The Turkish Students Association and the Iranian Students Association celebrated Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on Monday.
Nowruz has its roots in Zoroastrianism and is celebrated by Iranian groups across the Middle East, including Persians and Kurds, with festivities being popular in places like Turkey and Azerbaijan. This year, according to the Zoroastrian calendar, the year is 1404.
“Our first celebration at UA was in 2017, so we’ve been celebrating it here for eight years,” said Saeed Shiri, a fourth-year Ph.D. student and president of the ISA.
Organizers performed traditional Iranian dances and celebrated Chaharshanbe Suri, the Persian Festival of Fire. Poems from legendary Persian poets Rumi and Hafiz were recited as well.
“Chaharshanbe Suri is the last Wednesday of every year. It is a time for family to get together, sometimes dance,” said Erfan Zinoghli, a senior majoring in civil engineering. “We have some sort of trick-or-treating, but it is not with candy; it is with eggs.”
The highlight of Chaharshanbe Suri was the fire, which precedes Nowruz festivities. Participants traditionally jump over an open flame, although the ISA and TSA opted to show a video explaining the procedure due to the event taking place inside.
The ISA had haft-sins laid out symbolizing Iranian and Tuscaloosa-related objects. Haft-sins are traditional Nowruz decorations with objects that start with the Persian letter S, or sin. Apples, eggs and garlic were among the objects displayed.
This year was the first year that the ISA cohosted Nowruz with the TSA.
“Generally, Iranians celebrate Nowruz as a new year and dress in really good clothes,” said Emine Ilhan, a third-year Ph.D. student and president of the TSA. “We just wear informal clothes, build tents, ride horses and jump over fires.”
After the festivities, attendees played trivia about Nowruz and sang karaoke of Turkish, Farsi and English songs.
“We have Turkish, Kurdish and different languages here, and they all celebrate in their own language,” Shiri said. “Students would say ‘Nowruz mubarak,’ which means Happy Nowruz.”
