Norooz or Nowruz in the word means “New Day”. It is the new day that starts the year, traditionally the exact astronomical beginning of the Spring. Iranians take that as the beginning of the year. This exact second is called “Saal Tahvil”. No-Rooz with its’ uniquely Iranian characteristics has been celebrated for at least 3,000 years and is deeply rooted in the rituals and traditions of the Zoroastrian. Norooz is partly rooted in the religious tradition of Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism or even older in a tradition of Mithraism because in Mithraism festivals had a deep linkage with the sun light. The Persian festivals of Yalda (longest night) and Mehregan (autumnal […]

Aryan tribes migrated into the Iranian plateau in the 2d millennium BC. There are over 1.5 million nomads in Iran today. Many of these tribes such as the Kurds, Bakhtiyaris (Bactrians), Lurs, Guilaks, and the Baluchs are descendants of the original invaders who came from Central Asia to settle in the Iranian Plateau. Most of the tribes of Central Iran are pure Aryan, while others such as the Arabs of Khuzestan and Khorasan, the Qashqai, the Turkmen (descendants of Mongols), Shahsevan and Afshar tribes of Azerbaijan had ancestors who passed through Iran. By 1920 nomadic pastoral tribes were over a quarter of Iran’s population. Their number declined sharply as a […]