Welcome to Spring and Happy Nowruz!

I'm never sure whether Spring officially begins on 20 March or 21 March, but I believe that it is safe to say that Spring has officially begun ... whether the weather is cooperating or not.  According to information that I can find on the "internetz," Spring officially began in 2010 on 20 March, at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, so that my greetings are at least a day late.

Having lived in an area that was ravaged by la bise noire a few weeks back, I am happy to say that temperatures, and meteorological events in general, have become much milder.  Last Friday was, in fact, one of the most glorious days for this time of year that I can remember.  Since then, the cloud cover has settled back in.  Today, we've had rain.  My brightly-colored tulips are still valiantly bringing cheer to my somber apartment and I look forward to my forsythia's blossoms.   Here is a peek at last year's blossoms ... when construction fences were still about.

When HWMBO and I spoke on Skype today, I noticed that his Skype greeting cheerily announced "Happy Nowruz!"  HWMBO spent four years living and working in Iran in the seventies.  While it is probably not correct to say that he enjoyed every single moment of his time there, he certainly did enjoy most of them.  He grew to admire the Iranian people greatly and, for him, it was an unparalleled life experience.  He lived for one year in Tehran and three in Shiraz.   In Shiraz, he was joined by his younger son, who lived with his father and attended the international school there.  HWMBO's daughter and older son also visited during his time there.  All of this happened some years before we realized that our lives were destined to be forever linked.

I am very sorry that I never was able to share those experiences.  I am also personally very sorry that my own nation and Iran appear to be largely on a collision course, as unfortunately occurs all too often in this imperfect world today.  I am thankful, however, that cooler and wiser heads seem to be prevailing these days, at least in my own nation.

But Nowruz, aka the Persian New Year, is something that has remained, not only with HWMBO, but with the preponderance of those Americans who shared an experience of living in Iran.  The holiday dates back to the time of Zoroaster (aka Zarathustra), and Zoroastrianism, a monotheistic religion that was based on his teachings, although much of Zoroastrianism has since been subsumed into Islamic teachings.  Still, Nowruz marks both the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar.  It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on or about 21 March.   In fact, 21 March has, since 2010, been recognized as the "International Day of Nowruz" by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Nowruz provides an opportunity for complete spring cleaning to symbolize the new beginning.  The festival is typically celebrated within the family unit.   The Wikipedia article that I linked to provides a fairly complete description of Nowruz and all those objects that are meaningful to its celebration, particularly the seven that are linked to the haft sin table.   I remember watching Jafar Panahi's delightful film, "The White Balloon," that describes these traditions.

But I also remember being struck by something interesting in 1997, when HWMBO and I travelled to Sicily during our Easter vacation.  Sicily, as was the case with many islands in the Mediterranean, was under Islamic rule for a time.  In Sicily's case, it lasted for more than 100 years, from 956-1072.  In those churches that were once Greek or Roman temples, then Christian churches, then Muslim mosques, and finally Christian churches again, both HWMBO and I noticed that most of the very same haft sin items were displayed to celebrate spring and the Christian Easter.

We humans all have much more in common than we do not.  Let us join together to celebrate our similarities rather than let our differences divide us!