A beginner’s guide to a joyful Persian tradition of spring renewal and rebirth

Coinciding with the spring equinox, Nowruz marks the Persian new year, a festival of rebirth and renewal that’s rooted in Zoroastrianism, but has been celebrated across secular lines for millennia. And, as the Iranian-born, Denmark-based director Naghmeh Pour writes in the introduction for her short film on Nowruz, it’s ‘a tradition that’s stood the test of time and regimes that tried to ban it without luck’. Walking viewers through the symbols, small rituals, cultivation of good habits and shared good times that comprise Nowruz, Pour creates a joyful introduction to a deeply rooted custom that, today, is celebrated by some 300 million people around the world.