Nowruz

Nowruz — the Persian new year, Dari Nawroz, Pashto Naway Kal — falls on the spring equinox, 21 March, which is the first day of the month of Hamal in the Afghan solar calendar. It is Afghanistan's principal cultural festival, celebrated across ethnic and sectarian lines, and it coincides with a nationwide Farmers' Day observance of roughly two weeks in which saplings and flowers are planted around the country.^[1]

Historical and Zoroastrian Roots

Nowruz is an ancient celebration of life, rebirth, and the triumph of light over darkness. It is fundamentally rooted in ancient Zoroastrian practices, which predated Islam in the region. The festival symbolizes renewal and harmony with nature, specifically marking the rejuvenation of the environment following the winter season.^[2] The etymology of the word Nowruz is derived from the Persian (or Fārsī) term for "new day."

Global Significance and Diaspora

As a multicultural celebration, Nowruz is observed by many groups across Western, Southern, and Central Asia, as well as the South Caucasus and the Balkans. It is a holiday of immense scale, with approximately 300 million people celebrating Nowruz worldwide.^[7] The United Nations has recognized the festival's history and significance by designating an International Nowruz Day. In Afghanistan, the holiday is also widely celebrated by the majority of the Afghan diaspora around the world, maintaining cultural ties to the homeland and emphasizing communal togetherness.^[8]

The Vernal Equinox and Solar Calendar

The precise timing of Nowruz is dictated by the vernal equinox, the moment when the Earth's equator passes through the center of the Sun's disk, making the length of the day and the night exactly equal. This calculation occurs every year, usually falling sometime between 19th March and 21st March.^[3] This event marks the first day of the month of Farvardīn on the Iranian calendar and heralds the solar calendar's commencement. The transition to the new year is often determined by whether the exact moment of the transition occurs before or after midday; if it occurs in the first half of the day, it is celebrated that day, whereas if it occurs after midday, the following day is marked as Nowruz.

Origins and meaning

The festival long predates Islam; the eleventh-century scholar al-Biruni described Nowruz as the day the universe first set itself in motion, and the poet-mathematician Omar Khayyam devoted an entire treatise, the Nowruznameh, to its origins — attributing its institution to the legendary king Jamshid, who decreed a feast for the day the sun returned after its year-long circuit.

In Afghanistan, Nowruz has been woven together with Islamic traditions over centuries. Many residents associate the festival with the blessings of Ali, synthesising pre-Islamic customs with Islamic practice in a way that transcends the Sunni–Shia divide.^[4] The festival was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.^[5]

Janda bala at the Blue Mosque

The official opening takes place at the Shrine of Ali — the Rawza-ye Shah-e Welayat, the Blue Mosque — in Mazar-i Sharif, where on the first day of the year a religious banner, the janda, is raised over the shrine.{{src:5,src:7}} It is the largest recorded Nowruz gathering anywhere: up to two hundred thousand people from across Afghanistan fill the shrine's central park, and the banner — whose colours recall the legendary Derafsh Kaviani of pre-Islamic Iran — remains flying for forty days. Many hold that if the janda fails to rise properly or falls during those weeks, it portends drought and disaster for the year. The shrine's season lasts the full forty days the banner flies, drawing pilgrims from every province of Afghanistan — and from Iran — in numbers that fill the city's hotels and inns.

Guli Surkh and buzkashi

For the first forty days of the year Mazar-i Sharif also hosts the Guli Surkh festival — the "red flower" festival named for the wild tulips that bloom on the plains and hills around the city — drawing visitors from every province. Buzkashi tournaments are held alongside it in Mazar and other northern towns, and fairs with storytellers, wrestling bouts, and sweet stalls spread through the shrine gardens. See Buzkashi — the national game is at its most visible during these weeks.

Regional traditions

Nowruz is celebrated differently across Afghanistan's provinces. In Herat, people visit nature reserves and gardens, and young people gather for evenings of she'rkhwani — poetry readings featuring dozens of poets in the strong Herati dialect — often held in the refurbished Arg of Herat. In Kabul, making samanak and preparing haft mewa are the central domestic traditions, and families go for picnics to Istalif, Charikar, or other green places where Cercis flowers grow.

In central Afghanistan, particularly in Bamyan and Daykundi provinces, children and young people play Kampirak on the eve of Nowruz. A young man adopts the role of a wise old man with a white beard, accompanied by children who play his retinue. The group proceeds from door to door, reciting poems and sharing wise words, while the host family gives a gift. The event ends with a theatrical performance on the theme of the zodiac sign for that year. Regional celebrations have shown varying levels of visibility and adherence to tradition in the post-2021 era.^[9]

In Kandahar, people visit shrines such as Ziarat-e Shah Maqsud Baba in Khakrez district, where a janda is raised at Nowruz in a ceremony echoing the one at Mazar. Locals also visit Ziarat-e Baba Wali in the Arghandab district near the Dahla Dam, where a tradition called Charshanbe-ye Awwal-e Sal — the first Wednesday of the year — sees women gather for celebrations. In Paktia province, celebrations are more subdued than in Kabul, Herat, or Balkh, with district residents often unaware of the festival altogether.

Haft mewa, samanak, and visits

In Afghan households the season tastes of haft mewa, "seven fruits" — a compote of dried fruits and nuts (raisins, senjed, almonds or walnuts, pistachios, dried apricots among them) soaked for days in rose-scented syrup — prepared here instead of, or alongside, the Iranian haft sin. Samanak, a rich sweet paste of sprouted wheat that takes more than two days of stirring, is a spring speciality.^[10] Families clean their houses and buy new clothes before the day, and the season's central rite is did va bazdid: the exchange of visits in which the young call on their elders and are repaid in turn.

The preparation of samanak is a communal women's activity. Ten to fifteen days before Nowruz, wheat is soaked until it germinates, then the green blades are cut, minced, and pressed to extract their sweet water. This water is mixed with flour and cooked over a wood fire for a whole day or night, stirred continuously with a long spoon. Women sing a special song in Dari while cooking, and the finished samanak is distributed among all who participated in its preparation as well as to visiting neighbours and friends.

The last Wednesday before Nowruz, Chaharshanbe Suri, sees people in many parts of the country gather around bonfires and jump over the flames, singing "sorkhi-ye to az man; zardi-ye man az to" — "your redness is mine and my paleness is yours" — a purification rite.

Under the Taliban

During their first rule the Taliban banned Nowruz celebrations as un-Islamic; the first televised janda bala of the post-2002 era was watched in Kabul as the marker of an era's end. After their return to power in 2021 the authorities announced they would not stage official celebrations, while stating that people who wished to mark the day would not be prevented from doing so — a distinction Afghans have continued to navigate.^[6]

In the years following 2021, the economic situation has further constrained celebrations. Many families lack the means to prepare traditional foods or buy new clothes, and restrictions on women's movement have reduced public gathering. In Kandahar, Taliban authorities have banned the shrine-based Nowruz traditions at Ziarat-e Shah Maqsud Baba and Ziarat-e Baba Wali.