right now, we only have small amounts of almonds and walnuts, and I don't think we can make haft mewa with two things." But the real star of the Nowruz table would be haft mewa — a sweet and savory compote. It's going to be simple; it's going to be small; but it's going to be something. Even though she's a member of what she describes as "the privileged population," Shararah and her family have been affected by food insecurity. "All the people would be going around, enjoying the decorations and lightings, having an ice cream, just being together," she says. She makes a plain rice but makes it colorful with sprinkles of saffron and sugar. The ingredients are not set but typically include a combination of pistachios, almonds, walnuts, cashews, cherries, raisins, currants, apricots, apples or senjed (a small sweet and tangy berry shaped like an olive). They are washed, peeled, mixed together and soaked in water, which some scent with rose or cardamom. But in early March, the Taliban's Ministry of Vice and Virtue confirmed that there will be no official Nowruz celebration this year. Even before the Taliban, Kabul did not have a nightlife and most shops closed by early evening — except on the night before Nowruz. Despite the late hour, Shararah is animated, her face growing increasingly brighter as she describes the once-bustling streets of Mandawi market in Kabul's old district, colorful stalls that she and her sister would navigate one by one.