Context:
Vice President has greeted the people on the eve of Parsi New Year, Navroz.
Relevance:
GS I: Festivals
About Navroz
- Navroz is celebrated in India on 16th August but globally Navroz is celebrated on 21st March because of the Shahenshahi calendar that is followed by Parsis in India.
- It is a Parsi New Year festival celebrated to mark the beginning of the new Iranian calendar. In Persian, ‘Nav’ stands for new, and ‘Roz’ stands for the day, which literally translates to ‘new day’.
- The tradition is observed by Iranians and the Parsi community around the world.
- Navroj is inscribed in the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of India.
- Navroz is also known as Jamshed-i-Navroz after the Persian King, Jamshed, who is credited to have created the Persian Calendar known as the Shahenshahi Calendar.
- The time of the festival is decided in Iran and then it is passed on to the entire Zoroastrian population in the world.
