Red, Blue, Yellow/ Nowruz

Nowrūz (meaning “[The] New Day”) is the name of the
Iranian New Year in Iranian calendars and the corresponding
traditional celebrations. Nowruz is also widely referred to as the
“Persian New Year”

Nowruz is celebrated and observed by Iranian peoples and the related
cultural continent and has spread in many other parts of the world, including
parts of Central Asia, Caucasus, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Crimea and
some groups in the Balkans.

The first day on the Iranian calendar falls on the March equinox, the
first day of spring. At the time of the equinox, the sun is observed to be
directly over the equator, and the north and south poles of the Earth lie along
the solar terminator; sunlight is evenly divided between the north and south hemispheres.

 The UN’s General Assembly in 2010 recognized the International Day of
Nowruz, describing it a spring festival of Persian origin which has been
celebrated for over 3,000 years.

Spring cleaning, or Khouneh Tekouni (literally means ‘shaking the
house’) or ‘complete cleaning of the house’ is commonly performed before
Nowruz. Persians and other Indo-Iranian groups (Kurds, Azarbaijanis and
Balochs) start preparing for the Nowruz with a major spring-cleaning of their houses,
the purchase of new clothes to wear for the new year and the purchase of
flowers (in particular the hyacinth and the tulip are popular and conspicuous).

During the Nowruz holidays, people are expected to visit one another
(mostly limited to families, friends and neighbors) in the form of short house
visits, which are usually reciprocated. Typically, on the first day of Nowruz,
family members gather around the table, with the Haft Seen
on the table or set next to it, and await the exact moment of the arrival of
the spring. At that time gifts are exchanged. Later in the day, the first house visits are paid to the most senior
family members. Typically, the youth will visit the elders first, and
the elders return their visit later.

These days I had a chance to see and sketch the Naqshe Jahan square and Vank church in Isfahan. Although christian friends in Jolfa district of Isfahan has celebrated their new year like other christians from January but also Nowruz is new year for them in Iran and they celebrate the spring.

I tried to sketch Vank church and Shah Mosque‘s entrance in Naqshe Jahan square(the first one on the above) just with primary colors as origin colors and it was really wonderful experience for me. 

I wish you enjoy them. Behzad