Sunday, March 22, 2020

Happy New Year!

—Photo Courtesy of Public Domain
(Note poetry at the right side.)



HAPPY NOWRUZ
—Anu Shabu

I wish you all Happy Nowruz
Iranian New Year Day
Persian New Year day
Parsi New Year Day
Kurdish National Day
Afghanistan's Farmers' day
Albania's Spring Day
Let's plant trees, dig canals
Clean houses, decorate with auspicious symbols
Decorate the doors and windows with garlands
Use colour powders for creating patterns
Rangoli on the steps and thresholds
Purchase hyacinth and tulip flowers
Prepare delicious Dishes Desserts and snacks
Set Haft Seen on tables
Also candles, mirror, decorated coins, and eggs
A bowl of water with goldfish
A holy book or a poetry book
And Rose water
Prepare Haft Mewa 'the Seven Fruits'
With Raisin, Senjed, Pistachio, Hazelnut, Prune, Walnut, Almond
Like fruit salad made from seven dried fruits served in their own syrup
Wear colourful dresses
Visit our relatives and friends
Exchange New Year gifts
Let's see Amu Nowruz and Haji Firuz in the streets
Wish you all splendour spring and the new life it brings.

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Today's LittleNip:

Between us, we have the fire and the water. I'm quite sure that together, we can take on the wind.

—R.F. Kuang, The Dragon Republic

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Nowruz (Nowrus) is the Iranian New Year, also known as the Persian New Year, which is celebrated worldwide by various ethno-linguistic groups. Nowruz has Iranian and Zoroastrian origins, however, it has been celebrated by diverse communities for over 3,000 years in Western Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Black Sea Basin, the Balkans, and South Asia. It is a secular holiday for most celebrants that is enjoyed by people of several different faiths, but remains a holy day for Zoroastrians, Bahais, and some Muslim communities. This year, of course, public celebrations will be kept to a minimum due to the coronavirus.

For more about Nowruz, go to, among other sites, www.cnn.com/2019/03/20/world/what-is-nowruz-trnd/index.html/.

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—Medusa, wishing you Nowruz Mubarak!



















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