March 21: the International Day of Nowruz
Do you know what Nowruz, Nauryz or Nevruz mean? These words signify ‘new day’ for more than 300 million people around the world, and correspond to celebrations in large parts of Asia (Central, West and South) and from Southeast Europe to the Caucasus and Ural Mountain Range.
The International Day of Nowruz occurs on 21st March, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. Nowruz celebrations include a variety of rituals, ceremonies, traditional games, special dishes, performances and other cultural events which take place during a period of around two weeks. Nowruz was originally inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009 by 6 countries and later in 2016 was extended to another 6. The countries who have jointly inscribed Nowruz are : Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Turkey.