IRAN: Nowruz, the Persian New Year, a festival of fire
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The streets of Tehran are streaked with flame and light; firecrackers rattle between booms of larger explosions. The city is joyous. It’s the Festival of Fire, an ancient, pre-Islamic celebration that marks the defeat of winter and the celebration of spring. Bonfires flicker through neighborhoods and guys on motor scooters are laughing and hurling cherry bombs.
As custom has it, all Iranians should contribute wood to the fire. A centuries-old poem reads:
‘A branch, a branch...!
Whoever gives a branch,
May God grant his wish!
Whoever does not give a branch,
May God not grant his wish!’
It’s a night of folklore and fashion: Haji Firouz, the black-faced herald of the New Year, which begins Thursday, has again risen with his tambourine from the ashes of the underworld. Women are testing the religious police, slipping back hijabs a bit to show off highlighted hair and sometimes a brazen flash of blonde. Hotel managers are telling guests to remember to jump over burning wood piles and duck for bottle rockets.
— Jeffrey Fleishman in Tehran
