Navroze Table - Photo by Neville Sukhia
The Board of Trustees, All Members of the The Delhi Parsi Anjuman, and DelhiParsis.com wishes all Zoroastrians and Iranians worldwide, Navroze Mubarak, and Happy Nowruz! We pray the new year brings more happiness, prosperity and peace – not just to all Zoroastrians and Iranians, but people of all faith and beliefs in the world we live in.
Nowrūz (Persian: [nouˈɾuːz], meaning “New Day”) is the “Persian New Year” of the Iranian calendar, and is celebrated and observed by Iranian and Zoroastrian people, as well as other related cultural groups in parts of Central Asia, Caucasus, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Crimea and in the Balkans.
Nowruz also marks the first day of spring and is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed.
Originally being a Zoroastrian festival, and the holiest of them all, Nowruz is believed to have been invented by Zoroaster himself, although there is no clear date of origin. Since the Achaemenid era the official year has begun with the New Day when the Sun leaves the zodiac of Pisces and enters the zodiacal sign of Aries, signifying the Spring Equinox.
For us Zoroastrian Parsis, Jamshedi Navroze (as we call it) is a major holiday and our families gather together to pray and observe various rituals, and feast on food blessed by prayer. To read more about Navroze in India, please click here.