In harmony with the rebirth of nature, the Persian New Year Celebration, or Norooz, always begins on the first day of spring. Norooz ceremonies with thousands of years history are symbolic representations of two ancient concepts – the End and the Rebirth; or Good and Evil.
With various local pronunciations and spellings, meaning ‘New Day’) is the traditional Iranian new year holiday celebrated by Iranian people and initiated in Ancient Iran. Apart from Iran, the celebration has spread in many other parts of the world (specially the parts which belonged to the Greater Iran) including parts of West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Caucasus, between kurdish population of Turkey, the Crimea, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia.
Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian year. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox (the start of spring in the northern hemisphere), which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed.
The term Nowruz first appeared in Persian records in the second century AD, but it was also an important day during the time of the Achaemenids (c. 648-330 BC), where kings from different nations under the Persian empire used to bring gifts to the emperor (Shahanshah) of Persia on Nowruz.
Christ’s birth took place halfway through the period of Parthian rule in Iran (250 BC – 224 AD), a dynasty which allowed more freedom of religion than some of the later Persian rulers. At the time of the Sassanian dynasty (224 AD – 652 AD), although Christianity spread in western regions of the country, there were still periods of followers being persecuted, usually at times of conflict and war with Rome.
This had not been the case prior to the establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire.
Later, the advent of Islam slowed any Christian expansion, but it was recognised as a protected minority. The Mongol conquest allowed a relative freedom of religious expression, and when some Mongol queens converted to Christianity, the possibility of a Christian revival arose.
In the nineteenth century, with the struggle over the Caucasus between the Qajar dynasty of Iran and the Russian Tsars, the Persian government sought to win the hearts of local Armenian and Georgian Christians, who otherwise might have been expected to favour their fellow Christians in Russia. Russia eventually prevailed and there was a mass migration of Armenian Christians from Azerbaijan towards present day Armenia.
The beautiful monastery and church of St. Thaddeus in Iranian Azerbaijan, described in this multimedia report and also known as the Black Church, has been restored several times over the centuries. Together with a few other remaining vestiges of Armenian Christian culture in the area, the church has now been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and given the title of the Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran.
This is not deep-sea fishing with trawlers working far from the coast: this is old-style in-shore fishing with curtain nets and tiny boats. The fish come to the fishermen, not the fishermen to the fish. But the equipment is expensive, and seasonal workers come from Afghanistan: this is serious business.
The Caspian Sea (Persian: دریای مازندران یا دریای خزر) is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres (143,244 sq mi) and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres (18,761 cu mi). It is in an endorheic basin (it has no outflows) and is bounded by northern Iran, southern Russia, western Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and eastern Azerbaijan. It has a maximum depth of about 1,025 metres (3,363 ft). More information
In harmony with the rebirth of nature, the Persian New Year Celebration, or Norooz, always begins on the first day of spring. Norooz ceremonies with thousands of years history are symbolic representations of two ancient concepts – the End and the Rebirth; or Good and Evil. With various local pronunciations and spellings, meaning ‘New Day’) […]
Christ’s birth took place halfway through the period of Parthian rule in Iran (250 BC – 224 AD), a dynasty which allowed more freedom of religion than some of the later Persian rulers. At the time of the Sassanian dynasty (224 AD – 652 AD), although Christianity spread in western regions of the country, [...] […]
