Nowruz in India
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A backgrounder
Ariba, March 26, 2023: The Indian Express
Nowruz, also spelled as Navroz, is celebrated by the ethnic Iranian population every year in various parts of the world. The Parsi community in India, which follows Zoroastrianism, celebrated Nowruz on March 21, marking the beginning of the New Year. The festival symbolises freshness, rebirth and freedom, according to the community.
What are the roots of this Iranian festival? What is its significance across cultures? Are all New Year’s the same? We explain.
How is Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, defined?
Nowruz begins on the first day of the Farvardin, the first month of the Iranian solar calendar at the spring equinox, and continues for 12 days. While Ali Shariati, a published author in the journal of Iranian Studies, describes it as “the climax of blossoming, the anxiety of births,” and a festival “filled with the excitement of every “beginning”,” authors SNR Rizvi and Poonam Pant, who attempt a historical reconstruction of the festival in their works, consider it as “a festival of renewal, hope, and happiness.”
In India, the Iranian New Year is celebrated with ardour — people visit the Fire Temple, the place of worship of the Parsi community, decorate their houses, prepare delicacies, and perform rituals based on the movements of the sun during the course of the day.
Origins of Nowruz
The origins of the festival are, however, unclear. Hewa Salim Khalid, an analyst, in the article, Newroz from Kurdish and Persian Perspectives – A Comparative Study, delves deep into diverse cultural perceptions about the festival among Kurdish and Persian communities, and what it stands for them.
While for the Kurds, Nowruz stands as a symbol of resistance, for Persians, it is purely a cultural festival. It is observed as a celebration of Kurdish national identity — it is more about establishment of a state identity. According to the Kurdish mythology, Kawa, the Blacksmith and their ancestor killed Zuhak, the tyrant, marking a new day for Kurds. Soon after, Deiokes, who was “chosen by seven Kurdish tribes to build the Median Empire … succeeded in building the empire,” Khalid’s research says.
As Kurds did not have an independent state in what is referred to as “modern history,” and their cultures remained influenced by cultures of four nation-states, namely, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, Nowruz, for them, entails a political dimension. Kurdish people in these four countries observe distinct rituals on the day of the festival, but one common link between these rituals is that the festival is a mark of Kurdish resistance against oppression. It is a day when they “demand freedom, peace, and independence.”
Khalid’s analysis also deconstructs the Persian myth for the readers. For Persians, even though they narrate the stories of Kawa and Zuhak in their folktales, they trace back the festival to Jamshid, a legendary ancient ruler “fought against winter, went above the earth into the heavens, and … was shining like the sun.”
For Persians, it is a “reminder of values that bind all people together with the aim of mutual understanding, unity, and peace,” Khalid states.
Interestingly, these days, the festival, in both the nations, stands as a “symbol of national identity” and as a tourism resource.
What does the festival mean according to the UNESCO?
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the International Day of Nowruz in 2010. The festival had also been listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016. Terming it as a day which marks the “renewal of nature,” the UNESCO describes it as a festival which “promotes values of peace and solidarity between generations and within families as well as reconciliation and neighborliness.”
Brief history of Parsi community in India
Following religious persecution in Iran, Parsis arrived in India in 936 AC, and sought refuge under the Hindu King of Gujarat, Jadav Rana, according to a chronicle, Qissa-i-Sanjan, written in the 17th century. They continued to preserve their culture and religious identity in India, as they built the first fire temple, Atash Behram, to shelter their holy fire which they had rescued from Iran. The sacred fire is now located in a temple in Udvada, Gujarat, which has become the heart of the Parsi culture in India.
Surat had become a major trade centre for the community by the 16th century. As a large part of this community included weavers and artisans, according to a publication available on the official website of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), the British willingly conducted businesses in the country through the community.
In the present times, about 70 per cent of Parsis are concentrated in Mumbai (earlier Bombay), and are intimately connected to the city.
How do Parsis celebrate the festival?
Nowruz, across Central Asia, is celebrated by weaving Toran, an ornated gateway; chalk making (similar to the Hindu tradition of making rangolis), and “taking around the Loban (frankincense) in the act of ritual purity,” according to an article, Jamshedi-Navroze — Myth, History and Contemporary Practice, by Parzor Foundation.
The preparations begin in March with the sprouting of Sabzeh (lentil, wheat or barley) and Khane Tekani (house cleaning), followed by Kharid-i-Nowruz, or shopping for Nowruz, according to Dr Shernaz Cama, Director, UNESCO Parzor Project.
Cama says, “Navroze, necessarily entails a ‘Jashan’ of thanksgiving in the morning — a core religious ceremony which brings all creations together with the recitation from the Yasna Text.”
The festival marks a “unique site of community cohesion,” as “the Zoroastrian community experiences the diaspora and population decline over the years,” Cama writes.
