Table of Content
Nowruz
is a celebration that reaffirms
our ties to nature and fellow man.
- Oh, it's Haji Firuz, and bright new coins, and visits to the grandparents,
and jumping over fires, and much, much more.
- But all these are but the concrete manifestations of the heart of Now
Ruz which is to tell us that people and nature are what matter in this
life.
- Now Ruz also stems from and attitude toward time that is in many ways
out of date.
- To the ancients, time was cyclical. In the modern world, we have developed
the idea some say the god-of progress. With time our may of life should
advance, we say . New inventions will make life easier and open new opportunities.
Time is a progression to things new and different, not a cycle that repeats
itself.
- But, to the ancients, progress was an unknown concept. Time to them
was cyclical. For example, there is the 12-year cycle still used from Iran
to Japan-the year of the horse, the year of the snake, etc. In the New
World, the ancient Aztecs had a 52-year cycle.
- But the most important cycle in the ancient world was the yearly seasonal
cycle. That cycle of birth, blossoming, fading and wintry death represented
life itself.
- Now Ruz marks the beginning of that cycle on the first day of spring.
But it is more than just a spring holiday. Now Ruz speaks of the past remembered,
the future hoped for, and the present recognized as the foundation of hope.
- And, as such, Now ruz is far more than a mere holiday marked on a solitary
day. It is really an entire season that stretches for a month.
- The festivities begin about two weeks before Now Ruz day itself. It
starts with housecleaning-or what Americans now call spring cleaning. Rooms
are swept and washed, fresh flowers brought into the home, and new dresses
tailored.
- Most significantly, traditional greens-commonly wheat or lentils-are
prepared in a dish for sprouting. The ultimate symbol of rebirth and renewal,
they will be watched every day for the next few weeks as the seeds turn
to small sprouts and then flourish into a tight nest of greenery.
- The rites of Now Ruz have grown into a vast tangle of ritual in the
millennia over which Now Ruz has been central to the Persian being.
- For one thing, the end of the old year means that bad omens and the
evil eye must be warded off.
- That is a task assigned to Chaharshanbeh Souri, the last Wednesday
of the dying year.
- The most popular event of that day is the evening burning of heaps
of brush, over which young and old leap, singing a refrain that asks the
fire to suck away all that is old and sallow and to transfer its brightness
and liveliness to the one doing the jumping.
- But there are other traditions. According to one, you should drop some
blackened old coins into a jug filled with water. Then go to the roof and
pitch the jug's contents over the edge into the street below, while chanting,
"My pains and misfortunes into the jug and onto the street."
- Fortunately, this old tradition has not been maintained in cities crowded
with high-rise apartment complexes!
- Another tradition-one that demands imagination-involves the roof as
well. Members of the family go to the roof, make a wish, and drop an object
down the rainspout into a jug secured below.
- The day after Chaharshanbeh Souri, the jug is retrieved and the objects
in it spread out for all to see. Then a volume of Hafez's poetry is consulted
for each person. The wisdom of Hafez will hint whether one's wish is to
be fulfilled.
- Hafez, who wrote in the 14th Century, is noted for verses pregnant
with ambiguity. Iranians have long read their problems into, and gotten
solutions out of, Hafez's poetry. The ambiguity for which he is renown
allows wide latitude for interpretation.
- The imaginative father can often enlist Hafez to help him solve some
of the growing pains of his children.
- Now Ruz day is the culmination of all the preparations. The haft seen
table is the centerpiece of focal point of the family gathering. It is
described in another article in this week's editions.
- As the magic moment approaches when the sun crosses the imaginary line
in the sky to shift seasons from winter to spring, the family gathers about
the table.
- Candles equal to the number of offspring are lit.
- Colored eggs are added to the table. Everyone holds a new coin for
good luck. As the seconds tick away, the excitement builds-regardless of
age.
