US hand of friendship means a freer Norouz for Iranians

Ali Gharib

• Last Updated: March 21. 2009 9:30AM UAE / March 21. 2009 5:30AM GMT

WASHINGTON // For Iranians in the US, this new year has taken on a special meaning. Gone are the days of being linked by the administration of George W Bush to an “axis of evil”. Yesterday, Barack Obama, in an unprecedented video message, wished all Iranians a happy Norouz, or Iranian New Year.

The Norouz, literally meaning “new day”, has been celebrated for thousands of years in Iran and around the world. It marks the first day of spring and usually falls on March 21.

On the eve of Norouz, Iranians gather in gardens lit with seven fires and jump over each in sequence, chanting, “take away my yellow complexion and give me your red glow of health”.

It is a ritual Iranians practise regardless of religion, political leanings or location. In the US, where there are some two million Iranians, the tradition continues, even in Washington where lighting fires is illegal.

Indeed, as Mr Obama seeks to engage Tehran, Iranians are celebrating Norouz more publicly than ever, with festivals this year at the nation’s leading public arts institution.

Marking their “Year of Iran”, the Smithsonian Institute’s Freer Gallery of Art, which, along with the Arthur M Sackler Gallery, forms the national Asian Art Museum, celebrated Norouz in a large, all day fete on March 7.

Although Najmieh Batmanglij, an Iranian-American, whose Norouz cookbook was the basis for the festival, pitched the Smithsonian with the idea two years ago, it was not until this year that it got off the ground.

Nonetheless, it was considered a major success. Preparations for the freer Norouz were designed to accommodate about 1,000 people, but more than 7,000 people showed up.

The festival had mock fire jumping, explanations of Norouz rituals and their meanings, story telling, dancing and music.

One of the lessons was about the Haft Seen table, where Iranians lay out symbols of renewal and fertility, including goldfish, hyacinth, sumac, an apple, sprouts, garlic, olives and wine vinegar.

Batmanglij had prepared bento boxes of Iranian food for the festival containing Sabzi Polo Mahi, the traditional Norouz fare of rice cooked with herbs and served with fish. But she had only prepared food for about 700 people, leaving many to go away empty-handed.

“I was glad that so many people and so many Iranians turned out to support the programme – glad beyond belief,” she said.

While the majority of those in attendance were Iranians, there was still a number of other nationalities. Even within Iranian circles Norouz is a celebration that spans politics and religion. Although most Iranians are Muslim, there are large minorities of other faiths, including Zoroastrianism, on whose principle of the purity of fire Chaharshambeh Souri is based. But time has so ingrained the occasion in Iranians mind that the holiday has no religious undertones whatsoever.

“It’s Zoroastrian originally, but it is so Iranian that people don’t think of it,” said Trita Parsi, the president of the National Iranian American Council. “And it remains the most important holiday even in the Islamic republic” – the name taken by Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the western-friendly Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and began Iran’s sour relations with the US.

But Mr Parsi emphasised that for all Iranians Norouz is bigger than politics.

“The culture, rituals and traditions connect all Iranians irrespective of politics,” he said.

“Chaharshambeh Souri, Norouz and Sizdah Bedar” – the holiday that ends the New Year celebration period two weeks after the equinox – “these are totally unpoliticised”, said Mr Parsi. “It’s just so natural for Iranians that it doesn’t even register as political thing.”

But Mr Parsi was happy to say that, even before Mr Obama made his overture to Tehran, Iranian-Americans were gaining recognition in Washington DC.

“The community has been more active and willing to showcase their culture and show themselves to American society,” he said. “And it’s not only on cultural side, but also in political considerations.”

Through accomplishments like the House resolution and the Freer’s Norouz celebrations, many Iranians hope that Americans will become better educated about Iran and its rich traditions and history.

And it appears to be working. Just this week Norouz got two high profile shout-outs in the US that have now become the delight of Iranians’ e-mail lists.

On his mock news television programme, the comedian Stephen Colbert decried the use of his image to promote a Norouz sale at a store in Iran.

“I am disgusted with the continuing commercialisation of the Persian New year,” he told his audience. “Don’t they know that Norouz is a time visit your family, fill the house with hyacinth and enjoy Sabzi Polo Mahi, while decorating the Haft Seen table with lentil sprouts, sumac berries and wheat-germ pudding?”

In The New York Times this week, the op-ed columnist Roger Cohen described Norouz with all its “great extravagance” and mentioned Chaharshambeh Souri.

But Cohen, who has become enamoured by Iran lately, said that fixing overall relations between the US and Iran “will require President Obama to jump over his own bonfire of indignation”.

* The National