Articles on
Nauroze
Nauruz: A
Festival of Reflection
Among ancient festivals, Nauruz is one which has
been celebrated in the Persian world and beyond
with immense excitement and festivities in the
course of a very long history and continues to
be a culturally bonding force. The festivity has
inspired people of all backgrounds, poets,
philosophers, religious scholars, historians and
artists. It has enormously enriched the Persian
poetic literature. One can hardly find any
classical or modern Persian poet who is not
inspired by this festival. While culturally,
Nauruz has been and continues to be a national
festival in many countries of the Inner and
Central Asia, it has also been appropriated,
transformed and interpreted by communities of
various beliefs as has been the case with other
ancient traditions. The reason that the Nauruz
festival did not disappear with time is that it
is a celebration of the natural world with all
its wondrous cycle of dormancy and rejuvenation,
display of its enormous creative power and
limitless variety of beauty and promise.
Although the Nauruz tradition goes back to
ancient Persia, the largest volume of literature
that is inspired by it belongs to the Muslim
era. This flowering of literature, particularly
poetic, is due to the prominence that the Quran
bestows on the natural world as symbols of
Allah’s creative Power, as a source of His
blessings, and His signs to contemplate and be
conscious of His presence.
As mentioned, Nauruz does not belong to any
particular religious tradition even though it
has inspired many religious minded thinkers and
poets. In a recent book I read ‘Nauruz-e-Jamshid’,
the author, Dr. Jawad Barumand Sa‘id deals with
Nauruz extensively tracing its ancient origin
and its evolution into what it is today. The
information below is drawn from this book.
Contrary to the general understanding, Dr. Sa‘id
quotes many sources and mentions that Nauruz did
not originate as a Zoroastrian tradition in the
religious sense. He provides us with two strong
reasons: the tradition is not mentioned in the
Awasta, the oldest religious text of the
Zoroastrian community and at the time when the
legendary king Jamshid introduced Nauruz,
Zoroastrianism was already an established
religion and more importantly its followers were
not in good terms with him. Again, according to
Dr. Sa‘id, the best source for this historical
heritage are the daiwans (collections of poems)
of the Persian poets produced after Islam became
dominant in Persia. He quotes numerous poems of
many poets in which they have alluded to the
ancient festival practices, Nauruz being the
most prominent amongst them. Below is a sample
of how the nature and its revival are greeted
with the festival.
بودی و جز بود تو بودی نبود بود پنهان آتشی دودی
نبود
عشق ناگه زد بر آتش دامنی شعله ها سر کرد از هر
روزنی
شاهد غیبی که خود مستور بود بود خود آينه خود
منظور بود
گلستانش را گلی پیدا نبود از گل او بلبلی پیدا
نبود
"باد نوروزی" به طرف گلستان شد پی زیب چمن دامن
کشان
مهدهای گل عیان آمد به شاخ عندلیب از آشیان آمد به
شاخ
پرده از رخسار گلها باز شد عندلیبان را نواها ساز
شد
طره سنبل پریشانی گرفت لاله در دل داغ پنهانی گرفت
نرگس از خواب عدم بیدار شد چشم او زیب رخ گلزار شد
(دیوان نشاط اسفهانی)
You were there and except you nothing existed. A
fire without smoke was hidden.
Fanning of skirt lit up love at once, Flames
appeared from every chimney.
The invisible witness was concealed. It was both
the mirror and its aim.
His garden was without flowers. No nightingale
was there on his flower.
Navruz wind blew over the garden. It spread in
it like a beautiful carpet.
Nests appeared on the branches of flowers.
Nightingales came out of nests on branches.
Veils got removed from the faces of flowers.
Nightingales began to sing their melodies.
The curl of ringlet unraveled. Rose left in the
core of heart its hidden mark.
Narcissus woke up from slumber of nonexistence.
It beautified the garden with its eyes.
Ancient Persians believed that the human was
made of five essences, one of which lived on
after physical death. They called it furuhar
which they believed to be a divine gift and ever
living. They believed that furuhars of pious
people would visit the families in which they
lived before their separation from their
physical bodies. Initially, there used to be
five days celebrations to honor the furuhars of
those who had died, then during the Zoroastrian
era this was extended to ten days. They believed
that by welcoming the furuhars of those who had
died, the relatives would seek their appiness.