- Many will hold their breath. For a brief period time seems almost to
stand still-even though everyone gathered about the table knows full well
that this is the moment when time makes a dramatic shift-a shift back to
the start of the cycle of life. It is the dramatic instant when the mystical
bull, described in an accompanying article, shifts the earth from one horn
to the other!.
- For magical seconds, the Manichean world of opposites-good and evil,
light and darkness, the quick and the dead-the worlds of irreconcilable
opposites-stand together. Zoroastrian said that, as spring begins, the
souls of the dead return to their homes to visit prosperity and happiness
upon the living inhabitants.
- Within an instant, the New day-the literal translation of Now Ruz-has
begun. This sets off a week long celebration that is centered around visitations
to close friends and relatives.
- It is a mad social whirl. The eldest is always remembered and visited
first as a sign of respect for age. Gifts are exchanged. The visitations
to other family members and neighbors and friends cascade through the succeeding
days. There is much time for embraces and reminiscing.
- The visits themselves reflect the significance of social bonds and
the need to put aside the petty frictions that can often infest close relationships.
Now Ruz snuffs out the Hatfield and McCoy hatreds before they put down
roots.
- The season that is Now Ruz finally comes to a formal end on Sizdeh
Bedar, the 13th day of the New year, which falls on April 1 this year.
- The number 13 is unlucky and the best way to avoid the ill omen of
this day is to remain outside. Parks, forests, country roads abound with
families enjoying the open air, picnicking, strolling, hiking. Or just
sitting in the shade and maybe enjoying a snooze beside a trickling stream.
- It is a day for renewing our ties with nature and mankind. In fact,
all of Now Ruz is a time for renewing our bonds with the people with whom
we live and the planet on which we thrive.
- As the holiday season began with the planting of greens in a plate,
so it thrived as the shoots grew and flourished. Now the season ends as
the shoots are returned to the earth on Sizdeh Bedar.
The new year has begun.
Life continues its cycle
of renewal.
Happy Nowruz everyone.
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Rich in time, rich in myth; Jamshid
- The annual Now Ruz celebration has been observed in Iran for more than
2,000 years. Thus, it carries a rich body of myths preserved in folklore
and literature.
- The ancient Iranians were Zoroastrians-a tiny minority of them still
lives in Iran today-and many of the rituals associated with Now Ruz were
established by them. The actual holiday itself is popularly believed to
have been originated by the legendary Shah Jamshid to celebrate the brilliant
spring sun and to commemorate justice, order, and humanitarianism.
- According to folklore, Jamshid is reputed to have ruled Iran as shah
for 700 years. This is believed to have been a golden age of justice, harmony,
and the development of the civilized arts. Jamshid is even credited with
having built Persepolis, which in Persian is called Takht-Jamshid, literally,
the Throne of Jamshid.
- Many myths explain how Jamshid came to establish the new year on the
first day of spring. Here are a few of them:
- According to one legend, Jamshid originally was known as Shah Jam.
On the first day of spring, he delighted in the warm rays of the sun. Thus,
he had his bejeweled throne placed on a high hill in Azarbaijan and, with
his crown upon his head, he sat facing the rising sun.
- As the jewels in the Shah's crown and throne caught the rays of the
sun, the amazed crowd of onlookers cried out at the glittering reflection,
"sheea", which means lustre. The word was then added to Shah
Jam's name. Jamshid then declared that day-the first day of spring-as the
start of the new year and called upon all his subjects to join in celebration.
- Another myth says that Jamshid encountered a swallow while being carried
across the sky on his throne. Afraid that her nest full of eggs, which
were along the Shah's path, would be harmed, the swallow begged Jamshid
to avoid the nest.
- The Shah readily obliged and, when he got down from his throne, the
grateful swallow offered Jamshid the leg of a locust and sprinkled water
over him. This offering to the king is said to explain the custom of presenting
gifts to friends and relatives at Now Ruz, and of sprinkling one another
with rose water.
