On March 21 Iranian and Turkic peoples worldwide celebrate their New Year holiday – Nowruz.
Nowruz (literally "New Day" from the Tajik-Persian language) is the first day of the Iranian New Year. It is the beginning of spring and the first month Farvardin of the Solar Hijri calendar. Nowruz is the day of the vernal equinox, and marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. It means the beginning of the season of growth and prosperity.
Foreign students of Vyatka State University have organized a celebration in an entrance hall of an academic building №1. There everybody could learn more about New Year traditions of the Eastern peoples.
For example, in Tajikistan they welcome their guests with the words "Nawruz Muborak baud!" that means "Happy Nowruz!"
Haft-Seen is a tabletop arrangement of seven symbolic items traditionally displayed at Nowruz. It includes seven items all starting with the letter Seen (the Persian alphabet). They are: Sabzeh – wheat, barley, mung bean or lentil sprouts growing in a dish; Samanu – sweet pudding made from wheat germ; Senjed – dried Persian olive; Seer – garlic; Seeb – apple; Somāq – sumac fruit; Serkeh – vinegar.
Some other items may also appear on the Haft-Seen table as ornaments or for the sake of completeness, like a mirror, candles and painted eggs. All of the above have symbolic meanings: candles mean light or fire that protects people from evil. Eggs and a mirror are needed to end up the old year and meat the first day of the new one. Azerbaijanis put painted egg on a mirror.
According to traditions young people put on their best clothes, so VyatSU Tajikistan students prepared a show of their traditional clothes that day.
