UCI Faculty Celebrate Nowruz at the White House

UCI Faculty Celebrate Nowruz at the White House

  Office of the Dean April 22, 2015

UCI faculty, including Touraj Daryaee, Howard C. Baskerville Professor in the History of Iran and the Persianate World, attended the White House's Nowruz (Persian New Year) celebration on March 11

Touraj Daryaee, Howard C. Baskerville Professor in the History of Iran, and Soroosh Sorooshian, Distinguished Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, were invited to, and attended, the White House's celebration of Nowruz, or Persian New Year, on March 11th.

About Nowruz

Nowruz (pronounced no-rooz) is a combination of two Persian words. The first word “now” means new and the second word “ruz” means day; together they mean “New Day.” Nowruz is the name for the celebrations that observe the New Year for many Persian and Central Asian communities. The exact beginning of the New Year occurs when the season changes from winter to spring on the vernal equinox, which usually happens on 20 or 21 March each year. The spelling of Nowruz in English can take many forms, including: Noroz, Norouz, Nowruz and Norooz. For this resource we have used the spelling Nowruz.
The festivities of Nowruz reflect the renewal of the Earth that occurs with the coming of spring. Activities that celebrate the arrival of Nowruz share many similarities with other spring festivals such as Easter, celebrated by Christians, and the Egyptian holiday called Sham Al-Naseem, which dates back to the time of the Pharaohs. Source: Harvard

To learn more about our Persian Studies program, please click here
To see a Nowruz book recommendation from Dr. Daryaee, please click here