<p>In 1986, my husband and I were in Iran and decided to spend the week-long Nowruz vacation in Shiraz. Shortly before we left Ahvaz (the city where we lived), we visited our friends Homayun, Shadi and their mother.</p>.<p>It was the last Wednesday of the year, and we joined the family in the traditional ‘Chahar Shambe Suri’ ritual of jumping over bonfires to avert misfortune in the New Year. My husband and I leapt nimbly over the flames, hoping that the people we had grown to respect and admire would enjoy the blessing of peace.</p>.<p>The ongoing conflict between Iran and Iraq seemed distant in Shiraz. The gardens were breathtakingly beautiful, and we recalled the lyrical lines of the 13th-century poet Saadi: “Oh joyous and gay is the New Year’s Day, and in Shiraz most of all.” Saadi is acclaiming spring, which, the author Vita Sackville-West writes, “arrives most punctually to coincide with the national holiday”. </p>.<p>On March 21, we were at Persepolis (65 km from Shiraz), once the venue of royal New Year festivities. Darius I, who reigned from 522 to 486 BCE, designed Persepolis to provide a spectacular setting for an ostentatious observance of Nowruz. Sculptures on two imposing stairways depict those scenes of splendour.</p>.<p>Nowruz was not only a sacred celebration for Darius but also a manifestation of majesty and might. On New Year’s Day, delegations from his domains ascended the stately staircases and moved in solemn procession towards the palace. There, in the throne room, they deferentially presented their offerings of gold and silver, horses and camels to the ‘King of Kings’.</p>.<p>That title is found on Darius’s many inscriptions, but the same engravings declare that he is only king “by the grace of Ahura Mazda”. Zoroastrianism had spread throughout the empire, and Darius, who staunchly adhered to that faith, is entombed in accordance with its purity laws. His resting place, just six km from Persepolis, is cut into a rock face, high above the ground, not defiling the earth. Its simplicity is in striking contrast to the grandeur of Persepolis. Of course, Persepolis no longer possesses its former magnificence. Enough survives, however, for those who are imaginatively inclined to picture its ancient glory.</p>.<p>The remarkable ruins are a reminder that a great ruler and his subjects joyfully greeted each New Year that they were privileged to see – New Years that dawned more than 2,500 years ago.</p>
<p>In 1986, my husband and I were in Iran and decided to spend the week-long Nowruz vacation in Shiraz. Shortly before we left Ahvaz (the city where we lived), we visited our friends Homayun, Shadi and their mother.</p>.<p>It was the last Wednesday of the year, and we joined the family in the traditional ‘Chahar Shambe Suri’ ritual of jumping over bonfires to avert misfortune in the New Year. My husband and I leapt nimbly over the flames, hoping that the people we had grown to respect and admire would enjoy the blessing of peace.</p>.<p>The ongoing conflict between Iran and Iraq seemed distant in Shiraz. The gardens were breathtakingly beautiful, and we recalled the lyrical lines of the 13th-century poet Saadi: “Oh joyous and gay is the New Year’s Day, and in Shiraz most of all.” Saadi is acclaiming spring, which, the author Vita Sackville-West writes, “arrives most punctually to coincide with the national holiday”. </p>.<p>On March 21, we were at Persepolis (65 km from Shiraz), once the venue of royal New Year festivities. Darius I, who reigned from 522 to 486 BCE, designed Persepolis to provide a spectacular setting for an ostentatious observance of Nowruz. Sculptures on two imposing stairways depict those scenes of splendour.</p>.<p>Nowruz was not only a sacred celebration for Darius but also a manifestation of majesty and might. On New Year’s Day, delegations from his domains ascended the stately staircases and moved in solemn procession towards the palace. There, in the throne room, they deferentially presented their offerings of gold and silver, horses and camels to the ‘King of Kings’.</p>.<p>That title is found on Darius’s many inscriptions, but the same engravings declare that he is only king “by the grace of Ahura Mazda”. Zoroastrianism had spread throughout the empire, and Darius, who staunchly adhered to that faith, is entombed in accordance with its purity laws. His resting place, just six km from Persepolis, is cut into a rock face, high above the ground, not defiling the earth. Its simplicity is in striking contrast to the grandeur of Persepolis. Of course, Persepolis no longer possesses its former magnificence. Enough survives, however, for those who are imaginatively inclined to picture its ancient glory.</p>.<p>The remarkable ruins are a reminder that a great ruler and his subjects joyfully greeted each New Year that they were privileged to see – New Years that dawned more than 2,500 years ago.</p>
