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.
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| 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
Documents :
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| The first day of spring |
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