- In the 9th Century, the historian Mohammed Ben Jarie Tabari recorded
what was already at that time an ancient folk legend: Shah Jamshid as the
representative of justice and the Now Ruz holiday as the embodiment of
this virtue. Tabari's account is summarized below:
- When Shah Jamshid ascended the throne, he assembled the elders of the
kingdom to ask them what of his rule would be most remembered. The elders
replied that his good deeds would be his legacy. So Shah Jamshid quickly
spread justice throughout the land, promising, "I shall oversee the
justice done on the days of judgment.. You come to me and guide me to the
ways of doing good and I shall do them."
- The first day the Shah sat in judgment was Hormozd, the first day of
spring. In honor of this new beginning for his kingdom, jamshid proclaimed
a new day, Now Ruz. Thus, Now Ruz represents the beginning of justice,
and of a new era of order and humanism.
- The following verse illustrates the celebration of this first day of
a new and just year:
- On Jamshid as the people's jewels streamed,
- They cried, upon him that the New Year beamed.
- On Farvardin's Hormozed in this bright New Year,
- Bodies were free from pain, all hearts from fear.
- One of the best known Now Ruz stories was recorded in the 11th Century
by the philosopher and scientist Abu Raihan Biruni in his book Assar al-Baghieh
(Surviving Monuments): "Ahriman, the evil spirit, removed the blessing
and abundance from the land in such a manner that people could find neither
food nor drink. They were suffocating, because he had captured the winds.
Trees ceased to grow. The world was at an end.
- "Ehen Ahura Mazda, the great lord of all creation, ordered Jamshid,
the king of the earth, to act.
- "Jamshid went to the south and called on Ahriman, staying in his
house and keeping him captive until the disaster was overcome. Returning
to earth, Jamshid's chariot shone so brightly in the sky that his people
gazed with amazement at what they thought were two suns.
- "That day every stream that had gone dry began to flow again.
People gathered around them exclaiming, 'it is ruz-e now' (a new day),
and began putting barley in tubs to germinate."
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Iran will be invaded during coming
Year of the Cow
- TEHRAN- Iran will be invaded in the coming Persian year, according
to the country' chief astrologer, Haj Shaikh Abbas Mesbazdeh.
- Mesbazadeh is the author of the almanac that predicts the year's major
events based on his reading of the positions of the stars.
- And those positions, says the astrologer, show "the security of
the country's frontiers" will be violated in the coming year, 1376.
- But whoever attacks Iran will get a surprise because the stars also
indicate the people's "resistance against the tyranny and pressure
will lead to the exhaltation of Iran among the countries of the world."
- Before folks start digging trenches,it may be useful to note that a
year ago Mesbazadeh predicted this year would see Tehran dispatch troops
to the southern borders. What limited border troubles manifested themselves
this year were in the Rast, where the Taliban takeover of all the Afghan
provinces along Iran's border proved worrisome.
- Mesbazadeh may have hit the money, however, when he predicted a year
ago that this year would see an increase in spies (the government has announced
numerous arrests) as well as rising theft, bribery and corruption (which
the public seems to feel is true).
- The publication of an almanac at Now Ruz has been a tradition in the
Iranian cultural world-which includes Central Asia-for centuries. Mesbazadeh's
own family has been publishing an almanac for almost a century, and the
one for 1376 resembles in style and format the one his great grand father
wrote by hand in 1279 (1900).
- The Persian year 1376 is the Year of the Cow. The astrological calendar
is based on a 12-year cycle, each year of which takes its characteristics
from an animal.
- According to Mesbazadeh, the 12-year cycle begins with the mouse, then
rotates to the cow, tiger, rabbit whale, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, hen,
dog and pig.
- The Iranian astrological calendar is similar to that used by the wider
Chinese cultural world in East Asia. But it is not clear which came first,
as both emerged out of Turkestan-modern Central Asia-more than 2,000 years
ago.
- There are some subtle difference between the Iranian and Chinese traditions.
