HAPPY NOWRUZ!
Faravahar symbol of Zoroaster, Fire Temple, Yazd, Iran
It is March 21 – the Vernal Equinox, the first day of Spring, the Persian New Year, and the Persian Christmas too, for all over Iran today people are celebrating the birthday of the founder of the Persian religion Zoroaster.
What’s that? Isn’t the religion of Iran Islam — certainly not Zoroastrianism? Well, times are changing.
Nowruz (“new day” in Persian) is an official government holiday now in mullah-run Iran. Note today (3/21) how the Tasnim News Agency of the Revolutionary Guard or Pasdaran pretends it is just Persian New Years only: Nowruz: The New Year Festivity Celebrated in Iran.
Not a word or hint of Zoroaster – or as the Iranians call him, Zardosht. The truth is, thanks to Mullah Islamofascism, millions of Persians and others in Iran from Kurds to Azeris are turning away from Islam and towards their ancient original religion that predates Mohammed by over two thousand years.
The ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire built in the late 6th century BC, Persepolis, was a center of Zoroaster worship and celebration of his birthday on Nowruz. Here is a photo I took in 2014 of one of the many Faravahar symbols of Zoroaster at the ruins of Persepolis 2,500 years old:
Yet Zoroastrianism is far older. As the world’s first monotheistic faith some 3,300 years old, its sacred text, the Avesta, was composed in a Proto-Indo European language akin to Sanskrit in the Late Bronze Age (1500-1200 BC).
Today (3/21), thousands of Iranians are converging upon the Atashkadeh, the Zoroastrian Fire Temple in Yazd, a city in remote southwestern Iran.
Tomorrow, they’ll venture 60 miles north into the Dasht-e Kavir – the Great Desert of Salt – to visit the most revered Zoroastrian pilgrimage site of Pir-e-Sabz. It’s built around a sacred grotto glued onto the side of Chak Chak mountain. Ok, here’s yours truly to show I was really there. It’s a deeply reverential experience for the pilgrims.
The bottom line is the steady abandonment of Mullah Islamofascism among the Iranian people and a return to their original faith, with its ancient teaching of “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds.”
Combine this with the victory of supremely courageous women over the misogynistic mullahs. News yesterday (3/20): After Six Months Of Protests, Iranian Women Without Headscarves Has Become The ‘Norm’. And: Iran Says It Has Pardoned 20,000 In Wake Of Protests Over Oppression, Treatment Of Women.
Religious, cultural, and social freedom is coming fast in Iran. It is indeed a Happy Nowruz!