Nowruz (
listen&_160;
(help·info) Persian ?????,
various local pronunciations and spellings) is the traditional
Iranian new year holiday celebrated by
Iranian,
Turkic and many other peoples in
West Asia,
Central Asia,
South Asia,
Northwestern China, the
Caucasus, the
Crimea, and the
Balkans.
Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian year. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox (start of spring in northern hemisphere), which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday, it is also a holy day for adherents of Sufism and the Bahá'í Faith.[2] In Iran it is also referred to as an Eid festival, although it is not an Islamic feast. Alawites[3] and Nizari Ismaili Muslims[4] also celebrate Nowruz.
The term Nowruz first appeared in Persian records in the second century AD, but it was also an important day during the time of the Achaemenids (c. 648-330 BC), where kings from different nations under the Persian empire used to bring gifts to the emperor (Shahanshah) of Persia on Nowruz.[5]
The first day on the Iranian calendar falls on the spring equinox, the first day of spring. At the time of the equinox, the sun is observed to be directly over the equator, and the north and south poles of the Earth lie along the solar terminator; sunlight is evenly divided between the north and south hemispheres.
