During the middle weeks of March, spring break is the talk of the town for students at The University of Alabama. For members of the University’s Persian population, there is an even bigger event to celebrate.

“Nowruz is a big deal back in Iran,” said Ehsan Omidi, a second-year doctoral student in mechanical engineering. “It’s like our Christmas.”

Nowruz, which celebrates the start of a new year on the Persian calendar, is traditionally a family-oriented holiday in Persian culture. To celebrate the new year, International Expressions, through University Programs, will hold a Persian New Year celebration Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Presidential Village community room.

Candice Ji, a junior majoring in marketing and advertising and the event programmer for International Expressions, said the idea for the event came to her last year.

“I was looking for another international holiday to celebrate,” Ji said. “I found Persian New Year and reached out to UA’s Turkish and Iranian students to see if we could get something going.”

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Ji helped with the event last year and took the reins for this year’s edition, where she worked with members of the Crossroads Community Center and the International Relations Club. Ji said the response from last year’s event is what drove her to bring it back.

“Last year, people started tearing up because this is a big family holiday for them,” Ji said. “So we wanted to show that people care, that they feel at home here.”

Omidi said the feeling of celebrating the holiday away from home was not a pleasant one.

“Nowruz is all about being with family,” Omidi said. “It’s not as much fun without family, but events like this make up for it somewhat.”

With the University’s celebration of the event, Ji said she hopes to promote awareness among the student body of the Persian culture on campus.

“Some people may not know that UA has a good-sized Middle Eastern population,” Ji said. “We want to let the students know that this culture does exist here and that it’s just as important.”

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Omidi said events like Persian New Year and other celebrations through International Expressions, such as Japanese New Year and Hispanic Heritage Month, promote diversity in the University’s campus culture.

“These events help show what people from other countries are really like,” Omidi said. “When you meet someone, your idea of their culture is formed on the reality of them. Events like these give people more information about what people from other cultures do and how they live, and they’re helpful to growing some sense of unity between the different students and different cultures that study here.”

Grace Bruton, a freshman majoring in communicative disorders and speech pathology, is planning to attend the event. She said events like Persian New Year allow students of all ages to take in new cultures and gain new viewpoints on the world.

“I believe that they help open students’ eyes to the different cultures of others around us, because, for many, college is the first truly diverse environment they have come in contact with,” Bruton said. “To have programs like this that help introduce other cultures is essential in making it in the real world.”

The event will highlight Persian dancing, traditional food and a photo exhibition of various Persian countries. Bruton said she is looking forward to the musical performances while Omidi said the food and dance portions will be the most fun.

The International Expressions: Persian New Year celebration will take place Wednesday, beginning at 6 p.m., in the seventh-floor community room in Presidential Village. Admission is free, and all are invited to attend.

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