Parsi New Year 2021: History, significance, celebrations of Navroz

Parsi New Year or ‘Navroz’/’Nowroz’ marks the beginning of Farvardin, the first month of the Iranian solar/Zoroastrianism calendar and is celebrated by the Parsi community around the world. The festival falls around March during the Spring Equinox each year. This year’s Navroz was officially on March 20, 2021. But is celebrated between July and August in India because the Parsi community here follows the Shahenshahi calendar, which does not include leap years. This year the Parsi New Year falls on August 16. 

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The Parsi community celebrates Navroz twice a year, once according to the Iranian calendar and then as per the Shahenshahi calendar.

The celebration of Navroz varies from family to family. Homes are deep cleaned, decorated and people shop before the festival. Family members also visit each other and exchange gifts. The ‘Haft-SIn’ is a traditional custom that sees family members gather around the Haft-sin table and await the exact moment of the New Year.

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Parsi cuisine on this day includes Prawn Patio, Mori Dar, Patra Ni Macchi, Haleem, Akoori, Falooda, Ambakalya, Dhansak, Ravo, Sali Boti and Saffron Pulao. 

History and origin:

Navroz is derived from a combination of two Parsi terms that mean ‘new’ and ‘roz’ (day). The festival can be traced back in Iranian mythology – King Jamshid by the Shahnameh, an epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between 977 and 1010 CE.

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According to the myth, King Jamshid saved mankind from a winter destined to kill every living creature. He constructed a throne studded with gems. The creatures he saved gathered and scattered jewels around him and proclaimed the day as ‘New Day (Nov Ruz)’.

The Parsis are known to be the single largest group of the Zoroastrian religious community. Parsis migrated to the Gujarat region (part of which is now in Pakistan) when Persia was invaded by Islamic armies in the seventh century. The Parsi New Year eve is known as ‘Pateti’. It is the day King Jamshed began the celebrations when the North and South poles had equal duration of day and night or the Spring Equinox.