Persian New Year To Be Celebrated In Inaugural “Norooz Spring Festival” At Union Square, San Francisco
Persian New Year (“Norooz”) will be celebrated in grand fashion in 2019 in San Francisco. On Saturday, March 9, 2019, San Francisco’s Union Square will be the site of an inaugural all-day “Norooz Spring Festival,” celebrating the arrival of Spring in the millenia-old joyful tradition of Norooz. The day’s festivities, which are presented by Norooz Outreach and Diaspora Arts Connection, will include food, live-music, dance, Persian calligraphy and miniatures, activities for children, and other demonstrations of the symbols of Norooz.
For over 3,000 years, Norooz—translated as “new day” (a combination of “new” (no) and “day” (rooz))—has marked the Persian New Year, celebrated worldwide by diverse communities in many countries. With roots in the Zoroastrian tradition, Norooz has become a secular holiday celebration for people across many different faiths. Norooz is marked at the precise moment of the vernal equinox, representing the formal beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere (often on March 21).
The Union Square Norooz Spring Festival on March 9 will have activities all day, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Come and enjoy the arrival of Spring with your friends and family!
Norooz Outreach is an initiative founded and funded by the HAND Foundation to establish Norooz as an enjoyable new American tradition: A celebration of the beginning of Spring and the renewal of life, and an opportunity for Iranian-Americans and other celebrating communities to share the Norooz tradition with their neighborhoods, schools and the American community at large. “Holding a Norooz Spring Festival in Union Square is a perfect way to support the mission of Norooz Outreach, which is to connect populations outside the Persian community with the joyous and renewing tradition of Norooz,” said Nosheen Hashemi, the cofounder and President of the HAND Foundation.
Diaspora Arts Connection is an organization committed to the support of artists in diaspora and their empowerment through performing their art to supportive audiences across the Bay Area. “After decades of life in the beautiful and diverse community of Northern California, the Iranian diaspora community is pleased to give back and enrich its surrounding communities by bringing this heartfelt celebration of earth and renewal to the Bay Area community at large,” said Nazy Kaviani, the founder and Executive Director of DAC.
Check out the event details here.