The Iranian Year of the Whale is the Chinese Year of the Dragon. Iran's
friendly Year of the Mouse is East Asia's not-so-nice Year of the Rat.
- In Iran, the Year of the Cow is a generally good omen. The ancient
almanac foretells that children born under the sign of the cow tend to
have pleasant personalities, do not complain much, and grow up to be adults
renown for their kindness.
- And the Year of the Cow is generally fruitful and productive: good
harvests and no droughts. In addition, business ventures are successful
and marriages are numerous.
- How reliable are these predictions? The year that ends on March 20,
the Year of the Mouse, was predicted to be a year of prosperity and happiness.
- Iran's economy did grow, but not faster than the population grew, so
per capita income actually fell. Inflation, however, did ease, although
it was still in double digits.
- With prices increasing at only half the pace of the previous year,
perhaps the public was at least relieved, if not exactly happy. Perhaps
it meant complaints were only half the volume of a year earlier.
- What about 1376? In addition to "explaining" the general
meaning of astrological signs for the year, Mesbazadeh has made month-by-month
and day-by-day recommendations about when it is auspicious or, conversely,
unlucky to undertake various activities.
- For example, in Farvardin (March 21-April 20, 1997), Iranians can expect
a lot of rain. It might be good for crops but does not seem good for general
happiness as Mesbazadeh advises against engagements, marriages, and trips
for most days of the month.
- However, Farvardin is a good month for financial transactions because
land values will increase and trade in the bazaar will be brisk.
- In Ordibehesht (April 21-May 21), Mesbazadeh predicts people can resume
traveling despite a lot of weather changes. The month will see a "decrease
in births," but an increase in people changing residences.
- The astrological signs for Khordad (May 22-June 21) and Tir (June 22-July
22) indicate an increase in exports and bountiful grain harvests. Both
Mordad (July 23-August 22) and Shahrivar (August 23-September 22) are good
for engagements, marriages, trips, and moves to new houses.
- Mehr (September 23-October 22) also is recommended for engagements,
marriages, trips, and changing one's home. (Mesbazadeh seems to have a
fixation on marrying and moving in 1376.) And it is a good month for agricultural
pursuits, helpful advice for the majority that is now urban.
- Aban (Octobe 23-November 21) is good for starting a business and Azar
(November 22-December 21) is good for making and wearing new clothes.
- Deh (December 22-January 20) and Bahman (January 21-February 19) are
both good for nuptials, travel, and moving to a new home. And the last
month of the year, Esfand (February 20-March 20_ is recommended for engagements,
marriages, and getting (still more) new clothes except for February 16-19,
which the position of the moon indicates are unlucky days and spell misfortune
for any new undertaking.
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Scratch an American tradition
and you'll find a Nowruz root
- To Americans, Now Ruz has a strange touch to it, but quite a number
of customs that Americans hold dear actually come down to us from ancient
Persian traditions that penetrated other cultures centuries ago.
- Many cultures have spring and harvest rites. In Iran, the spring rite-Now
Ruz-came to dominated all other holidays. In the United States, the harvest
rite-Thanksgiving-is emerging as the dominant holiday, more important in
many families than Christmas.
- The two holidays, Thanksgiving and Now Ruz, are very different. But
they are the same in one key way. Both are holidays that can be celebrated
by all ethnic groups, because they are not the preserve of a dominant religious
sect. And both are holidays that celebrate cultural history without the
histrionics associated with holidays linked to wars and conflict, like
the American 4th of July.
- Now Ruz is a holiday for all Iranians-Shiieh, Sunni, Christian, Jew,
and Zoroastrian. Similarly, Thanksgiving is a holiday that joins Protestant,
Catholic, Jew and the rising numbers of adherents of other religions-Buddhist,
Hindu, and, of course, Moslem.
- But there are more direct links between Now Ruz and American culture.
- Take the Easter egg. The gaily colored egg is an Iranian concept, created
millennia ago as part of the spring rite of now Ruz.
