An Iranian Holiday That’s Perfect for Americans -<br />By FIROOZEH DUMASMARCH 18, 2017<br />LOS ANGELES — As a little girl in Iran, I loved Nowruz, the first day of spring, known as the Persian New Year.<br />Firoozeh Dumas is the author of three books, including “Funny in Farsi.”<br />A version of this op-ed appears in print on March 19, 2017, on Page SR2 of the New York edition with the headline: Your New Iranian Holiday.<br />I ate sweets, drank tea and listened to the adults speak of their hope for the new year, which began at the precise moment of the spring equinox.<br />No one in America cared about the first day of spring.<br />So America, please find an Iranian and, for a moment, forget about the headlines that divide us.<br />Even my most morose relatives somehow came to life, revealing a sunnier side of themselves kept dormant during the rest of the year.<br />The goldfish may have represented life, but to me, they also represented disappointment.<br />We had no relatives to visit, so Nowruz was withered down to one essential element: calling our relatives in Iran.<br />Every home also had a haft sin, a colorful display of seven symbolic items meant to bring health, wealth and love.<br />This most revered moment in the Iranian year meant literally nothing here.
