Saturday 19 March 2016

International Day of Nowruz 2016, March 21

 
 

 

I am delighted to offer best wishes for a happy Nowruz to all those celebrating around the world – and to the many others who can benefit from this rich cultural heritage.
Nowruz is an ancient tradition with modern relevance. Its spirit of friendship, solidarity and respect for the natural environment resonates powerfully with the values of the United Nations.
The hundreds of millions of people around the world who observe this holiday represent a vast range of human experience. Their traditions are richly diverse, producing a tapestry of cultural expressions and symbols.
The myriad Nowruz commemorations in our world share a common reverence for the renewal that comes with the Spring Equinox. All people may draw inspiration from this sense of fresh possibility.
Nowruz transcends national borders, religious divides and other differences to unite communities with bonds of goodwill.
Such common purpose can help humanity rise to this moment in history.
We are now in the first year of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, our vision for a life of dignity for all people. This is also the first year of the historic Paris Agreement on climate change, which possesses enormous potential to open a new future.
At the same time, conflict, discrimination and other violations of human rights continue to take an immense toll. We must respond with compassionate action that addresses immediate suffering while tackling root causes. With its focus on good relations, environmental stewardship and lasting peace, Nowruz is an occasion to strengthen our resolve to leave no one behind in our journey to a better future.
Let us enable all people who celebrate Nowruz to celebrate with joy and meaning – and let us spread its essential message of hope and renewal around the world.

Ban Ki-moon

 
 
Every year, men and women in western, central and southern Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans and other regions come together to celebrate Nowruz, in a festivity marking the new year and the arrival of spring. Inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2009, Nowruz is an outstanding manifestation of how living cultural heritage expresses the way we understand the world and the means by which we shape it for the good of all.
This celebration brings together local traditions, accompanied by rituals that vary from one community to another -- together they embody the shared human aspiration to experience moments of togetherness, solidarity and joy, representing a bridge from the past to the future, an annual commitment renewed to rising generations. At a time when the living traditions of local communities are under increasing pressure, Nowruz is as an invitation to strengthen the roots of reconciliation and intercultural dialogue.
The rich variety of ways in which we celebrate the arrival of spring equinox reminds us of the responsibility we share towards our planet. Nowruz carries a message of renewal in a world of change, and leads us to reflect on the imperative of humanity standing together to protect biodiversity and eco-systems. As countries take forward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Paris Climate Change Agreement, this has never been so important.
On this International Day of Nowruz, I express my best wishes to everyone celebrating, in the hope that we will all be inspired by this message of solidarity and peace.
Irina Bokova
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Inscribed in 2009 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as a cultural tradition observed by numerous peoples, Nowruz is an ancestral festivity marking the first day of spring and the renewal of nature. It promotes values of peace and solidarity between generations and within families as well as reconciliation and neighbourliness, thus contributing to cultural diversity and friendship among peoples and different communities.

Exhibitions :

Exhibits: Heart of an Empire: Herzfeld's Discovery of Pasargadae
February 13–July 31, 2016
Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries
...
Located in the dasht-i murghab, or "plain of the water bird," in southwestern Iran, Pasargadae was the first capital of the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire (circa 540 BCE) and the last resting place of Cyrus the Great. Impressed with its ruins, German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld (1879–1948) briefly surveyed the site for the first time in 1905. Having completed his PhD thesis on Pasargadae in 1907, he returned in 1923 and 1928 to conduct more extensive excavations.


Heart of an Empire: Herzfeld's Discovery of Pasargadae

Exhibits: Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan
March 5, 2016 – January 29, 2017
Smithsonian - Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery


Turquoise Mountain


Documents :
 

 
The first day of spring

 


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