- Easter is, in fact, a classic spring rite of the old world around which
is wrapped the solemn theological message of Christianity. Although Easter
is not the premier holiday of American society, it is the keystone holiday
of Christianity, for it carries the message of Christianity, the message
of eternal life associated with the resurrection of Christ.
- Ancient Christians are believed to have settled on the springtime celebration
of Easter because they associated spring with the primary rite of the year-because
that is what the Persians taught them.
- When we look at Easter, we can see how Now Ruz has come down through
the centuries to find a home in the New World.
- First, as mentioned, we have the colored egg of Now Ruz transmuted
into the Easter egg.
- Second, we have the new clothing and fancy finery worn in the Easter
parade, Now Ruz tradition decrees that every good Persian must have at
least one article of clothing that is new to mark the new year. (Fortunately,
Americans have not adopted a related Now Ruz tradition found in some provinces
where families throw out all their earthenware dishes at Now Ruz and start
with a whole new set!)
- Third, there is the American tradition of "spring cleaning,"
which is no more than "Now Ruz cleaning" in Yankee finery. In
Iran, it is rug cleaning time. Furniture is repaired and refinished. Houses
are often repainted. But, first and foremost, the windows and doorways
are opened and all the accumulated dust of the winter months is swept out.
- Now Ruz is also far more than a holiday. It has never been confined
to a solitary day. It is really a holiday season, one that is anticipated
for weeks beforehand-much as Christmas in the United States has evolved
from a one-day event in the early days of the republic into a month long
season that starts with Thanksgiving, reaches its high point on Christmas
Day, and continues through New year's Day.
- Now Ruz is a similar long season with a precursor holiday on Chaharshanbeh
Souri, a few days before the new year, with the high point reached on Now
Ruz day itself, and with a continuation of events through to conclusion
13 days later on Sizdeh Bedar.
- At the bottom, then Now ruz is not such a "foreign" holiday
after all.
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How to toss an egg from one bull's
horn to another
- Every December 31st at midnight, thousands of Americans watching TV
see a lighted ball descend from a tower high above times Square to mark
the beginning of the new year.
- On the first day of spring in Iran, it is the movement of an egg on
a mirror that tells the watchers the new year has begun. According to a
time-honored Persian legend, the earth's axis turns on one horn of a giant
bull. Once a year, on the vernal eqinox, the bull tosses its burden from
one horn to the other so deftly that the shift can be observed only by
watching the delicate movements of a highly sensitive egg on a polished,
slippery surface.
- Members of the family gather around to watch Now Ruz begin; everyone
knows at exactly what moment spring begins each year. If the egg does not
oblige its audience by moving at the proper time, and adult may tap a finger
on the underside of the table to endues it so the children will not be
disappointed.
- In 1997, the egg should move at 40 seconds after 8:55 a.m. Eastern
Time, Thursday, March 20. That will be one hour earlier for Central Time,
two hours earlier for Mountain Time and three hours earlier-or a pre-dawn
40 seconds after 5:55 a.m.-in the Pacific Time zone.
- In Iran, the new year arrives at the far more civilized hour of 40
seconds passed 5:25 p.m., Thursday, 30 Esfand.
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Haji Firuz right at home in New Orleans'
Mardi Gras
- The traditional herald of Now Ruz is Haji Firuz, the blackened face
minstrel who wanders the street and alleys of cities and towns entertaining
Iranians with music, songs, skits, poems and stories.
- Haji Firuz appears during the last month of the year, Esfand, to announce
that it is time to prepare to celebrate the New Year. He travels about
accompanied by a group of musicians.
- Haji Firuz and his companions dress in red costumes and wear felt hats.
Sometimes Haji Firuz greases his uncovered hair, sticks cotton into it,
and thus presents himself as a good natured, old "uncle," rather
than the agile young man he usually is.
