Impacts of Norouz on Iranians (Part 1)
The arrival of Norouz in the beginning of spring is mixed with Iranian culture. Since long ago, Norouz has been the feast of nature, the feast of victory of light over darkness and spread of happiness in the world. Norouz symbolizes Iranians’ cultural identity. Norouz is manifested in the form of various customs and traditions but it signifies a single message.
Norouz highlights the concept of life, nature and the world in the culture of Iranian people.
The late Iranian researcher, Dr. Abdul Hussein-Zarrinkoub believed that Norouz belongs to people. Regarding the relationship of Norouz with the social life of Iranian people, Zarrinkoub writes: The Arians, as the ancestors of Iranians, were closely bonded with the phenomena of nature. They had special rituals for different times such as day and night, cold and heat, spring and summer. Actually their calendar and the arrangement of months of year in Iran were based on natural changes. But the big number of celebrations evidently indicates optimism and happiness among the Iranian people.
In ancient Iran, a year included winter and summer and was gradually divided into 4 seasons. Then the beginning of the year was calculated on the basis of the agriculture calendar. Based on this division, the beginning of spring was the start of nature’s life and start of cultivation for the next year. Therefore, since long ago, Iranians have attached a special respect for spring and celebrated its beginning. The preliminaries to the New Year start from the last month of the year (Esfand) and people prepare themselves for the arrival of Norouz.
Apart from the background of Norouz, it is good to review its social performance and roots, too. Many sociologists believe that the message of Norouz in Iran and among Farsi speaking people is the message of “change.” Some thinkers believe that it because the Iranian nation has always been exposed to changes and ups and downs due to their geographical situation. The East-West route and access to free waters, as the main characteristics of this land, have affected the social and cultural life of the people.
Norouz has many achievements for the Iranians; including cultural and political solidarity in a multi-ethnic society, building of unity and friendship between people and nature, commemoration of natural manifestations as the Divine creatures and the spiritual revival for starting a new juncture of life.
Although Norouz is intermingled with the beliefs and traditions of Iranian people, it attracts people from all over the world.
The relationship of Norouz with nature and human environment is attractive and interesting for all human beings. Birth and growing of plants and hope in the fresh life are the most obvious features of Norouz. Human beings do their best to coordinate themselves with the developments of nature.
Feast and joyfulness are necessary for hopeful persons. By holding customs and traditions in the beginning of the year, Iranians indeed want to start their New Year energetically and with much freshness. Nature has spread its table once again and provided all signs of blessing, flourishing, happiness and hope for us. Most of us are the inhabitants of cities and towns and live in the so-called civilized world. We have forgotten the beauties around ourselves. Nonetheless, with the arrival of spring, we feel a sudden freshness inside. Feeling of happiness and freshness has made Norouz lasting among the Iranian people.
Source: irib.ir
Other links:
Khane Tekani (Spring-Cleaning)
