88Top Kyrgyz men in felt kalpak
hats play komuz and other
traditional string instrumentsAbovE The horse and the yurt –
the two most prominent symbols
of nomadic culture – are both on
show during NowruzRighT Traditional music is
a huge part of the festival’s
atmosphereThe occasion is
enshrined by UNESCO
as part of our intangible,
living cultural heritage,
something to be
safeguarded for future
generations to enjoy
The Great Pyramid at Giza, the
Taj Mahal, and the Great Wall of
China stand testament to the vision
and technical prowess of ancient
civilisations. But though these
structures are vital parts of our world
heritage, our shared cultural treasures
are not always tangible. Our dances,
songs, and festivals have evolved
through the generations, shaped by a
myriad influences, and are arguably of
equal or greater value.
And so it is with Nowruz, the
ancient festival celebrated on the
vernal equinox, which marks not only
the first day of spring, but also the
Persian New Year. For more than 3,000
years, communities from Turkey and
the Caucasus and across Eurasia to
the Indian Subcontinent have joined
together to welcome in New Year,
keeping alive the rituals of their
ancestors and entreating blessings
for the year ahead. The occasion is
enshrined by UNESCO as part of our
intangible, living cultural heritage,
something to be safeguarded for future
generations to enjoy.
IMAGES © MAXIMUM EXPOSUREmonotheistic religion). Both of these
religions were prevalent in ancient Iran
and spread across the region under
the Achaemenid Empire.
It is thought that the Hundred
Columns Hall in Persepolis might
well have been built to house Nowruz
celebrations, and certainly by theearly decades of the first millennium,
Nowruz was celebrated as an official
holiday through Central Asia.
Nowruz is one of the few pre-
Islamic traditions to have survived the
Arab Conquest of Iran and Central Asia
in the late 600s. The renowned 11th-
century philosopher, mathematician,THE HISTORY OF NOWRUZ
We don’t know exactly when the
first Nowruz celebrations took
place, though numerous archaeo-
astronomical sites across the world
prove that ancient people were
generally aware of the equinoxes and
solstices, and considered them to be
events of great significance. It’s likely,
however, that the first celebrants were
Mithraists (followers of the sun god
Sol) or Zoroastrians (the world’s first