- The tradition of Haji Firuz reached its zenith in Tehran during the
first 50 years of the 20th Century. During this golden era, groups of men
would form haji groups, similar to the Mummers clubs of Philadelphia, who
also originated as New Year minstrels, and the Mardi Gras clubs of New
Orleans.
- The man with the most talented entertainment personality emerged as
the Haji Firuz of each group. His companions also had to have some talent,
especially the ability to play an instrument. Shyness was not a quality
that got one in a Haji Firuz group!
- Haji Firuz and his companions played a variety of traditional instruments.
Most commonly these included the Saz, the Kamancheh, and the drum.
- As haji Firuz wandered from neighborhood to neighborhood, his friends
announcing his approach with loud music, he performed a variety of comic
routines, recited beloved poems, sang popular folk songs and told stories.
The audiences would shower him with coins to thank him for bringing them
good cheer.
- Often well-to-do persons would invite Haji Firuz into their gardens
to entertain for their families or guests. Sometimes haji firuz and his
friends would be rewarded with a hearth meal for their efforts.
- Haji Firuz's main goal was to make people laugh. Many poems about Now
Ruz and Haji Firuz refer to the happiness he spreads during the New Year
celebration.
- Haji Firuz characters were never confined to Tehran, but have been
found in most of Iran's towns during Now Ruz. Along the Caspian seacoast,
Haji Firuz groups wandered fromtown to town, stopping in villages in between
to entertain the residents.
Among the favorite songs of Haji Firuz is
this one:
Wind and rain have gone.
Lord Now Ruz has come.
Friends, convey this message:
the New Year has come again.
This spring be your good luck,
The tulip fields be your joy.
- While today's Haji Firuz is a comic figure, he derives from a more
straight-laced tradition, according to Persian literature. Long ago, it
was a Now Ruz custom for villagers to select an upstanding and handsome
young man to parade through the streets of the village on a decorated horse
or camel, followed by a procession of villagers singing and playing tambourines
and drums.
- Wherever this Haji Firuz would stop, the shopkeeper or resident presented
him and his followers with food and gifts.
- In a ritual designed to bring an unmarried girl good luck and a good
husband, mothers tied seven knots in the clothes of their unmarried daughters
and hid them from view. When the Haji Firuz went by, the anxious mother
would run out and pull a boy-one too young to marry-from the entourage.
The boy could bring the girl good luck by untying the seven knots.
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Just seven 's' words describe this
holiday
- The Now Ruz decoration found in every Iranian home is the haft seen
arrangement. It is set up on a cloth on a carpet or upon a table several
days before the vernal equinox that marks the beginning of the New year.
- Haft is the Persian word for seven, and seen is the name for the Persian
letter that corresponds to the "s" in English. Thus, haft seen
literally means seven S'es.
- The haft seen arrangement consists of seven symbolic items that each
begin with the letter seen. All together, these seven items represent the
happiness that every family hopes to have during the New Year.
- Traditionally, the seven items of haft seen are: Sekeh (coin); Samanu
(a sweet wheat pudding); Sabzi (sprouting green shoots of vegetables or
herbs); Sonbol (hyacinth flower); seer (garlic); Senjed (a tiny, dried
fruit from an Asian deciduous tree); and Serkeh (vinegar). If all of these
items are not available, appropriate substitutes include such "s"
items as Sib (apple) and Sumagh (Sumac).
- About an hour before the moment that signifies the arrival of spring,
or Nowruz, the family gathers around the haft seen to await the New Year.
- Iranians wait for the exact moment of Now Ruz in much the same way
that Americans await the clock to strike midnight and turn December 31
into a new year. In Iran, canons have traditionally alerted the populace
to the arrival of Now Ruz, although radio and television now perform this
service.
- The haft seen custom is at least 2,000 years old. In Sassanian Iran
it was traditional to have a haft sheen arrangement in every home. Sheen
was and still is the name of the Persian letter representing the "sh"
sound.
