IRVINE : Park Picnic to Cap Persian New Year

Celebration of the Persian New Year, which began March 20 and stretches over 13 days, is a low-key affair for the most part. The 3,000-year-old tradition mandates that everyone wear new clothes for a fresh start and visit family members.

But on the 13th day, things get a little less low-key. Traditional Iranians leave their cities in a mass exodus and spend the day picnicking and having fun.

Instead of leaving the region, Iranians in the Orange County area on Sunday plan to follow their own 13-year-old tradition and head to William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine. About 25,000 of them, according to estimates.

Orange County is home to an estimated 70,000 people of Iranian descent, said Fardad Fateri, one of the event organizers and director of the Orange County extension center of United States International University. Spending the day in a park is the common way that Iranians living in urban and suburban areas celebrate the day, Fateri said.

And for some reason, Mason Park has become the popular gathering spot in Orange County, probably attracting the largest number of Iranians in all of Southern California, he said.

“We don’t invite people,” Fateri said. “They just show up.”

Until the past few years, the day’s event wasn’t organized. But as the popularity of Mason Park grew and attendance shot up from about 500 to 25,000, Iranian groups stepped in to try to avoid a backlash from Irvine residents living around the park, Fateri said.

The event in 1989 “was a major disaster from every aspect,” he said. Iranians attending the event clogged local streets with thousands of cars.

“There were many accidents, parking citations, many cars were towed,” he said. “The residents, the Iranians and the cops were all unhappy.”

As a result of that and problems in previous years, several Iranian groups have taken on planning for the event, beginning six months in advance to try to make the day run smoothly, Fateri said.

Signs, police and event workers will direct cars to park at UC Irvine rather than illegally in neighborhoods around the park. Ten shuttle vans will run constantly between the university and the park. Extra restrooms will be brought in, as well as water and first aid stations for those attending.

It is all designed to produce a harmonious day, which is a good thing: Superstition among some Iranians says that however goes the 13th day of the New Year, so goes the rest of the year.

The 13th day caps activities that actually begin before the new year started. Tradition calls for Iranians to clean their house thoroughly and ready new clothing--all to start the year fresh and clean. Almost all Iranian households still follow these traditions, Fateri said.

Although the new year celebration is steeped in history, coming to the United States has brought a Western flavor. Many Iranians will exchange gifts, almost like Christmas, even though tradition says only elders give gifts to youngsters--new items, like shiny coins or newly minted paper money, he said.

“Everything has to be new so old things are forgotten,” Fateri said.

The Iranian new year began officially at 7:02 p.m.--and 19 seconds--March 20--the time when the sun crossed the Equator from south to north, bringing spring to the northern hemisphere.

Iran’s new year celebrations are unique, Fateri said. The celebration has no religious significance, which allows the varied religions in Iran all to follow the same traditions, he said.

Sunday’s event will feature traditional Iranian dances, lots of Iranian food and a few Iranian men engaging in a traditional sport that highlights masculinity and endurance--and slightly resembles aerobics, Fateri said.

It should be a peaceful, all-day outing, he said. And non-Iranians are welcome, he said.