Happy Nooroz! Professor Persis Karim Discusses Persian New Year

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- “I love it as a holiday because it is elemental and seasonal,” said Persis Karim, director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University. “It marks a new year, literally. It is not in the dead of the winter. As spring arrives, you are saying, ‘Welcome to this new year. ...’”

“I just love that idea that there is this act of connecting with light and fire, which is really interesting because during the winter solstice, (Iranians) welcome the darkness by lighting candles,” Karim said. “And in the spring holiday, (Iranians) welcome the light and ask it to take away your darkness, your sickly pallor, your winter heaviness.”