Persians Roll Out the Carpet for the New Year

15 Apr

Every culture has a different way of celebrating the change of seasons and one of the most ancient ones is from the Persian region of the world. Coinciding with the change of seasons from winter to spring is also the New Year or Nowruz, a symbol of hope and change for the year 2751 of the Iranian calendar. The young parade of only 10 years seems to be gaining more popularity as the sidewalks along the parade route on Madison Ave. were getting filled with revelers. The mounted police signaled the start of the parade. Organizers and VIPs marched behind the large banner while a man dressed up as an old man gave away two dollar bills to the children for good luck and prosperity. An enthusiastic representation of Haji Firuz got the crowd excited about the parade and what was awaiting them. The first group of Persian dancers came out with traditional attire and dancing to a traditional Persian tune. Each and every float was symbolic of the theme of the event with colorful flowers and greenery everywhere.

Motorcycle riders rolled up just before two of the largest flags of the parade appeared…the current Iranian flag and the pre-Revolutionary flag. The parade has groups from the region formerly known as Persia including Armenia, Azerbajain,Tajikistan, and other countries. The group called Central Asian Vatan got the crowd worked up with their traditional music and dancing, A dance instructor was showing young girls some traditional moves which keeps in line with the whole theme of the parade..passing on the Persian culture and tradition to the young ones. An interesting float this year was dedicated to Zoroaster the Prophet with a banner of Thomas Jefferson and the Prophet posing together…a conspiracy theory in the making. Crowd favorites appeared including the Iranian wrestlers or Zoor Khaneh and a children’s story teller with her lioness. The parade finale always includes college students carrying signs proudly while Iranian music is blaring and flags are waving everywhere as the headed towards Madison Square Park for more fun and delicious food.