Jamshedi Navroz

Jamshedi Navroz is the spring New Year celebrated by many Parsis and Zoroastrians and is associated in Persian tradition with the legendary king Jamshid. The festival coincides with the vernal equinox, when day and night are nearly equal, making the renewal of nature an important part of its symbolism. Later Persian literature credits Jamshid with establishing a glorious new day of order, prosperity and renewal, which is why the name ‘Jamshedi’ is widely used among Parsis. Before Navroz, homes are cleaned and decorated; people wear fresh clothes, offer prayers, visit fire temples where appropriate and gather for festive meals. Tables may be arranged with flowers, fruits and auspicious objects that evoke freshness and abundance. Families visit one another and give charity. Although Nowruz is celebrated by many peoples far beyond Zoroastrianism, Jamshedi Navroz in Parsi life carries a distinct link with ancestral Persian heritage, gratitude for creation and the hope of beginning the year with good thoughts, good words and good deeds.

Jamshedi Navroz is significant to the community that observes it and helps preserve religious, family and cultural continuity.

The house is cleaned and rangoli laid at the door. A visit to the agiary in the morning, new clothes, and a meal - dhansak, patra ni machhi, sev and dahi to start the day sweet. Gujarat's Parsi towns, Navsari and Udvada among them, keep it fully.

Kept by Parsis and Iranis of India on the equinox regardless of which calendar reckoning their family follows, and by Iranians, Afghans, Kurds, Azeris and Central Asians as Nowruz - a national new year far beyond the Zoroastrian community.