Vienna, Austria—UPF held a cultural afternoon to celebrate the beginning of spring and the Persian festival Nowruz.
The event was held in the Vienna Peace Embassy on March 20, 2022.
A spring concert was performed by Bashir Mirzo, Nariman Hodjati and Rafat Alshimali, using the qanun, the tar, the oud, and other traditional Persian musical instruments, while Valentina Ferracioli (Azarshin) gave a demonstration of Persian dance.
Dr. Fazel Rahman, Marinela Stefanc and Nariman Hodjati told stories about the traditions surrounding the Nowruz festival. Peter Haider, president of UPF Austria, introduced the event and moderated the program. A traditional Nowruz table decorated the room.
Nowruz translates to "New Day" and is the name of the New Year and spring festival celebrated primarily in the Persian cultural spere with the beginning of spring (equinox), the day of the astronomically calculated entry of the sun into the zodiac sign of Aries. This year the day fell on March 20, and its beginning corresponded to the beginning of the equinox at 16:33 (4:33 p.m.).
On May 10, 2010, the 64th General Assembly of the United Nations established International Nowruz Day, stating, "Nowruz is a spring festival celebrated by more than 300 million people for more than 3,000 years in the Balkan Peninsula, the Black Sea region, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East."