Thursday, March 20, 6 – 7:15 p.m.
A special Third Thursday Soup this month includes a Nowruz Celebration with poetry, stories, music, and food.
Nowruz is the Iranian (Persian) New Year and the first day of spring. The holiday is celebrated by 300 million people around the world. The festival based on the Northern Hemisphere spring equinox, marks the first day of a new year on the Solar Hijri calendar; and usually coincides with a date between 19 March and 22 March on the Gregorian calendar. The exact date of Nowruz varies across countries depending on time zones.
The secular event symbolizes renewal and harmony with nature. Customs for the festival include various fire and water rituals, celebratory dances, gift exchanges, and poetry recitations, among others; these observances differ between the cultures of the diverse communities that celebrate the holiday.
Nowruz is celebrated for 13 days, with family visits, dinners, and reflections on the year ahead. The 13-day celebration ends with Sizdah Be-dar rituals. Special dishes are prepared, including ash-e resteh (noodle soup), sabzi polo mahi (white fish with green herbed rice), and special sweets. A table is set with seven items that symbolize hope for the New Year, such as a mirror, painted eggs, a goldfish, and candles. Sprouted wheat grass (Sabzeh) is grown on the haft-seen table and then released into a body of water to symbolize rebirth and renewal.
The roots of Nowruz lie in Zoroastrianism, and the holiday has been celebrated by many peoples across West Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Black Sea Basin, the Balkans, and South Asia for over 3,000 years. In the modern era, while it is observed as a secular holiday by most celebrants, Nowruz remains a holy day for Zoroastrians, Baháʼís, and Ismaʿili Shia Muslims. The United Nations designated March 21 as the International Day of Nowruz.
Come and celebrate Nowruz with us in the Social Room on Thursday, March 20!
This special celebration is part of the year-long World Spiritual Practices Project (WiSPP) grant from the Unitarian Universalist Association funding program (UUFP), which is supporting experiences from a diversity of religious and spiritual perspectives that will be conveyed through workshops, worship, speakers, arts and cultural performances.