- When a majority of Iranians were being converted from Zoroastrianism
to Islam-from approximately the mid-7th Century to the 10th Century, A.D.-
the custom gradually changed from haft sheen to haft seen. One widely believed
reason for this change is that wine, or Sharab, was traditionally part
of the haft sheen table. Pious Muslims could thus avoid having wine as
part of their New Year observance by an artful slip of the tongue.
- Over the years the haft seen has become a centerpiece for a variety
of other items associated with Now Ruz. Middle and upper class families
set up a table that includes, in addition to the haft seen, such items
as a mirror, boiled eggs, sweets, candles, and a bowl with a goldfish.
- Many families include the Koran on their Haftseen table. Just before
and after the moment of the eqinox, the male head of the household recites
from the Koran.
- The haft seen items, as well as the other decorations on the table,
represent happiness and good fortune for the New Year. For example, the
sekeh, preferably a gold coin, but at least a shiny new one, symbolizes
the hope for adequate money for the family.
- The samanu symbolizes sweetness in life, the sabzi, fertility, that
is, many children in the family, and the serkeh is to ward off bitterness.
The lighted candles, the bowl of clear water in which the goldfish swims,
the mirror, and the flowers all symbolize good luck.
- Eating of the foods on the hafts seen table also brings luck, but the
haft seen must not be disturbed until after the New Year has begun. Sweets,
or Shirini, are always consumed right after the arrival of the equinox,
but each family has its own traditions about when the samanu and senjed
are eaten.
- The sabzi, which is planted several weeks before Now Ruz in order that
a healthy crop of sprouts will be ready for the haft seen, is saved until
the final day of Now Ruz, Sizdeh Bedar. Sizdeh Bedar is the 13th day after
Now Ruz. It is considered very bad luck to remain at home on this day.
Families go on picnics, taking along with them the sabzi.
- Rural families tend to transplant the sabzi in the ground. Urban families
tend to toss the sabzi into a stream of running water.
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Khayyam counted while he
rhymed
The universally popular Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
contains a number of stanzas well worth pondering during the Now Ruz season.
This classic work of poetry penned by Khayyam-famed
more as a mathematician than a poet in Iran-was brought to the attention
of the attention of the English-speaking world when it was translated-rather
freely, but nonetheless beautifully-by the 19th Century British poet, Edward
Fitzgerald.
Among Khayyam's thoughts on the new year are:
Now the new year, reviving old desires,
The thoughtful soul to solitude retires
Where the white hand of Moses on
the bough
Puts out, and Jesus from the ground
suspires.
* * *
Come, full the cup, and in the fire
of spring Your winter garment of repentance fling.
The bird of time has but a little
way
To flutter-and the bird is on the
wing .
Omar Khayyam also commented on the rapid passing
of time, of which we all become aware during the new year celebrations:
The moving finger writes, and, having
writ,
Moves on; nor all thy piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half
a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word
of it.
Ah, fill the cup... What bodes it
to repeat
How time is slipping underneath our
feet.
Unborn tomorrow and dead yesterday,
Why fret about them if today be sweet?
Khayyam is better known in Iran as one of
the astronomers who contributed to the refinement of the Persian calendar,
and as a mathematician who produced an important study of Euclid, an algebra
test, as well as scholarly research on mineralogy.
Khayyam was actually unpopular with many of
his colleagues, who regarded him as too outspoken and hedonistic-as with
his many praises of the virtues of wine.
Here is another of Khayyam's verses, as translated
by Fitzgerald.
Alas, that spring should vanish with
the rose!
That youth's sweet-scented manuscript
should close!
The nightingale that in the branches
sang,
Ah, whence and whither flown again,
who knows!
Ah, love! Could thou and I with fate
conspire
To grasp this sorry scheme of things
entire, Would we not shatter it to bits-and then Remold it nearer to the
heart's desire?
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Nowruz is a celebration
that reaffirms our ties to nature and fellow man.