The furuhars, in turn, would come to the help of
those whom were left behind, in times of
difficulty. Dr. Sa‘id states that the tradition
of five day celebration of the furuhars existed
before Zoroaster because those whose furuhars
are praised do not appear to be holding any
significant mention in the Zoroastrian religion.
He is of the view that this belief always
remained as part of the Iranian culture and
probably the practice of visiting graves on the
last Thursday of the year, which continues until
today, originated from this tradition.
Continuing with the tradition, in Zoroastrian
practice, relatives should engage themselves in
virtuous deeds, recite benedictions and prayers,
and submit offerings, read Awasta and burn
incense for the benefit of the furuhars.
During Jamshid’s time, Nauruz was a public
festival. However, in the post Jamshid era, the
Sasanid kings divided it into two celebrations,
one for the public (Nauruze Amah) and one for
the royal families, their courtiers and
nobilities (Nauruze Buzurg or Nauruze Muluk).
The Sasanid Kings could not do away with the
festival since it was the heritage of the great
king Jamshid and deeply rooted in the culture,
but they changed it to their own liking. On the
day of Nauruze Buzurg, the kings would take a
holiday from public engagements and would have a
private ceremony. The ceremony would proceed as
follows: A man with a pleasant personality would
stand at the threshold of the royal palace at
night and with the crack of dawn he would enter
with a particular gesture. He would stand at a
designated place where he would be visible to
the king. The king then would ask him: “Who are
you? Where have you come from? What do you want?
What is your name? What have you brought with
you?” The man would answer the questions: “I am
Mansoor? I have come to wish his majesty
happiness and peace. I have come with the New
Year” and he would sit down. Then another man
would enter holding a silver tray on which were
placed food ingredients including wheat, vetch,
peas, sesame, rice and sugar -- seven pieces of
each item – and a new minted dirham. Following
this, all presents and offerings would be
presented to the king. He then would distribute
them to the dignitaries in order of their ranks.
The first among them to receive would be his
vizier, then head of treasury, the chief of
police and so on. Finally, the sweet dish made
of the seven mentioned ingredients would be
served to the king and his courtiers.
This division of Nauruz festival into two
separate celebrations, one for masses and one
for aristocracy, was stopped by Hurmuz, son of
Shahpur Pahlawan. He was an environment
sensitive king. As a benediction, he ordered to
light fire on high places, symbolically
cleansing the atmosphere from its pollutants by
burning them.
Dr. Sa‘id’s research demonstrates that Nauruz is
a tradition that celebrates the victory of king
Jamshid against the demons of his time who had
forced people into slavery. As a victory
celebration, he combined all other festivals
observed during the month of Farwardin (first
month of the Persian calendar) and he ordered to
celebrate them together as one big festival and
named it Nauruz. On the first day of the
festival, Jamshid conveyed to his subjects the
good tidings of freedom, equality and justice.
From this day on all wars among people ceased.
He distributed various trades among people
according to their background and skills.
Farmers were free to grow agricultural products
for themselves according to their choice. King
Jamshid cleaned all the evils of the demon rule.
This was a true revolution of the masses, the
success of which were celebrated at a grand
scale with immense joy and festivities. As
Firdausi, the author of the celebrated Shahnama
describes
جهان انجمن شد بر تخت او شگفتی فرو مانده از بخت
او
به جمشید بر گوهر افشاندند مران روز را "روز نو"
خواندند
چنین جشن فرخ ازان روزگار بمانده ازان خسروان
یادگار
ز رنج و ز بدشان نبد آگاهی میان بسته دیوان بسان
رهی
به فرمان مردم نهاده دو گوش ز رامش جهان پر ز آواز
نوش
شاهنامه فردوسی
With his reign world became society of equality.
His good fortune humbled all surprises.
People showered pearls on Jamshid. They named
this day as “New Day”.
From now onward such happy festivals continued.
A remembrance of (Persian) kings.
People knew not their affliction and wickedness.
They behaved like demons.
He (Jamshid) listened to people’s concerns. The
world was happy and festive.
These poems and numerous others indicate, Nauruz
is a celebration of the unfolding of beauty in
the natural world, expression of gratitude for
its many gifts, and also for the blessings of
freedom and human dignity.
