Chapter 3. Nowruz and the birth of Spring
Happy Persian New Year
Outside of the countries that make up what we nowadays call modern Persia, many of us may not have realised that this week, the festival of Nowruz, or the Persian new year, is taking place.
I’ve been wanting to write something about this for weeks now, and I do so tentatively since I really am not an authority on the topic and do not wish to make any uneducated or naive assumptions or falsehoods. The internet is full of enough inaccurate rubbish. I did a little research and voila, a few news and government fact sites later, here we are. I have also written from my own experience, and despite a few too many big nights in my 30’s I think my brain still works ok. So therefore, I’m keeping it brief and hopefully my little essay wont read like a year 8 school assignment, and will be more factual and honest than say, a Tory party statement on Brexit.
Nowruz, or Noruz is the Ancient Persian festival of the new year and is celebrated on the spring equinox in most counties of the Caucasus and around the Caspian sea. Countries where Nowruz is celebrated with either an observance or public holiday include Iran, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iraq, China, Turkey in their Kurdish communities and Uzbekistan, where it is a public holiday.
There are a couple things about this festival that interest me. Firstly, it is only recently celebrated in a modern way since 1991, when most of the countries that observe it other than Iran and Iraq were liberated from the Soviet Union. I’m not entirely sure whether the traditions needed to hide from the view of Soviet oppression, or it simply wasn’t offered up as an observance. What I love is that the tradition was deep rooted enough in their civilization to survive in spite of the Soviet occupation.
Hyacinths and Tulips are flowers that symbolise Nowruz
Secondly, having visited the area in the last few years whilst working in Azerbaijan, I became very interested in their arts and crafts traditions and the presence of the ancient ways of doing things that permeate into what is a very modern and forward looking culture. It’s common to see traces of the ancient world side by side with the latest modern skyscraper or arts centre.
Azerbaijan is a small nation on the northern border of Iran and bordered by the Caspian sea to the east and Armenia and Georgia to the west. It is insanely oil rich and it is said that oil bubbles freely to the surface, giving the country the nickname the land of fire.
Azerbaijan has such an interesting modern identity, fuelled by the recent end of the countries very rapey oil contract with BP, where much of the oil wealth was funneled into the coffers of British Petroleum in exchange for the extraction infrastructure. Once this lease ended, Azerbaijan celebrated its new found wealth with a developmental programme probably only more intense and rapidly seen in Dubai and Qatar. The results are fairly stunning.
The Heydar Aliyev Centre, Zaha Hadid Architects
Fun fact: Baku is the only world capital that shares it’s yearly mean temperature with that of the entire world’s mean temperature.
The arts and crafts of the Caucasus are predominantly Persian in their appearance, however there are styles that are endemic and particular to each country. The Azerbaijan rug making is exemplary, the methods and designs being in their traditions for thousands of years. The use of pattern is gorgeous, particularly in the amazing borders and graphic representations of nature, which is characteristic of artistic traditions in the Caucasus. The Karabakh carpets are particularly lovely, being fluffy and vivid in colour, which is very akin to Madrigal colour philosophy!
Some of these designs appear in a little book I picked up in Azerbaijan a few years ago, “Folk designs from the Caucasus” by Lyatif Kerimov. This is 120 pages of motifs and patterns that are found in weaving and needlework and is absolutely fascinating. The designs are derived from many Asiatic and ancient east European sources, including animals, plants and mythical characters, everyday objects and a host of geometric forms. Many traditional patterns also feature, such as “Buta” which is sort of an ancient paisley, “Ketebe” and “Maternal flowers”
But back to Nowruz and the festival of the new year. It was believed by the ancient Zoroastrians that the first day of spring was symbolic of the beginning of creation, the first day of the universe and it is the holiest of their festivals. It is also the first day of the Bahai calendar. Whilst these aren’t necessarily unique concepts to us nowadays, it is particularly lovely to think of the birth of nature around us through the lense of another culture, as we look out into the cold hard city and see the trees begin to flush with green. We can be thankful that nature, in every land across the northern hemisphere, offers us renewal at this time every year.
Nowruz was added to the register of official world holidays by the united nations in 2010.
The colours that I associate with spring are obviously the green and turquoises I have been working on. As the weather warms up, we may be feeling more inclined to put the hooks and needles down. However there is always the opportunity to develop new ideas, and the springtime should be a time when enthusiasm is at its peak!
The tricolour of Azerbaijan, Light Blue “Kingfisher” Red “ Crimson Russet” and green “Spruce Royale” in Bag label swatches.
Other things that are worth making now are scarves, hats and gloves for family and friends and for the little ones in your life, whilst spring has definitely sprung, its still chilly out there!
Nowruz was added to the register of official world holidays by the united nations in 2010.
The seafront district is the host to an enormous public park, filled with wonderful boulevards, playgrounds and water features like this one.
Baku is also a very windy city, with north easterlies sweeping in from Kazakhstan. Subsequently all the trees tend to lean in one direction….
Beautiful modern Azerbaijan textiles
I have just nearly finished this baby’s tunic in Papeete, which has a brim detail in star stitch which I think ads a spiffy flourish, in the same way a decorated Azerbaijani carpet will have a decorated border. It’s a really lovely stitch to use with the variegated yarn and I just love the detail it adds.
Madrigal colour '“Papeete” with Star stitch detail
Baby Tunic - with star stitch and moss stitch brims.