Our community of Trinidad and Tobago is made up of many strands of influence and heritage and there are many links between them. Yesterday the Hindu community celebrated Phagwa, an ancient Indic Spring festival.
Today, the Iranian diaspora and other communities such as certain Sufi sects, Shi'tes, Alawis, etc are celebrating Nawroz. Nowroz falls on the Spring exqinox, when the Sun enters Aries...in ancient Persian times, this was considered the start of the New Year. The associated rituals of Nawroz is Spring cleaning one's home, buying new clothes, lighting bonfires (an jumping over them to ensure fertility...hmm sounds familiar eh?), laying out a
Haft sin table or a table that has 7 symbolic items that begin with the letter Persian letter seen
(usually apples, goldfish certain foods, etc. all these have a deeply symbolic meaning) and sprinkling rose water on each other. The traditions of Phawga in India could have been a carry over from the time of India's Aryan invasions/ settlement. Nowruz is celebrated in much of the world that has been influenced by the Persian empire/ part of it; such as Afghanistan, the Caucasus (Georgia, Azerbaijan, etc.), Central Asia, part of China, India, Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan, Pakistan, etc. Immigrants in the U.S.A, U.K. and Europe carry it on of course.
One of the reasons I wanted to mention this festival is to show links with many of the Indo-European (such as Celtic, Germanic, etc. Spring Festivals). Many people think little of the links between Eastern & Western civilizations but they are many and deeply ingrained, and we can't ignore it. We in the Caribbean are the modern forebears of these vast cilizations and it's part of our right of heritage to learn much of them as we can. As individuals who see the Glory of the Divine in Nature, these Spring festivals hail the consciousness of the planet and show the importance of the Earth and Her Reawakening even to this day, in our times of modern technology and advancement. They remind us all, subconsciously, when man was much closer the earth, and the movements fo the sun and moved were tracked and recorded carefully.
Happy Nawroz to all and may this New Year be a safe, prosperous and happy one for you and your family.
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