Nauruz is a multi-faceted festival and it has
inspired people of all backgrounds throughout
its long history. It is at once, a celebration
of the arrival of the spring with all its
promises, a festival of freedom of the human
spirit, a ceremony of gratitude for the many
blessings of the Creator, and honouring of a
historic victory over the dark forces of
exploitation. On a personal level, Nauruz is a
moment of self reflection and refreshing one’s
inner being as great Sufi Fariduddin Attar puts
it:
دل عطار چون "گل نوروز"
تازگی می دهد ز شبنم عشق
Attar’s heart like the Nauruz flower,
Gives freshness (to life) from the dew of love.
-- Dr. Mir Baiz Khan,
Toronto, Canada, 21 Mar 2011.
Naw’roz-When Spring
Blossoms and Nightingale Sings
Naw’roz (New day)
comes when spring blossoms on Earth, when the
trees are crowned with leaves, when you hear the
nightingale pour out its song for the rose, when
the orchards hang out its lanterns and the dead
stumbling by in shrouds. It is a season to
celebrate, to enjoy and an expression of elation
for the body’s soul. To experience this
magnificent beauty of nature my soul goes on
dancing.
Navroz is a Persian word which means “New Day”/
“New Light”. Nav’roz is the first day of Persian
calendar which falls on 21st March of each year.
The history of Nav’roz goes back to many
hundreds of years ago. It is believed by some
that it was the day of Nav’roz when Hazrat
Adam(a.s) was bestowed with the soul. It was the
day of Nav’roz when Hazrat Abrahim(a.s)
destroyed the idols. It was the day of Nav’roz
when Hazrat Noah (a.s)’s Ark was rescued. It was
the day of Nav’roz when Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
received the first revelation. It was the day of
Navroz when Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) revealed the
final message at Ghadir-e-Khum.-(Imam Jadar
Sadiq -Fifth Imam of Shia Muslims quoted in
Bilhar al-Anwar). Further the significance of
the day is also explained in many poems of Shams
Tabriz (mentor and master of Rumi) which is also
followed by his students in the now famous
Mathnawi. Scholars and philosophers from
different schoolsl of thoughts have also penned
down the beauty of Nawroz on various stages.
Every community celebrates Navroz in their own
unique ways. It is celebrated in various parts
of the world. In Pakistan, it is celebrated by
Shia schools of thought particularly by Ismailis.
I grew up in a very beautiful valley of
Pakistan-Chitral, where inhabitants greet this
festival with wild jubilation. The green season
all around the landscape makes the village a
true fairyland. Birds sing in spring, brightly
colored flowers sprout up everywhere and give
different look to the valley.
Nawroz in local tongue called “Pathak” being the
famous festival of Chitral among the Ismaili
Muslims marks the arrival of spring. It is worth
seeing and experiencing the day in Chitral
especially the way the rituals are being carried
out. I remember some memories of my childhood.
At around dawn people clean their houses and to
get ready for the new day. They wear new clothes
and visit each other’s homes to share the
happiness. They believe that whatever they do on
the first day will influence the rest of their
year. The traditional foods of Chitral are a
must of the day to serve to guests. Boys and
girls in separate groups go to each other’s
homes to greet one another. Upon the arrival of
the guests the host family members greet them in
traditional way. A pinch of flour is showered on
the right shoulder of the guests as mark of
respect. Various games are also organized on
this day.
Another reason to celebrate this season is to
mark the successful conclusion of Sufi/Pir Nasir
Khusraw’s 40 days of meditation. Khusraw was a
Fatimid era Ismaili dai (mystic),poet and
philosopher who was the first Sufi to seed Islam
in Central Asia, Afghanistan and in north of
Pakistan. With a little inquiry I'm honored to
come to understand that historically “Pathak” (Nawroz)
used to be common Chitrali festival celebrated
as a seed sowing ritual. Since 1980s when Gen.
Zia ul Haq started sowing the seeds of terrorism
and sectarianism; the festival became
exclusively Ismaili. Pathak still remains a
binding source among the Chitrali community.
Let’s celebrate nawroz day with the same
jubilation as we used to before!
E'ed Nawroz Mubarak to all of you. " Boombarako
Boshad"
-- Nooruddin Jalal, 21 Mar 2011