Nowruz 2025

Nowruz is the spring-equinox new year celebrated across Iran and neighbouring cultures. Families prepare a haft-sin table, clean their homes, visit relatives and welcome renewal. The date depends on the equinox and calendar convention, not a universal fixed 21 March.

Nowruz, meaning 'new day', marks the spring equinox and the beginning of a new year across Iran and many communities of Central and Western Asia. Its origins lie in ancient Iranian seasonal and royal traditions, and the festival has been celebrated by people of different faiths and languages. It is associated in Persian epic and folklore with the legendary king Jamshid, but this is a cultural origin story rather than a verifiable account of the first celebration.

Preparations often begin with khaneh tekani, a thorough cleaning of the home. Families prepare a haft-sin table with seven symbolic items whose Persian names begin with the letter sin, commonly including sprouts, apples, garlic, vinegar, sumac, dried oleaster and a sweet wheat pudding. Choices and arrangements vary. Relatives visit, share meals, exchange gifts and offer good wishes. Some communities observe the fire-related Chaharshanbe Suri before the new year and outdoor gatherings at Sizdah Bedar afterward.

Nowruz is not restricted to one religion: it is a shared cultural heritage of Iranian, Kurdish, Afghan, Tajik, Azerbaijani and other peoples. Its precise new-year moment is tied to the astronomical equinox and local calendar conventions, not an unchanging 21 March. Indian Parsi Jamshedi Navroz is related but should not be automatically merged with other Zoroastrian religious new-year observances.

Ancient spring-equinox new year celebrating renewal, hospitality and shared cultural heritage across many communities.

Clean the home, arrange symbolic haft-sin items, share meals and visits; some communities observe Chaharshanbe Suri and Sizdah Bedar.

Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Caucasus and diaspora; linked to Indian Parsi Jamshedi Navroz but distinct from other Parsi calendar new years.