Theme : Nowruz done by: беласаров э. Checked by: chirchik citiy 2015 Nowruz

Theme : Nowruz

DONE BY: БЕЛАСАРОВ Э.
CHECKED BY: _________________

CHIRCHIK CITIY - 2015
Nowruz (Persian: نوروز‎, IPA: [nouˈɾuːz], meaning "[The] New Day") is the name of the Iranian New Year.^{[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]}
Nowruz marks the first day of spring or Equinox^[29] and the beginning of the year in the Persian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical Northward equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. The moment the sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and families gather together to observe the rituals.
Nowruz is celebrated by people from diverse ethnic communities and religious backgrounds for thousands of years. It is a secular holiday for most celebrants that is enjoyed by people of several different faiths, but remains a holy day for Zoroastrians. It originated in Persia in one of the capitals of the Achaemenid empire in Persis (Fars)^[30] in Iran and is also celebrated by the cultural region that came under Iranian influence.
Origin
Nowruz is partly rooted in the religious tradition of Zoroastrianism or even older in tradition of Mitraism because in Mitraism festivals had a deep linkage with the sun light. The Persian festivals of Yalda (longest night) and Mehregan(autumnal equinox) and Tiregān (longest day) also had an origination in the Sun god (Surya). Among other ideas, Zoroastrianism is the first monotheistic religion that emphasizes broad concepts such as the corresponding work of good and evil in the world, and the connection of humans to nature. Zoroastrian practices were dominant for much of the history of ancient Persia (modern day Iran). Nowruz is believed to have been invented by Zoroaster himself, although there is no clear date of origin.^[32] Since the Achaemenid era the official year has begun with the New Day when the Sun leaves the zodiac of Pisces and enters the zodiacal sign of Aries, signifying the Spring Equinox. Nowruz is also a holy day for Sufi Muslims, Bektashis, Ismailis, Alawites,^[33] Alevis, Babis and adherents of the Bahá'í Faith.^[34]
The term Nowruz in writing first appeared in historical Persian records in the 2nd century AD, but it was also an important day during the time of the Achaemenids (c. 550–330 BCE), where kings from different nations under thePersian Empire used to bring gifts to the Emperor, also called King of Kings (Shahanshah), of Persia on Nowruz. The significance of Nowruz in the Achaemenid Empire was such that the great Persian king Cambyses II's appointment as the king of Babylon was legitimized only after his participation in the New Year festival (Nowruz).^[35]
Nowruz in contemporary world
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Iran was the only country that officially observed the ceremonies of Nowruz. When the Central Asian and Caucasuscountries gained independence from the Soviets, they also declared Nowruz as a national holiday. The UN's General Assembly in 2010 recognized the International Day of Nowruz, describing it as a spring festival of Persian origin which has been celebrated for over 3,000 years.^[36][37] During the meeting of The Inter-governmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage of the United Nations, held between 28 September – 2 October 2009, Nowrūz was officially registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.^{[38][39][40][41]}
Etymology
The term Nowruz is a Persian compound word and consists of:

• 
  now (Old Persian nava) means "new", descends from Proto-Indo-European *néṷos and has the following cognates: in Latin novus, German neu, Sanskrit náva,Russian novyj etc. The Persian pronunciation differs in the many dialects of the language: while the eastern dialects have preserved the original diphthong(IPA: [næuˈɾoːz]), the western dialects usually pronounce it with a different diphthong (IPA: [nouˈɾuːz]), and some colloquial variants (such as the Tehrani accent) pronounce it with a monophthong (no; IPA: [noːˈɾuːz]).
  

• 
  rūz (for variant pronunciations see above) means "day" in Modern Persian, as did Middle Persian lwc (pronounced rōz or rōj). The original meaning of the word, however, was "light". The term is descended from Proto-Iranian *raučah- (compare Avestan raocah "light; day"), itself derived from Proto-Indo-European *leṷk-, and is related to Sanskrit rúci, Latin lux, Armenian loys, Russian luč and, in fact, English light.^{[citation needed]}
  

Roz in Hindi is called Day. Nuw is New.... So in essence it is a New Day.
Nowruz and the spring equinox
Main article: March equinox

Illumination of the Earth by the Sun on the day of equinox, (ignoring twilight).

The first day on the Iranian calendar falls on the March equinox, the first day of spring, around 20 March. At the time of the equinox, the sun is observed to be directly over the equator, and the north and south poles of the Earth lie along thesolar terminator; sunlight is evenly divided between the north and south hemispheres.
In around the 11th century CE major reforms of the Iranian calendars took place and whose principal purpose were to fix the beginning of the calendar year, i.e. Nowrūz, at the vernal equinox. Accordingly, the definition of Nowruz given by the Iranian scientist Ṭūsī was the following: "the first day of the official new year [Nowruz] was always the day on which the sun entered Aries before noon".
The celebration has its roots in Ancient Iran. Due to its antiquity, there exist various foundation myths for Nowruz inIranian mythology. In the Zoroastrian tradition, the seven most important Zoroastrian festivals are the Gahambars and Nowruz, which occurs at the spring equinox. According to Mary Boyce,^[43]

“

It seems a reasonable surmise that Nowruz, the holiest of them all, with deep doctrinal significance, was founded by Zoroaster himself.

”

Between sunset on the day of the 6th Gahanbar and sunrise of Nowruz, Hamaspathmaedaya (later known, in its extended form, as Frawardinegan) was celebrated. This and the Gahanbar are the only festivals named in the surviving text of the Avesta.
The Shahnameh dates Nowruz as far back to the reign of Jamshid, who in Zoroastrian texts saved mankind from a killer winter that was destined to kill every living creature.^[44] The mythical Persian King Jamshid (Yima or Yama of the Indo-Iranian lore) perhaps symbolizes the transition of the Indo-Iranians from animal hunting to animal husbandry and a more settled life in human history. In the Shahnameh and Iranian mythology, he is credited with the foundation of Nowruz. In the Shahnama, Jamshid constructed a throne studded with gems. He had demons raise him above the earth into the heavens; there he sat on his throne like the sun shining in the sky. The world's creatures gathered in wonder about him and scattered jewels around him, and called this day the New Day or No/Now-Ruz. This was the first day of the month of Farvardin (the first month of the Persian calendar).^[45]
The Persian scholar Abu Rayhan Biruni of the 10th century AD, in his Persian work "Kitab al-Tafhim li Awa'il Sina'at al-Tanjim" provides a description of the calendar of various nations. Besides the Persian calendar, various festivals of Arabs, Jews, Sabians, Greeks and other nations are mentioned in this book. In the section on the Persian calendar (Persian: تقویم پارسیان‎), he mentions Nowruz, Sadeh, Tiregan, Mehregan, the six Gahanbar, Parvardegaan, Bahmanja, Isfandarmazh and several other festivals. According to him: It is the belief of the Persians that Nowruz marks the first day when the universe started its motion.^[46] The Persian historianAbu Saʿīd Gardēzī^[47] in his work titled Zayn al-Akhbār under the section of the Zoroastrians festivals mentions Nowruz (among other festivals) and specifically points out that Zoroaster highly emphasized the celebration of Nowruz and Mehregan.^[48]